Pilot Suicides

Peter Dohm wrote:
John Ousterhout wrote:
A 90 year-old pilot is having breakfast at the airport with his son.

"I've got to get my medical next week. If Doc don't pass me I'm gonna
get in the Super Cub and fly out over the ocean til it runs out of gas."

"Dad, NO!... Not the Super Cub."

Priorities!!! The stuff of life :-)))
Dudley Henriques

When I was young, there was an old gent who kept a Pitts Special in a hangar
at our local airport. He didn't no longer flew it (that was 30+ years ago)
and once told me that he planned to take one last flight--when he no longer
felt able to care for himself at home--and land it straight down on the
spinner out in the swamp.

The little plane was a thing of beauty ... nearly alive ... I was horrified!

I am still not sold on his (proposed) methodology,
but now, I can just barely manage a shrug. (sigh)

Peter



A pilot's Pitts is a real personal piece of equipment for sure, (sort of
like flying while inside a red prophylactic actually) I don't think ole'
Curtis down there in Homestead would have approved much if one of his
birds ended up being used for a lawn dart though. A real bad end for a
real good airplane.

Had an acquaintance way back in the old days. He was the best Twin Beech
I ever knew. Got cancer. He lived with it for as long as he could I guess.
We heard that one day he simply got a shotgun, walked down to the
basement of his house, put on his favorite record on an old antique
Wurlitzer juke box he had restored, then put the barrel in his mouth and
somehow managed to pull the trigger.
You just never can tell how you will react to depression or pain that
deep when and if it happens. Just pray it passes you by somehow.
Dudley Henriques

A 90 year-old pilot is having breakfast at the airport with his son.

"I've got to get my medical next week. If Doc don't pass me I'm gonna
get in the Super Cub and fly out over the ocean til it runs out of
gas."

"Dad, NO!... Not the Super Cub."

Priorities!!! The stuff of life :-)))
Dudley Henriques

When I was young, there was an old gent who kept a Pitts Special in a
hangar
at our local airport. He didn't no longer flew it (that was 30+ years
ago)
and once told me that he planned to take one last flight--when he no
longer
felt able to care for himself at home--and land it straight down on the
spinner out in the swamp.

The little plane was a thing of beauty ... nearly alive ... I was
horrified!

I am still not sold on his (proposed) methodology,
but now, I can just barely manage a shrug. (sigh)


A pilot's Pitts is a real personal piece of equipment for sure, (sort of
like flying while inside a red prophylactic actually) I don't think ole'
Curtis down there in Homestead would have approved much if one of his
birds ended up being used for a lawn dart though. A real bad end for a
real good airplane.

Gosh Dudley, you must be psychic. His Pitts was red! :-)

It's a shame ol' Curtis is gone, and I never got to meet him.

Peter

On 2007-03-10 07:29:11 -0800, John Ousterhout
said:

A 90 year-old pilot is having breakfast at the airport with his son.

"I've got to get my medical next week. If Doc don't pass me I'm gonna
get in the Super Cub and fly out over the ocean til it runs out of gas."

"Dad, NO!... Not the Super Cub."

The son would be what, nearly 70? :-)

Darned right. You want to do that, you see how far out you can swim...

Seriously, there are some people who are that trivial. You kill
yourself if you don't get a medical. You wonder if people like that are
really alive anyway.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

C J Campbell writes:

Seriously, there are some people who are that trivial. You kill
yourself if you don't get a medical. You wonder if people like that are
really alive anyway.

If they live to fly, their behavior is understandable.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.