Wi->Co nonfatal Father/Daughter

Mr. Michaels has had a reputation in our area for being a loose cannon for many years- landing nordo on a closed runway in the class D, flying over the crowd in a helicopter at a PGA event, buzzing episodes in an L-29, etc. Had the misfortune of owning a hangar next to one he rented, where he had a T-6. He would come out after not having flown it for months, pull it out, and then take off without even anything remotely like a preflight.

Then there's bouygate, which involved competitive water ski slalom racing. You can Google this yourself.

His unwillingness to comment might be an act of self preservation. That being said, of course no one wants to see anyone else get hurt, but somehow an airplane crash and the name Jim Michaels in the same sentence is not too surprising.
 
Says he took off from Oconomowoc - Only thing in Oconomowoc is a private field, not owned by him. Hmmm.
 
AcroBoy said:
Mr. Michaels has had a reputation in our area for being a loose cannon for many years- landing nordo on a closed runway in the class D, flying over the crowd in a helicopter at a PGA event, buzzing episodes in an L-29, etc. Had the misfortune of owning a hangar next to one he rented, where he had a T-6. He would come out after not having flown it for months, pull it out, and then take off without even anything remotely like a preflight.

Then there's bouygate, which involved competitive water ski slalom racing. You can Google this yourself.

His unwillingness to comment might be an act of self preservation. That being said, of course no one wants to see anyone else get hurt, but somehow an airplane crash and the name Jim Michaels in the same sentence is not too surprising.
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Does he own a R44 and is rotor certified too?

I know a Jim Micheals up that way that is a rotorhead.
 
Yes, he owns or owned an R-44, in which he got in trouble with LE and the FAA for flying low over a PGA event. He lost his dental license for a while in Wisconsin over some complications, which takes a really egregious act of negligence. He also had his FAA certificate suspended at least once for something else.

My first interaction was when he was renting the next hangar, and would repeatedly park his truck in front of my hangar door, so I couldn't get in. Then, my friend, who has a Snap On tool box thatalone costs as much as a used car and set of tools that could fix anything from a watch to a radial engine, found Jim rummaging in his tool box in the hangar looking for something to borrow- all without asking.

The rules that society imposes on us, and the ethics and morals that most of us try to live by, simply don't apply to him. This probably also means that the laws of physics don't apply to him either, like running out of gas, disorientation from VMC into IMC, or anything else. So, learning of his crash is completely not a surprise.

Again, google on buoygate and see his history in regard to competitive slalom skiing.
 
ScottM said:
N330JM, yep same guy. I have met this person.
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I used to know Jim quite well (at least I thought I did). I was involved in the waterski scandal (as an event judge) where he set some world records in slalom with a course that was rigged to appear to be in spec. but could be made to be much easier at the touch of a button. He was banned from the sport for several years as a result. When I knew him he had a Sea Fury IIRC and claimed to have flown in in the Reno Air Races.
 
found Jim rummaging in his tool box in the hangar looking for something to borrow- all without asking.
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:incazzato::yikes::incazzato::cryin:
All chance of redemption is obviously lost right there!!
 
ScottM said:
I take off all the time from a private field that is not owned by me. I base my airplane at a private field not owned by me.

Why the hmmmmms?
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Yours is public use.

I wasn't so much thinking it was unusual, just thinking that the media probably f'ed up again.
 
ScottM said:
Privately owned, public use airports are not all that rare. That is what I was pointing out.
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True. Clow used to be one, before the village purchased it. But both of the airports in Oconomowac, WI have this note:
Private use. Permission required prior to landing
 
gismo said:
I used to know Jim quite well (at least I thought I did). I was involved in the waterski scandal (as an event judge) where he set some world records in slalom with a course that was rigged to appear to be in spec. but could be made to be much easier at the touch of a button. He was banned from the sport for several years as a result.
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Who is this guy- Dick Dastardly? :D
That's some cold, low-down cheatin', right there (although clever, I will admit).
 
gprellwitz said:
But both of the airports in Oconomowac, WI have this note:
Private use. Permission required prior to landing
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Still, taking off from a private use airport wouldn't be all that unusual, at least not unusual enough to be suspicious. I've been to two in the past month. Once in Bob's 182 and the other in the Twin Cessna.
 
Everskyward said:
Still, taking off from a private use airport wouldn't be all that unusual, at least not unusual enough to be suspicious. I've been to two in the past month. Once in Bob's 182 and the other in the Twin Cessna.
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Oh, I agree. I certainly haven't done it often, but I've done it a few times, both here and abroad.
 
Everskyward said:
Still, taking off from a private use airport wouldn't be all that unusual, at least not unusual enough to be suspicious. I've been to two in the past month. Once in Bob's 182 and the other in the Twin Cessna.
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I wasn't thinking it was unusual, just that it probably meant the "journalists" were wrong. Or maybe they weren't.
 
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