"Ron Wanttaja" wrote in message
...
Stealth Pilot wrote:
On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:57:04 -0700, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

Others have stated that the occlusion mentioned may not have been that
impacting. But I don't think it justified Phillips claiming that it
"showed no blockage."

in your entire life you've never told a lie in a situation of great
duress????????

I've only told a lie twice in my life. Uhhh, three, if you count now.
Uhhh...four? :-)

We're not talking a mere "lie," here, we're talking about a criminal act.
Lying on an FAA medical is good for a quarter-million-dollar fine and/or a
five-year prison sentence.

you wouldnt be human if you hadn't.

And I'm not catching the "duress" here. Phillips had nine months after
his angioplasty to decide what to say on his next medical. He did not fly
for hire; his livelihood did not depend on retaining his medical.
He didn't even *have* to take the medical... he could have let it expire
and continue to fly as a Sport Pilot.

So there was no "great duress." His option was to commit a felony, fly
without a medical, or not fly.

I don't want to come over all priggish here; there's probably a good
chance I'd continue to fly, with the same sort of conditions. The
difference would be that I don't think I'd commit perjury to do it, and I
wouldn't risk a passenger's life. There's a lot of peace of mind, in
flying a single-seat airplane....

From another posting...

so the term "acute mixed drug intoxication" just means a situation
that hadnt occurred for a long period. it doesnt mean that he had a
huge mixed drug intoxication problem, just one that had occurred at
the time.

I'm not a medical person...you may be right. A guy on the POA forum who
claims he's an MD said that the levels of Vicodin was in the "high toxic
to low lethal range," and the codine was "at the top of Therapeutic and
approaching Toxic." One would hope this wasn't a daily occurrence.

The accident occurred in late October as Phillips and his wife were coming
home from their cabin in the mountains of Utah. It's possible, given the
lateness of the year, that they had been closing out the cabin for the
winter. Phillips may have overdone it; he may have thrown his back out
and started chugging pills.

Ron Wanttaja


Well, actually, he could not have [legally] flown that aircraft as a sport
pilot; but your basic point is well taken and I am really more than a little
dissappointed there seems to be so little new to learn. If the presumed
doctor on the POA forum is correct, then it would appear that BWB might have
taken some more medication just before departure--almost in the manner of a
college freshman chugging beer--and that his ability to fly was becomming
more degraded from moment to moment. All of that could be a dfpretty good
explanation of at least one way the the canopy latch might not have been
operated correctly and also how a noise level distraction might have gained
priority over simply "flying the airplane" and even suggests the possibility
that he might well have become incapacitated during the flight if the
takeoff and climb had been uneventfull.

BTW, all of this makes it seem almost appropriate to ask: does anyone here
know how Mrs Phillips got her nickname?

Peter
Staying with sliding and not hinged canopies!