Mooney drops into my backyard

I saw them carting away the pieces they had pulled out of the pond. The whole
pile of aluminum would have fit in the back of a pickup truck. There was that
pile, plus the engine, that was it. One of the news reports said they had not
found the fuselage, for whatever that's worth. Of course, the Mooney has that
steel cage around the cabin, so either that broke up along with everything else,
or else they haven't found it yet. They are continuing to drain the pond.

I wondered why I couldn't see any of the airplane in the pond, I know the pond
is not that deep. The answer, of course, is that there wasn't an airplane in
there, just a bunch of pieces.

They snapped off a couple of pretty substantial pine trees at about the 50 foot
high mark, then hit another tree at the edge of the pond at about 10 feet. My
guess is they must have been pretty much out of control after hitting the first
trees, otherwise they surely would have steered around the tree at the water's edge.

News reports that the occupants were a couple from Arizona. You probably don't
get much practice at 800 and 2 in Arizona, I don't know. I assume an ILS
approach was in use. The aircraft was being vectored for its third attempted
approach when it veered off the assigned heading and descended. So far I haven't
seen any info from the audio tapes.

Like Maule Driver, I'll be haunted while flying this approach for a while.

Dave

Jeff wrote:
also the news report said
"Mindy Hamlin, an airport spokeswoman, said the tower was aware of that the
plane "was having trouble getting to RDU" "

not engine trouble, just trouble getting to the airport.


"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:


"Peter Gottlieb" wrote in message
. cv.net...

It is if there were a mechanical problem causing loss of power. Pop
out at 800 in the middle of a densely populated area and quick, find
a place to put it down. But we won't know until the investigation, if
then.


The prelim said it was his third attempt at the approach.




--
Dave Butler, software engineer 919-392-4367

Here's the story from today's local paper. They quote AOPA accident statistics.
Guess AOPA got the word out that they are the source of expertise for GA stories...

"Crashes of small planes are infrequent, considering how many take to the skies,
said Warren Morningstar of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a
national group of more than 400,000 pilots.

Of the 40 million general aviation aircraft flights per year, there are about
1,800 accidents, he said.

About 75 percent of the accidents are attributed to errors in judgment by
pilots, he said."


http://www.news-observer.com/front/s...-3167666c.html

Dave

Dave Butler wrote in message ...
Here's the story from today's local paper. They quote AOPA accident statistics.
Guess AOPA got the word out that they are the source of expertise for GA stories...

"Crashes of small planes are infrequent, considering how many take to the skies,
said Warren Morningstar of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a
national group of more than 400,000 pilots.

Of the 40 million general aviation aircraft flights per year, there are about
1,800 accidents, he said.

About 75 percent of the accidents are attributed to errors in judgment by
pilots, he said."

Its good to see AOPA letting everyone know we're idiots. I can't see
what value there is in telling the press that most accidents are a
result of sunday flyers. Gee, we could probably get more favorable
comments from these guys..

www.stopthenoise.org

-Robert

"Robert M. Gary" wrote:

Gee, we could probably get more favorable
comments from these guys..

And if some reporter asks *you* what the major cause of GA accidents is, what would
you say?

George Patterson
If you don't tell lies, you never have to remember what you said.

Mostly accidents due to human error, bad planning, and omissions, just
as in commercial aviation and automobiles


And if some reporter asks *you* what the major cause of GA accidents is, what would
you say?

Bob Miller wrote:

Mostly accidents due to human error, bad planning, and omissions, just
as in commercial aviation and automobiles

Which is probably just what AOPA said. And the reporter cut out the last clause, just
as they would for you.

George Patterson
If you don't tell lies, you never have to remember what you said.

On Fri, 07 May 2004 01:39:59 GMT, "G.R. Patterson III"
wrote:



Bob Miller wrote:

Mostly accidents due to human error, bad planning, and omissions, just
as in commercial aviation and automobiles

Which is probably just what AOPA said. And the reporter cut out the last clause, just
as they would for you.

The rule is that you do not have to answer the question as if you were
on a quiz show. Answers of the form: "Let me show you the
regulations that must be met by pilots and their planes before they
can take to the air" (holding up a copy of the FARs), is permissible.
The reporter needs some information to write a story with by a certain
deadlline. What goes into the story is the result between a
collaboration between you and the reporter. Save confession for your
priest.

Another rule: If you want to be quoted, speak with animation in
short, simple sentences. If you don't want to be quoted, never say
"no comment." Instead, speak in a monotone and ramble.

And another: If you don't like a question, ask one of your own. R:
"What do you think is behind all these light plane crashes?" You:
"Have there been that many? How many auto wrecks have you seen in the
same period of time? Have you any idea how many pilots have made that
exact instrument approach in the last year?"

Don

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
om...
Dave Butler wrote in message
...
Here's the story from today's local paper. They quote AOPA accident
statistics.
Guess AOPA got the word out that they are the source of expertise for GA
stories...

"Crashes of small planes are infrequent, considering how many take to
the skies,
said Warren Morningstar of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association,
a
national group of more than 400,000 pilots.

Of the 40 million general aviation aircraft flights per year, there
are about
1,800 accidents, he said.

About 75 percent of the accidents are attributed to errors in judgment
by
pilots, he said."

Its good to see AOPA letting everyone know we're idiots. I can't see
what value there is in telling the press that most accidents are a
result of sunday flyers. Gee, we could probably get more favorable
comments from these guys..

www.stopthenoise.org

-Robert

What I take from the AOPA comment is that you should be careful who you fly
with. There are idiots out there, and at your home field, you probably know
who most of 'em are. So, don't fly with 'em and make sure your friends think
carefully before riding with someone they don't know particularly well.

KB