Jim Logajan wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
"Viperdoc" wrote in
news:474364d1$0$32502 :

Several years ago there was a low time pilot in our area with a new
Commander, who crashed and died with three others on board. It turns
out that he tore the wings off while rolling the plane.

It comes down to the famous last words of "let me show you this!"

Yeah, some tit did that on the way home from Sun n Fun this year in a
Baron. First aerobatic lesson, self taught in a Baron with pax.
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...27X00463&key=1
This is just a mind blowing accident.

Wow. That pilot didn't make an isolated foolish mistake - the
historical evidence indicates he was a fool from the beginning to the
end. The tragedy is that four others died along with the fool.

Found this AOPA article on the accident with the apt title "What was
he thinking?":

http://www.aopa.org/asf/asfarticles/2007/sp0707.html


Worse than I imagined. I dunno. I suppose seeing a guy doing aerobatics
in a beech 18 could lead you to believe it's as easy as it looks. If I
ruled the world everybody would get some aerobatics as a matter of
course. Obviously, this would probably cause more problems than it would
solve in the real world, but I find it a bit frightening to think of how
few pilots out there don't understand loading, wind gradient and myriad
other odds and ends which are all mentioned in the jeppeson private
pilot courses, but aren;t really taught.
hell, most instructors don't understand them. If this guy had even an
inkling as to what's involved in doing a slow roll in a heavily loaded
Baron he'd probably still be here.
I suppose what I'm really saying is flying needs more of an extended
family approach to things. If someone who knew what they were doing were
able to take this guy up in an aerobatic airplane and just let him try
to do a roll on his own but under supervision, he'd soon wake up. It
might give him a bit of respect for a wide range of things, in fact.

Call me a dreamer, I won't care.


Bertie

Bertie