now, it's my turn

woodstock

woodstock

Final Approach
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Piper PA-28 down at my airport. Two people dead. I don't know who they are yet. It's my old school, not my current one. It's possible I know them.

I feel sick.
 
That is too bad.

Just remember we all accept the risk everyime we climb inside. They died doing what they love.
 
It's tough when it turns out to be a pilot you know.

It's also important to remember we all fly by our own choice.
 
Aw, cr^p.

Sorry Beth.

It does make it personal, doesn't it.

The FBO/school where I trained lost two planes either during or shortly after my PPL.

One was a renter that was returning solo one night in a 152 and crashed on a highway 1.5 miles from the airport. Almost made it home, but ran out of fuel. Fatal. Plane destroyed.

The other was a CFI and trainee that mushed in departing a nearby strip. Not fatal. Plane pranged and later repaired. That was a plane I occasionally had used.
 
I am truely sorry to hear that. There have been way too many planes going down lately.
 
He was from my old school. He wasn't one of my buddies, he started about the time all my friends left for the airlines, but I knew who he was - saw him every time I was out at the airport. very nice friendly kid.

the news says "after takeoff" but my CFI friend said he thought it was on landing - overshot runway and went down. my speculation only - maybe overshot, kicked rudder, cross controlled? apparently they went straight down, nose first and very fast. the student was at the controls - went to OKV and back.

don't know yet who student was.

I feel really bad.
 
Our family grieves with you, Elizabeth.

I lost my CFI and two close friends due to a mid-air years ago. My wife understands my reasons for flying and understands the risks, but that doesn't make it any easier.
 
woodstock said:
He was from my old school. He wasn't one of my buddies, he started about the time all my friends left for the airlines, but I knew who he was - saw him every time I was out at the airport. very nice friendly kid.

the news says "after takeoff" but my CFI friend said he thought it was on landing - overshot runway and went down. my speculation only - maybe overshot, kicked rudder, cross controlled? apparently they went straight down, nose first and very fast. the student was at the controls - went to OKV and back.

don't know yet who student was.

I feel really bad.
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Elizabeth, it happens. We had a pilot (and in a neighboring hangar) kill himself and his girlfriend here recently, because of pilot error. It's not fun, but life goes on. And we better learn from other's mistake...
 
At the least, it is a very nasty shock when happening close to home and to a person you knew.

We had a Piper go down recently at KPAE from KBFI with the two teenage girls and a mature, experienced pilot giving them a Young Eagles flight... the first fatalities involved with that program.

It was a blessing that it was overwith fast from the near vertical dive and everything then burned up so, we may never know the cause.
 
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thanks everyone. I go to the airport tomorrow, it will be very somber I am sure. :(

He was an ERAU grad from a few years ago - Florida.
 
woodstock said:
thanks everyone. I go to the airport tomorrow, it will be very somber I am sure. :(

He was an ERAU grad from a few years ago - Florida.
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Sorry to hear this news Elizabeth. My condolences and cheer up! :) Aviation shares it's ups with it's downs (no pun intended) but we all enjoy the same passion for flying. B)
 
woodstock said:
thanks everyone. I go to the airport tomorrow, it will be very somber I am sure. :(

He was an ERAU grad from a few years ago - Florida.
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Much sadder to me than something like this crash is those that die, or worse, without even ever experiencing their own personal flight. R.I.P.
 
indeed - very sad news (and I apologize for the attempt at a humorous post about Richardson....poor taste).

I have to ask....what does the topic refer to... the "its my turn?" I certainly hope you mean that its your turn to know someone who has perished from the skies.
 
NickDBrennan said:
indeed - very sad news (and I apologize for the attempt at a humorous post about Richardson....poor taste).

I have to ask....what does the topic refer to... the "its my turn?" I certainly hope you mean that its your turn to know someone who has perished from the skies.
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Nick - exactly. after I posted I realized it could be taken both ways. maybe I should change the initial title (is that possible?)

to be honest, I am so blessed in that I've really not had many people around me die. Mostly older relatives. I have not had any (any) friends die, and definitely no one young. he may be one of the first young people I've known personally that have died (that I was aware of - obviously you lose touch with people if they aren't so close...). this may be why I am taking it harder too. I am ok at the airport, but at home I'll think of it and ugh. like there is a weight on my chest or something.

I did go to the airport, they are sad but holding up. at our own school a lot of speculation obviously. after all that it most likely was landing (conflicting eyewitness reports but they were all landing on 35 so that fits better) and apparently he overshot the runway, overbanked getting back and may well have been cross controlled (most likely? if you are not cross controlled I would think you could sort it out pretty quickly - put your nose down?). a momentary lapse of judgment (the student was flying, and I guess too low for the CFI to recover? speculation you understand) and game over and no restart. :(

Chuck, can you change the initial title to "plane crash in VA" please? thanks.
 
It is very sobering when you know the people involved. I remember the first time I lost a fellow pilot. I was 16 at the time and the person I knew flew out of the little airport where I worked. I saw him and his buddies take off and less than a half hour later they were dead. Now it is 46 years later and after reading your note I still feel that pain. There have been others since then but as Bob B. put it very well;"It is not fun but life goes on. We better learn from others mistake.." Thanks Bob for putting very well.

We fly for we love aviation and with that we have learned that there are risks that we as pilots accept in our love of flying.

Elizabeth I hope you will get back into the air soon for that helps a great deal.

John
 
John J said:
It is very sobering when you know the people involved. I remember the first time I lost a fellow pilot. I was 16 at the time and the person I knew flew out of the little airport where I worked. I saw him and his buddies take off and less than a half hour later they were dead. Now it is 46 years later and after reading your note I still feel that pain. There have been others since then but as Bob B. put it very well;"It is not fun but life goes on. We better learn from others mistake.." Thanks Bob for putting very well.

We fly for we love aviation and with that we have learned that there are risks that we as pilots accept in our love of flying.

Elizabeth I hope you will get back into the air soon for that helps a great deal.

John
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thanks John. I've actually flown twice this weekend and felt pretty good. getting better all the time. apart from the beehive at LNS (my second towered airport, and on a PERFECT Sunday, it was BUSY!) I did really well.

46 years, wow. :(
 
Reading thru the preliminary report, it looks like they might have run out of fuel. Would a PA-28 ues up 13+ gallons in 1.4 hours? Perhaps the gallons amount was a top off. The report does say that the left tank was empty, and the right had "1 inch" spread over the bottom. Perhaps a leak in the crash, though it didn't sat that a leak was evident.

Still sad, though.:(
 
Keith Lane said:
Reading thru the preliminary report, it looks like they might have run out of fuel. Would a PA-28 ues up 13+ gallons in 1.4 hours? Perhaps the gallons amount was a top off. The report does say that the left tank was empty, and the right had "1 inch" spread over the bottom. Perhaps a leak in the crash, though it didn't sat that a leak was evident.
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I hope the plane wasn't empty when it was serviced with the 13.5gal of fuel. Remember, the report says the plane was fueled before the PREVIOUS flight, which was 1.4.

So, at ~8g/h, that 1.4hr flight burned 11.2gal, leaving 2.3g of fuel. That would give almost 0.3hr of flight time before fuel exhaustion. Did the report mention how long the training flight had been in the air before the accident?

Still, I would have to believe the 13.5 was a top off, and both the instructor and student had put an eyeball on the fuel level in the tanks before the lesson. Boy I hope so.

And Beth, I'm sorry for your loss. I've never lost a pilot friend, but I have lost motorcycling buddies. It is never good. :(
 
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