Scott Crossfield MIA??

[ScottM]

Scott Crossfield KIA

They are not sure if Scott Crossfield was on board or exactly what happened but the plane that is missing belongs to him.



He is one of aviation's greats

Famed test pilot missing in flight


Thursday, April 20, 2006; Posted: 7:52 a.m. EDT (11:52 GMT)
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ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Authorities were searching early Thursday for a small plane registered to a famed test pilot that vanished from radar on Wednesday on a flight from Prattville, Alabama, to Manassas, Virginia.
Air traffic control last had contact with the plane registered to test pilot Scott Crossfield about 11 a.m. Wednesday when it was about 10 miles southwest of Ellijay, Georgia, about 60 miles north of Atlanta, an FAA spokeswoman told CNN.
The spokeswoman said she could not confirm who was aboard the single engine plane.
Crossfield, 84, was the first man to fly the X-15 jet and the first pilot to fly faster than Mach 2. He was the test pilot for several other research aircraft and won dozens of awards and honors for his pioneering work. Crossfield's test pilot character was immortalized in the book by Tom Wolfe, "The Right Stuff," and portrayed by actor Scott Wilson in the movie of the same name.
Capt. Paige Joyner of the Civil Air Patrol also would not confirm the identity of the pilot but said the family had reported no contact.
Joyner said the plane departed Prattville, about 12 miles northwest of Montgomery, at about 9 a.m.

 

[Frank Browne]

They are not sure if Scott Corssfield was on board or exactly what happened but the plane that is missing belongs to him.



He is one of aviation's greats

OMG! I pray that he will be found OK! You're right about that Scott, he IS one of aviations greatest!

 

[ScottM]

Good background and profile on Scott Crossfield

http://www.avweb.com/news/profiles/182924-1.html

 

[Steve]

Data Current as of: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 13:18:00 GMT6/5864GA.. FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS BLAIRSVILLE, GA. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.137(A)(2) TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT WITHIN A 5 NAUTICAL MILE RADIUS OF 343439N/0844252W OR THE HARRIS /HRS/ VORTAC 241.0 DEGREE RADIAL AT 45.0 NAUTICAL MILES AT AND BELOW 5000 FEET AGL TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR SEARCH ACTIVITIES-AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT. AIRFORCE RESCUE COORDINATION CENTER, 800-851-3051, IS IN CHARGE OF THE OPERATION. ATLANTA /ATL/ ARTCC 770-210-7622 IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY. WIE UNTIL UFN

Yesterday was a bad day. Our local RV-6A pilot left for Florida mid-morning and flipped on landing.
He's ok, but the plane is basically totaled. He's about the same age as Crossfield.

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 8117Q Make/Model: EXP Description: VANS RV6A
Date: 04/19/2006 Time: 1659

Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
City: LIVE OAK State: FL Country: US

DESCRIPTION
ACFT ON LANDING, VEERED OFF THE RUNWAY AND FLIPPED OVER, LIVE OAK, FL

 

[Pilawt]

Found a photo of Crossfield's airplane ...

-- Pilawt

 

[Ghery]

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Wreckage Of Crossfield Plane Located, Pilot's Identity Remains Unconfirmed

Thu, 20 Apr '06
Coroner En Route To Scene Of Accident

ANN REALTIME UPDATE: 04.20.06 1335EST: Aero-News has received confirmation the wreckage of a Cessna 210 Centurion belonging to famed pilot Scott Crossfield has been located in the forest of Northern Georgia by county fire chief. The plane disappeared from radar late Wednesday in the vicinity of thunderstorms.

​

Sources close to the scene tell ANN a coroner has been sent to the accident site to confirm the identity of the victim(s) of the accident. It remains unknown at this time whether Crossfield, 84, was onboard the aircraft.

 

[Steve]

Relative of legendary test pilot Scott Crossfield says authorities confirm Crossfield's body was found in wreckage of his plane, The Associated Press reports.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/20/georgia.plane/index.html

 

[ScottM]

Legendary pilot Scott Crossfield killed in small plane crash

Associated Press

RANGER, Ga. - Legendary test pilot Scott Crossfield, the first person to fly at twice the speed of sound, was found dead Thursday in the wreckage of a single-engine plane in the mountains of northern Georgia, his son-in-law said.
Searchers with the Civil Air Patrol and others discovered the wreckage of the plane Thursday afternoon but didn't immediately identify the body inside.
In the 1950s, Crossfield flew numerous experimental planes at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and was a key figure in the development of the X-15.

A great one was lost

 

[tonycondon]

bummer. just goes to show that the weather does care who you are or how good you are/were. be careful out there folks, and I will to.

 

[Frank Browne]

A great one was lost

Yes. Prayers going out to his family. Very sad news.

 

[The rogue]

Well, that sucks....

Prayers go out to the family and friends of this aviator. His contributions were great and he will be missed by a great many people.

--Matt

 

[RogerT]

Very sad deal. I was stunned when I heard about it. Growing up in
the 50s and 60s I followed Yeager and Crossfield and the rest
and all the cool stuff they did. What a loss.

 

[mikea]

The classic Crossfield story is when he was in the X15 in the test stand and the engine exploded. As he said, the engineers run off to hide in a nearby bunker, leaving him out there all alone.

The cockpit section seperated as designed but was enveloped in flames. Crossfield wasn't too concerned because his suit and the cockpit were fire resistant. He was willing to wait until the fire crew knocked the flames down. But a ground crew member dove into the flames and proceeded to severely burn his hands as he tried to open the canopy even as Crossfield tried to wave him off. So Scott popped the canopy and jumped out.

He was interviewed by a local newspaper. When asked if he was hurt he gave the Right Stuff answer, "No. Only the crease on my pants was hurt when they hosed me down."

So the headline on the story in the paper was: "X-15 Explodes. Pilot Wets Pants."

 

[Frank Browne]

Watched an interview with Crossfield some years ago, and he told of a story where he had worked out the ability to dead stick an F-100 Supersabre at Edwards and he would roll out, taxi in, and stop with a tap on the brakes right in front of the hangar. Well...one day it didn't quite work out like that. When he applied the brakes in order to stop by the hangar....no brakes. The airplane rolled into the hangar wall and ended up with it's nose sticking through. Crossfield said that from then on, Yeager would say the the "sonic wall is mine, but the hangar wall is Crossfields".

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/F-100/Medium/E-1366.jpg

 

[tonycondon]

i think that day he haed an actual engine failure and might have forgotten that the brakes were run off the hydraulic system, which ran off the engine, which wasnt running. tried to showboat a little too much and couldnt stop. oh well.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Man, that sucks.

It always makes me think a little bit more about risk when someone as accomplished as this can still manage to kill themselves flying. I hope they discover that he had a heart attack or something and was dead before the plane went down.

I like a lot of the quotes in the AvWeb interview:

On UAV's:

The brain can process nine billion binary units with instant response, which is beyond any silicon chip. That's what the Wright brothers used to build their airplane. My attitude is that flight is a human endeavor — so if it isn't manned, the hell with it.

On liability:

All of the liability problems of general aviation manufacturers were brought on by their own lawyers. They maintained that they couldn't afford to fight these cases, when in truth they couldn't afford not to. Ford fought their Pinto case to the Supreme Court and had a $125 million judgment against them thrown out of court. Nobody sues Ford capriciously anymore.

On using GA for work-related transportation:

I didn't fly GA until I bought a Bonanza in 1956, and I flew that during the X-15 program days. I flew it all over the country and never got paid a nickel for it. North American's lawyers didn't think it was safe for me to fly a Bonanza up to Edwards to fly the X-15. I could go by dog cart or automobile or horseback or walk and get paid, but they wouldn't pay for the trip to Edwards and back in the Bonanza. So I flew at my own expense.

On instrument ratings:

When I was at North American I flew over the San Gabriel mountains that separate the LA basin from Edwards, and I had to deal with the cloud deck that came in every night, but I came and went as I pleased. The company lawyers, who were already my enemies because they wouldn't pay for my flights, went bananas because their chief engineering test pilot didn't have an instrument ticket. I had taught instrument flight in WW II but I never had the piece of paper. I fixed that in 1989 and got my instrument rating.

On being the butt in the seat:

I have a bad reputation for doing my own thing. That's the reason I never became an astronaut. I would turn off the radio if I didn't like the help I was getting from the ground, and the medicine men that were running the program thought that was too independent. They wanted medical subjects, not pilots.

On being a pilot:

The best time to be a pilot is anytime. The time of the Wright brothers, for instance, was a great time to be a pilot. I'd agree with Yeager that for an aviator of our vintage, the post-war time was fantastic. I don't know if we'll ever match the blend of man and machine, and the sheer enjoyment of progress that we made during that time.

And on bureaucracy:

General aviation is the wellspring of the nation's aeronautical and aerospace capability, and bureaucracy and litigation has killed that wellspring.

 

[poadeleted20]

I read his book when I was a kid in the early 60's, and he's been my hero for more that 40 years. Damn.

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

The airplane rolled into the hangar wall and ended up with it's nose sticking through. Crossfield said that from then on, Yeager would say the the "sonic wall is mine, but the hangar wall is Crossfields".

On the plus side though, the hangar wall had lost its virginity...

 

[Anthony]

F*ck! The best test pilot and not as blabby and egotistical as Yeager. Damn!