Four Dead In OSH Accidents: T-6 In Lake, Helicopter-Gyrocopter Midair
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skyking3286
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skyking3286
See previous posts OSH-
Pinecone
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OSH - AIRCRAFT DOWN SOUTH OF ULTRALIGHT AREA
Airport shut down until after the airshow, black smoke south of ultralight area. In hold for a long time. . . cam shows a man pointing to the south out of camera view during a light copter/gyro demo pattern, as camera pans smoke appears. Equipment and scooters roll immediately. Social media...
OSH - T-6 goes into Lake Winnebago Saturday 7/29 morning
OSHKOSH - A plane crashed into Lake Winnebago and rescue units have been sent to the scene Saturday morning. Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue shift commander Troy Jahns said the plane crashed into the lake between Oshkosh and Neenah. The department has sent a rescue boat with a dive team to the area...
Turbo-Arrow-Driver
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Lake Winnebago crash: Devyn Reiley, Aviator dies after plane crashes near Oshkosh
Devyn Reiley, New Braunfels, TX, a well-known aviator dies after a plane crashes in Lake Winnebago near Oshkosh. The aviation community
medicotopics.com
kyleb
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Drake the Outlaw
I don't see the T-6 crash as an "Oshkosh" event. They were flying out over a lake and crashed due to factors that don't seem to have been Oshkosh related other than proximity. The helicopter thing was one of those million to one things that you can't ignore, but was very unlikely.
Lowflynjack
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Jack Fleetwood
The midair will be interesting. The ultralight field is not controlled, so a midair is 100% on one of the pilots. However, I’ve been saying for years that they need to enforce the pattern. When I camped in Vintage near their runway, they flew right over my airplane/tent over and over. In this midair, one of them landed on a Mooney. We’ll find out if they were flying where they were supposed to.
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eman1200
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Bro do you even lift
Yeah, but……the media.
hindsight2020
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You're saying a T-6 based out of New Braunfels TX giving tours to OSH attendees and crashes off-site, doesn't count? Ok then. By that metric anybody who dies on the way in or out of that pilgrimage and isn't inside the approach end is not an OSH related fatality either. It has to be in show center and be a fAsT cArD hOldEr to count. Unreal. Just acknowledge the L and move on.
-break break-
I just found out she was affiliated with the school next to my parking row, which was the outfit my mx provider worked for on a part-time basis. Also found out that said school and another one had closed recently (got the inside details, big kerfuffle with this GA unfriendly airport management, not germane to this thread), which means I may have been without a mechanic and didn't even know it. Talk about an awkward exchange this afternoon when I went asking my guy if I still had a mechanic and find all this stuff out. I believe that couple's family had the T-28 and another [the T-6 in question] that was being restored.
ETA: Just got text confirmation, yup, it's the female co-owner of the recently closed school (married couple) is the deceased. Things are pretty somber over here right now. Small world. Already got some inside baseball on the T-6 in question and her flying background. Will spare that narrative until later, I've sat on the thing, recently completed the yearly inspection by the CAF guys out of KHYI.
Condolences to the family and those affiliated with the (former) Texas Aviation Academy who knew her. RIP.
-break break-
I just found out she was affiliated with the school next to my parking row, which was the outfit my mx provider worked for on a part-time basis. Also found out that said school and another one had closed recently (got the inside details, big kerfuffle with this GA unfriendly airport management, not germane to this thread), which means I may have been without a mechanic and didn't even know it. Talk about an awkward exchange this afternoon when I went asking my guy if I still had a mechanic and find all this stuff out. I believe that couple's family had the T-28 and another [the T-6 in question] that was being restored.
ETA: Just got text confirmation, yup, it's the female co-owner of the recently closed school (married couple) is the deceased. Things are pretty somber over here right now. Small world. Already got some inside baseball on the T-6 in question and her flying background. Will spare that narrative until later, I've sat on the thing, recently completed the yearly inspection by the CAF guys out of KHYI.
Condolences to the family and those affiliated with the (former) Texas Aviation Academy who knew her. RIP.
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/thread drift…
I work with a guy who started at that other school and it was an s-show of am operation; literally let the insurance lapse while the owners were on a short AFRES TDY. He moved to TAA to finish up his cert and then they shut down and now this.
There’s a flight school trying to open a second location at BAZ, but I don’t know if it’ll happen or not yet. I cam let you know if I hear something on my end if you like.
eman1200
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Bro do you even lift
hindsight2020
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hindsight2020
I don't want to steer the thread towards items the peanut gallery may deem insensitive given the recency of her fatality, and which are frankly, not germane to it anyways. PM coming your way.
ETA: @TCABM tried PM, no dice. Maybe send me a PM and I can reply. I don't feel comfortable sharing the latest in the public.
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aggie06
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The ULs are the only ones EAA allows to fly over campers. If you watch them, you’ll slowly start to get more and more terrified until you, like me yesterday an hour before the incident, tell someone that the UL field traffic is going to result in an accident. We’re lucky the gated area had already mostly cleared out and we’re lucky that collateral damage was only a Mooney.
Interesting fact - one of the grand champion airplanes was parked back there and avoided flying debris.
Interesting fact - one of the grand champion airplanes was parked back there and avoided flying debris.
Lowflynjack
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Jack Fleetwood
The NOTAM for Ultralights is a bit confusing.
In the text area, it says, "Do not fly over people, houses, livestock, parked aircraft, etc. lower than 300’ AGL."
In the diagram, it clearly marks the area where Vintage Camping is with lines through it and it says, "Do not fly over aircraft parking areas or Runways 18/36". This is not enforced at all. I can tell you we've been concerned many times when an old ultralight came over our plane sounding like a worn out chainsaw.
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aggie06
Line Up and Wait
Except that’s right over the new vintage aircraft parking area on the west side of the road. That new parking area is not depicted. That’s where the incident happened. I was in that area when it happened. Rotor blades departed and flew over my head with the helicopter landing a few yards from me, close enough that I saw details on the way down that I am still having trouble with.
Even before the new parking area (which we call the "gated community"), the flight path is right up next to vintage camping. It doesn't take much overshoot to put you over a campsite. The first year I camped there I was right off the end of the runway looked up every morning at the UL pattern. The Mooney owner has posted comments on r/flying on reddit and MooneySpace.
I was working the Vintage operations building when the call went seconds after it happened. I was dialing 911 and at the same time shouting for volunteers to get on the two six-man golf carts we had and get down there to keep the crowds back. Lots of people like aggie06 were there, the helicopter essentially came down at the terminal tram stop. We got traumatized people (both bystanders and volunteers) back at our building. Fortunately, we got some rapid advice and assistance from Cam Martin and other CIRP-trained buys from the Fergus Chapel (my wife knew Cam from her days at the Smithsonian).
I've seen fatals at Oshkosh before, but this is the first to drop into the crowd area (Jack Roush came very close to hitting one of our volunteers, there's a photo of him running from the crash).
There are long-range plans to move the UL operations across Knapp street (primarily as part of the "nobody turned away by 2024" edict). ted I suspect this will have to be accellerated or we will see more restrictions put in place by the FAA like happened when the DC-3 lost control twenty-some years ago.
I was working the Vintage operations building when the call went seconds after it happened. I was dialing 911 and at the same time shouting for volunteers to get on the two six-man golf carts we had and get down there to keep the crowds back. Lots of people like aggie06 were there, the helicopter essentially came down at the terminal tram stop. We got traumatized people (both bystanders and volunteers) back at our building. Fortunately, we got some rapid advice and assistance from Cam Martin and other CIRP-trained buys from the Fergus Chapel (my wife knew Cam from her days at the Smithsonian).
I've seen fatals at Oshkosh before, but this is the first to drop into the crowd area (Jack Roush came very close to hitting one of our volunteers, there's a photo of him running from the crash).
There are long-range plans to move the UL operations across Knapp street (primarily as part of the "nobody turned away by 2024" edict). ted I suspect this will have to be accellerated or we will see more restrictions put in place by the FAA like happened when the DC-3 lost control twenty-some years ago.
I was there when the DC3 ended up in the ditch right in front of me! I've searched for any information about what happened but have not found any.
Warmi
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We are not talking here aerobatic stuns but just regular demo flight operations - if these are considered too dangerous to allow overflights then we should ask ourselves why are we promoting such “dangerous” activities (GA aviation) in the first place and just do away with the whole thing …
Skymac
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I second this…. At the end of the day, stuff happens. Is it very unfortunate, yes. It could have been prevented as well, but… So can the majority of accidents that happen and over regulation doesn’t prevent this from happening. I heard someone talking about the guy flying the FX picking up the cone with the skids, etc. Him doing that is no more dangerous than anything else when it’s within your limits. Someone riding on the back of a golf cart in traffic is just as likely to get hurt.
I understand that what happened is a hard pill to swallow, but it’s just that. Learn from it, and respect those that were lost.
hindsight2020
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hindsight2020
I mean, we're not that far on degrees of separation from the Aztecs. Our sacrificial offerings just have the veneer of consent in modern life, is all. Car deaths (and alcohol as a rider..pun intended) is our cultural flagship example by volume, but other manners of excess deaths are certainly part and parcel of that inclination.
The line is always moving, public opinion is a spectrum, certainly not a universal consensus. The only real debate is the cost-shifting that occurs when the underfunded cause the loss, while asserting their perceived right to dabble in the carnage scott free. That's where you get the calls for banning this or that.
The line is always moving, public opinion is a spectrum, certainly not a universal consensus. The only real debate is the cost-shifting that occurs when the underfunded cause the loss, while asserting their perceived right to dabble in the carnage scott free. That's where you get the calls for banning this or that.
Joepilotmsp
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Having had PTSD events, repeatedly, I encourage you to reach out for assistance dealing with that. I wish I had 20 years sooner. I hope you can find peace. Best wishes.
I didn't say it was. But the the DC-3 excursion wasn't an acro act either, and it didn't even come close to the crowd line, but the FAA still moved the crowd line back losing significant real estate in the warbird, homebuilt, and vintage areas.
aggie06
Line Up and Wait
Maybe not technically aerobatic, but I watched them all week. At times they would get to buzzing around the field real quick and some of the things they do over there is very close to wingovers and steep turns in that tiny area with others around.
One of the helicopter guys (the UL field alternates between "airplanes", "Parachutes", and rotorcraft by the hour throughout the day) was that these particular gyro guys tended to do show-off maneuvers that resulted in this collision. Of course, I take that with a grain of salt because there seems to be a bit of a gyro-helicopter animosity to begin with (sort of like skiers and snowboarders).