WAC vs Sectional

So I can't vouch for the relative probabilities of these things, but
I still want to make sure I have the option of the NEAREST airport.

Three young Iowans were killed last week in the Milwaukee area, while
driving on I-94. The driver (the only survivor) tried to pass a snow plow
(which, on a freeway, isn't all that unusual), lost control, hit the back of
the plow, and careened sideways into a bridge abutment.

Just like *that* three 20-somethings gone, in the blink of an eye. All
that potential (these were great kids -- all recent UI college grads, all
well employed), all those future headaches, heartaches, and triumphs,
gone...

The parents, relatives and friends are, of course, devastated.

So, we all know life isn't fair, and Father Death tends to deal random blows
to all concerned. That said, flying cross-country at 500 AGL, just because
the view is better, strikes me as tempting fate a wee bit too much.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

That said, flying cross-country at 500 AGL, just because
the view is better, strikes me as tempting fate a wee bit too much.

I fail to see what passing a snowplow and dramatizing the resulting
tragedy has to do with aviation.

In any case, the same can reasonably be said of jumping out of a
perfectly good airplane is also tempting fate a wee bit too much, as
is climbing a mountain on foot, flying single pilot night IFR in the
Pathfinder, or doing aerobatics.. In fact, one very experienced
member of my flying club maintains that the autopilot should be used
all the time, and to hand fly puts passengers in grave danger.

I won't even =mention= what the life-shortening stress of running an
aviation-themed hotel as opposed to taking some nice, safe job such as
chartered accountancy does to your poor wife and children when you are
raced to the hospital with a heart attack after the last guest stiffed
the maids, who then quit en masse just before the big convention. Who
will comfort them at the gravesite? Your relatives and friends will
be any less devastated?

Just like *that*, all your life's dreams gone, in the blink of an eye.

That said, I ask you - why do you fly in those dangerous crazy
contraptions in the first place? I've read some of the stories you've
posted, and while I wouldn't call them "crazy", some of them have
given me pause to wonder.

Jose
--
Money: What you need when you run out of brains.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

That said, I ask you - why do you fly in those dangerous crazy
contraptions in the first place? I've read some of the stories you've
posted, and while I wouldn't call them "crazy", some of them have given me
pause to wonder.

Hey -- you'll get no where with me imitating my mother-in-law!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
That said, flying cross-country at 500 AGL, just because
the view is better, strikes me as tempting fate a wee bit too much.


I've done that before for other reasons (low ceilings, high winds)
over suitable terrain. I actually felt more comfortable with regard to
emergency options when flying 500-700 ft. over Kansas or central
Alberta than I usually do when flying 3,000 AGL over the mountainous
terrain I usually fly over.

Most of Kansas, for example, is one huge emergency landing site as far
as the eye can see.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

" writes:
Jay Honeck wrote:
That said, flying cross-country at 500 AGL, just because
the view is better, strikes me as tempting fate a wee bit too much.

I've done that before for other reasons (low ceilings, high winds)
over suitable terrain. I actually felt more comfortable with regard to
emergency options when flying 500-700 ft. over Kansas or central
Alberta than I usually do when flying 3,000 AGL over the mountainous
terrain I usually fly over.

Most of Kansas, for example, is one huge emergency landing site as far
as the eye can see.

You left out Oklahoma, most of Texas, Nebraska, the Dakotas,
eastern Montana, Saskatchewan, eastern Alberta,...

"Everett M. Greene" wrote:

You left out Oklahoma, most of Texas, Nebraska, the Dakotas,
eastern Montana, Saskatchewan, eastern Alberta,...

Lots of flat land in East Tennessee too. Of course, it's mostly vertical.

George Patterson
He who would distinguish what is true from what is false must have an
adequate understanding of truth and falsehood.