Isabel Goyer goodbye? Where did it go??

What did the Red Bull knuckleheads get after not getting a waiver but doing the stunt anyway?
 
Racerx said:
She had everything taken away and was a student pilot all over again. And lost her examiner privileges.
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And didn’t have to wait the usual full year to train again. Her attorney negotiated 3 months.
 
John Spartan said:
And didn’t have to wait the usual full year to train again. Her attorney negotiated 3 months.
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I think it had already been nearly a year from the time of the incident until the FAA "Emergency Revocation." Some emergency, if you can wait that long to take action. Who knows how many bridges she might have flown under during that time?
 
Half Fast said:
I think it had already been nearly a year from the time of the incident until the FAA "Emergency Revocation." Some emergency, if you can wait that long to take action. Who knows how many bridges she might have flown under during that time?
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Right. I am sure the bureaucrats had a difficult time deciding how to deal with one of their own doing something that stupid.

sarcasm makes me miss the hyperbole. :)
 
Martha wore a custom Tshirt to the Waynesville (a few miles upstream of said bridge) air show where she was the announcer that year which said "So many bridges so little time." Frankly, listening to her announcing the air show that night I'm shocked she could pass her written again, because her rambling definitely reminded me of the few seniors I've had the unfortunate experience with as they were in cognitive decline.

Also let's not forget that the Jeremiah Morrow bridge has a Zipline running through that valley the bridge goes over... A Zipline that was struck by another plane a few years prior. Those guys paid for their malfeasance to a higher being than the FAA however, so there's no FAA sanctions for that one.
 
Todd82 said:
Martha wore a custom Tshirt to the Waynesville (a few miles upstream of said bridge) air show where she was the announcer that year which said "So many bridges so little time." Frankly, listening to her announcing the air show that night I'm shocked she could pass her written again, because her rambling definitely reminded me of the few seniors I've had the unfortunate experience with as they were in cognitive decline.

Also let's not forget that the Jeremiah Morrow bridge has a Zipline running through that valley the bridge goes over... A Zipline that was struck by another plane a few years prior. Those guys paid for their malfeasance to a higher being than the FAA however, so there's no FAA sanctions for that one.
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No surprise. She admitted with her “plead the fifth” comment. Probably been doing it for years.
 
When you stop listening to the guys who love their spreadsheets too much, you wind up saying goodbye and making a career change. It may take a while, but reality always catches up. Companies still go out of business the same way Ernest Hemingway described bankruptcy years ago: slowly, then suddenly.

Being in print media is like being in the horseshoe industry in 1920. Only a few publications have figured out how to make the huge leap in business model necessary to survive. NYT is now one of the most valuable media entities in the world. But when was the last time you read Time or Newsweek?
 
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John Spartan said:
THANK YOU! 100% agreed. Very clear to me that she regretted nothing and deemed herself above the rules.
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Valid points, but I'm not tight jawed about the bridge; someone who never breaks the rules is as foolish as someone who always does. I bet it was fun, very low risk for her and others. I didn't get she felt above the rules, just that she was willing to do the deed. I don;t need to hear remorse, just acceptance that getting caught has consequences.
 
WRT the supposed lack of news, we are in a golden age of avionics development. We have witnessed more advancements in the last 10 years than in the previous 50, and the pace is accelerating. If you had told me 20 years ago that I could get a moving map with weather and traffic overlay in a GA cockpit, I would have said that was science fiction. If you told me I could do it for a thousand bucks I would have said you were on crack.
 
FastEddieB said:
Please explain. Never breaking the rules seems a worthy goal towards having a long, safe and uninterrupted flying career. Which I don’t see as “foolish”.
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I hesitate to dive into specific examples, get down a rabbit hole if I pick a poor analogy, but I'll take a shot; coming home at night, beautiful evening, and get a surprise when the AWOS reports the home drome with 1/4 mile visibility. Overflying I see it's a patch of fog at the departure end, which is at a slightly lower elevation and next to a marsh. 3,500 feet of rwy, appch end clear, with only the last 200 feet in fog. I'm in a T-41 (172 on steroids). I'll probably be turning off at the mid-field taxi way. So I broke a rule (I think). As opposed to diverting, Ubering, etc., etc. I slept sound. If I'd been ratted out I'd own it, but without remorse. . .

The rules matter, but the universe has more variety than a Fed can anticipate. Engine or accessory repair beyond that allowed by pilots? On a mountain strip, in the wilderness, and bad weather coming? Break a rule, make the fix, get out ahead of the blizzard.

I get it, Martha wasn't really in a similar situation - she wanted the rush of flying under a bridge. Getting caught was the (potential) price for the thrill. She owned it, took her lumps. But I don't think she owes anyone "remorse". I bet it was fun, and it's a rel stretch to say she put anyone in serious danger, even herself.

"Safety first" is a crock, or at least a white lie. We consider safety, but it should never be the prime consideration in an endeavor - else we wouldn't do any of those things that have risk. I'm not likely to fly under a bridge s- skimming tops when IFR is rush enough for me. And flying under bridges isn't something that should be routine, for sure, But the occasional step over to the dark side isn't all bad.
 
Sundancer said:
So I broke a rule (I think). As opposed to diverting, Ubering, etc., etc. I slept sound. If I'd been ratted out I'd own it, but without remorse. . .
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I'm a big supporter of Martha. I like her writing, her personality, and the fact that she reminds me of the old-school aviators I grew up around. I think her punishment was too harsh, but she accepted it and moved on. Some people can't let it go.

In your case, even if you were busted, I would think you'd get a slap on the wrist. In my opinion, I think Martha turning off her ADS-B before the act, then lying and saying it was malfunctioning, is what cost her the license. If you're going to go do low passes at your buddy's grass runway, it would be easier to convince someone that you forgot to turn on your transponder when you took off than it would be to convince them that it suddenly malfunctioned before you started your dive, then magically came back on again!
 
Lowflynjack said:
I'm a big supporter of Martha. I like her writing, her personality, and the fact that she reminds me of the old-school aviators I grew up around. I think her punishment was too harsh, but she accepted it and moved on. Some people can't let it go.

In your case, even if you were busted, I would think you'd get a slap on the wrist. In my opinion, I think Martha turning off her ADS-B before the act, then lying and saying it was malfunctioning, is what cost her the license. If you're going to go do low passes at your buddy's grass runway, it would be easier to convince someone that you forgot to turn on your transponder when you took off than it would be to convince them that it suddenly malfunctioned before you started your dive, then magically came back on again!
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I enjoy Martha's writing, too, but she brought on the harsh punishment herself.

This is an excerpt from one of Martha's articles, later included in her book Unusual Attitudes:

Among the oldest and most sacred rules of the air is the one about staying in the middle of it. As you would expect, I obey these commandments as religiously as the ones Moses came up with, and avoid the edges, especially the upper one that borders interstellar space. But if it’s a day when I haven’t broken a rule and some attractive nuisance beckons, like a perfect bridge or Walt Davis driving his tractor when I’m flying the T-6, I hear Clarence Wilson’s voice echoing out of the past: “If you have to do it, then do it once and get the hell out of there—nobody gets a number or even an accurate description on one pass.” Now Clarence was chief of the Cincinnati FAA office for many years, back in the days when... and after my 28-year stint investigating low-flying complaints, I can tell you he was right. When alphabet airspace was new and the amoeba-like “Bs” (the handiwork of ground-pounding bureaucrats) appeared on VFR charts, the Flight Standards District Offices were flooded with unintentional altitude violations.

Some approach controls were more draconian than others about turning in violators to Flight Standards—Cleveland being one of the worst—and getting caught usually meant a six-month suspension. Creative contour flying actually saved a person who, mesmerized by the sight of the Cleveland lakefront, realized with horror she was at 2,200 feet where the Class B floor was at 1,900. I heard that this person flipped the transponder off and on several times to indicate an equipment problem and then, back on the 1200 squawk, flew law-abidingly around the edge of the airspace to a small airport and landed... well, almost. It was a good bet that Cleveland had tagged and tracked the target, then called the FBO where she landed to weasel out the airplane’s N-number. So, on close final, this scofflaw turned off the squawk machine and “contour flew” southwest at a couple hundred feet all the way to Columbus, where it was safe to turn the box back on, climb to a civilized altitude and proceed home, safe in the arms of ATC. Please understand I relate this story (which I overheard from somebody) only rhetorically as a sort of philosophical exploration of the potential effects of overregulation. The art of contour flying is a heinous, abhorrent, sinful practice (I went to confession) that too often puts amateur and hotshot airpersons in the trees or the dirt or—worse—underneath.​
(emphasis added)

Martha's latest bridge / transponder escapade was hardly her first offense. If you read her articles, you know she regularly admits to all sorts of violations and she constantly rips the FAA. When you poke the bear over and over, eventually the bear wins.

Is it any wonder that the FAA invoked the harshest punishment they could? If they could have, they probably would have preferred to stand her against the wall and shoot her.
 
Half Fast said:
Martha's latest bridge / transponder escapade was hardly her first offense. If you read her articles, you know she regularly admits to all sorts of violations and she constantly rips the FAA. When you poke the bear over and over, eventually the bear wins.

Is it any wonder that the FAA invoked the harshest punishment they could? If they could have, they probably would have preferred to stand her against the wall and shoot her.
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No, it is no surprise, she even knew it was coming. I still think if she had left her transponder on, or had at least admitted she turned it off, it might have been a 6 month or a year suspension without revoking her license, but of course that's just my speculation. I'm a big fan of keeping your mouth shut and not admitting anything to the Feds... but flat out lying to them might have been the poke the bear couldn't ignore.
 
Todd82 said:
For what the majority of us fly there's no real reason not to go basic med. Sure there are some commercial guys on here, but for your average Joe Bugsmasher flying his 60 year old Piper/Cessna for breakfast why bother with the 3rd class?
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Because it makes the trip from Michigan to Niagara Falls a lot quicker.
 
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