Bizarre Fatal Accident-Suicide?

Over the weekend an 84 yr old man apparently unfastened his seatbelt,
climbed out of the cockpit of the biplane he was riding in and stepped
off to fall to his death. He hit some power lines that appeared to cut
his torso in half and the parts plunged onto an apartment building.
The pilot attempted to grab the man but was unable to do so. They were
on short final into SEE (San Diego, CA).
Anyone else got more details?

Rocky wrote:

Over the weekend an 84 yr old man apparently unfastened his seatbelt,
climbed out of the cockpit of the biplane he was riding in and stepped
off to fall to his death. He hit some power lines that appeared to cut
his torso in half and the parts plunged onto an apartment building.
The pilot attempted to grab the man but was unable to do so. They were
on short final into SEE (San Diego, CA).
Anyone else got more details?


3 news links at
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U116252E7

this one has this most info....
============================================
March 30, 2004

EL CAJON – An 88-year-old man ended a half-hour rental ride in a biplane
yesterday by jumping to his death and landing in an apartment patio in
view of horrified witnesses, authorities said.

"It was too low for a stunt," said Cynthia Lankford, 33, who watched the
fall from poolside at Graystone Village Apartments on East Bradley Avenue.

"I saw him hit the power lines, heard trees breaking. I really thought
it wasn't real."

The man reportedly had started to climb out of his passenger seat and
fought off the pilot who struggled to hold him in place while keeping
the plane aloft.

Joseph Harold Frost of Carlsbad, who recently was diagnosed with a tumor
that was causing him to go blind, jumped deliberately, said his son,
Robert Frost.

"I think that was dad's idea, to go out in a flash of glory," Robert
Frost said by phone last night. "No one knew it was his plan to do this.
I think he just thought of it today. He handed me his wallet before he
took off.

"My condolences to the pilot. He said my dad was having an amazing time;
he even turned over the controls to my dad."

The pilot was identified by officials as Willis Allen, owner of Allen
Airways Flying Museum. He landed safely at Gillespie Field about 4:45
p.m. and reported his passenger's actions to a sheriff's helicopter
pilot based at the airfield.

Robert Frost had helped his father arrange the flight to celebrate his
88th birthday, which was Saturday.

He chartered the half-hour ride over East County in a two-seater
Steerman PT 17 biplane like the ones he had flown in World War II in the
Army Air Forces, his son said. "It was exactly the type of plane he'd
learned to fly in, and that he trained others in."

After the war, Joseph Frost, born in Iowa, became a land developer and
eventually retired in Carlsbad. He is survived by his wife, Margaret,
and their four sons.

Officials said the plane was on final approach to land, at an estimated
300 to 400 feet in the air, when Joseph Frost took off his safety belt
and stood up in front of the pilot.

"The pilot tried to wrestle him back into the plane and tragically
couldn't do it," Revel said.

The pilot even pitched the plane nose upward to try to get Frost back in
his seat, sheriff's officials said. He jumped out about half a mile
southeast of the airport.

He struck two power lines over the Graystone apartments and a
neighboring mobile-home park. The impact severed his body and knocked
out power for several hours to the area's 4,000 residents and businesses.

The body glanced off the apartment building and landed in the patio back
yard of a ground-floor unit, where a woman was inside. No one was injured.

A tenant at the complex, Dennis Reaves, 34, said his 8-year-old son came
running indoors to tell him a man had fallen from a plane. Reaves, a
hospital emergency room worker, said he ran to help but found that the
man had been killed instantly.

"I see a lot in the ER, but this was very strange," Reaves said.

=====================================

Eeeeewwwww!

************************************************** **************************
****
** Report created 3/30/2004 Record 1
**
************************************************** **************************
****

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 262V Make/Model: A74N Description: BOEING STEARMAN
PT17
Date: 03/29/2004 Time: 0043

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

LOCATION
City: SAN DIEGO State: CA Country: US

DESCRIPTION
ACFT ON APPROACH TO GILLESPIE FIELD RUNWAY 27L, THE PASSENGER JUMPED OUT
OF
THE ACFT FATALLY INJURING HIMSELF, NO ACFT DAMAGE, NO GROUND INJURIES,
OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES ARE UNKNOWN, SAN DIEGO, CA

INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1
# Crew: 1 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:

WEATHER: UNK



OTHER DATA
Activity: Pleasure Phase: Approach Operation: General Aviation

Departed: SAN DIEGO, CA Dep Date: Dep. Time:
Destination: SAN DIEGO, CA Flt Plan: UNK Wx Briefing:
U
Last Radio Cont: UNK
Last Clearance: UNK

FAA FSDO: SAN DIEGO, CA (WP09) Entry date: 03/30/2004

"Aardvark" wrote in message
t...
Rocky wrote:

Over the weekend an 84 yr old man apparently unfastened his seatbelt,
climbed out of the cockpit of the biplane he was riding in and stepped
off to fall to his death. He hit some power lines that appeared to cut
his torso in half and the parts plunged onto an apartment building.
The pilot attempted to grab the man but was unable to do so. They were
on short final into SEE (San Diego, CA).
Anyone else got more details?


3 news links at
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U116252E7


You know, I have real trouble pulling stuff that specific out of Google.

In a previous article, "C J Campbell" said:
3 news links at
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U116252E7
You know, I have real trouble pulling stuff that specific out of Google.

You're probably using regular web google instead of news.google.com, which
specifically indexes recent news items.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"An appointment is an engagement to see someone, while a morningstar is a
large lump of metal used for viciously crushing skulls. It is important not
to confuse the two, isn't it, Mr. --?" - Terry Pratchett

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
In a previous article, "C J Campbell"
said:
3 news links at
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U116252E7
You know, I have real trouble pulling stuff that specific out of Google.

You're probably using regular web google instead of news.google.com, which
specifically indexes recent news items.

You're probably right. :-)

Aardvark wrote:


EL CAJON – An 88-year-old man ended a half-hour rental ride in a
biplane yesterday by jumping to his death and landing in an apartment
patio in view of horrified witnesses, authorities said.

Ordinarily I'd be more sympathetic to the man's plight and to his
family, but in this
case (and based only on what's been posted here so far) I'd say the man was
completely selfish and inconsiderate. In exchange for ending any pain,
suffering,
and uncertainty he might be facing in his life, he caused a great deal
of emotional
pain and suffering in the lives of countless others.

Rich Lemert

In a previous article, darwin smith said:
completely selfish and inconsiderate. In exchange for ending any pain,
suffering, and uncertainty he might be facing in his life, he caused a
great deal of emotional pain and suffering in the lives of countless
others.

If I hadn't realized that suicide is an inherently selfish and terrible
thing to do others, I would have been dead 20 years ago.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
I once successfully declined a departmental retreat, saying that on
that day I planned instead to advance.
-- Alan J. Rosenthal

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
In a previous article, darwin smith said:
completely selfish and inconsiderate. In exchange for ending any pain,
suffering, and uncertainty he might be facing in his life, he caused a
great deal of emotional pain and suffering in the lives of countless
others.

If I hadn't realized that suicide is an inherently selfish and terrible
thing to do others, I would have been dead 20 years ago.

As selfish as the people that want to keep someone alive that is suffering
terribly?

"Paul Tomblin":
As selfish as the people that want to keep
someone alive that is suffering terribly?

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote:
As selfish as the people that want to keep
someone alive that is suffering terribly?

I don't think that was the implication, nor does it apply to this scenario.
There are other ways to go, if one chooses, without causing that much trauma to
unsuspecting people. The pilot, the youngster, and anyone else who witnessed
the aftermath didn't have a say in being part of that "blaze of glory." I think
that's what was being referred to as "selfish."