Pilots

[time 7,940]

Julian Nott, record breaking experimental balloonist died  from injuries suffered as a result of a bizarre accident, aged 74.

Quote

Nott landed the balloon safely about 12:45 p.m., but about three hours later, “as he was packing up the cabin, it tumbled down the mountain with him inside,” Roberta Greene, a spokeswoman for Nott’s family, wrote in an email. “He sustained multiple head [and other] injuries.”

From The San Diego Union Tribune.

 

 

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Emergency authorities have found the body of pilot Marcel van Hattem in the wreckage of his light plane, which was found in waters off South Stradbroke Island on the Gold Coast this afternoon.  Police said they were still looking for his 31-year-old female passenger and the remainder of the plane's wreckage.

The Yak 52 Soviet-era plane was reported missing on the Gold Coast on Wednesday.

Mr van Hattem's passenger had been on a joy flight for her birthday at the time, police said.  The Australian woman and Mr van Hattem, 52, a Dutch-national, were both Gold Coast residents.  Mr van Hattem took off from the Southport Flying Club around 10am on Wednesday on a half-hour scenic flight over South Stradbroke Island, but never returned.
SC

[time 7,940]

Captain Al Haynes, pilot of United flight 232, which crashed landed at Sioux City in July 1989, died yesterday aged 87.

 

 

[msc 17,741]

33 minutes ago, time said:

Captain Al Haynes, pilot of United flight 232, which crashed landed at Sioux City in July 1989, died yesterday aged 87.

 

 

 

Highly underrated for his heroic actions imo, him and the late Denny Fitch. Before this incident, uncontained engine failure on a plane led to 100% fatality. By keeping calm and going for a controlled crash landing using slow gliding descent (look to Cat for the technical terms!), Haynes and Fitch managed to land the plane and save 185 of the 296 lives on board.

[Sir Creep 7,011]

1 hour ago, time said:

Captain Al Haynes, pilot of United flight 232, which crashed landed at Sioux City in July 1989, died yesterday aged 87.

 

 

https://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a10478/the-final-flight-of-united-232-16755928/

Very detailed account of the crash, from the cockpit and flight attendant survivors.

[Grim Up North 3,565]

Thanks to all 3 of you. I did not know of the event or the details. Even having read the headline I was still moved by the accounts.

 

I wonder if if the pilots involved felt like heroes or not (a lot of people still died) - perhaps they were just happy to be alive personally.

[time 7,940]

14 hours ago, msc said:

 

Highly underrated for his heroic actions imo, him and the late Denny Fitch. Before this incident, uncontained engine failure on a plane led to 100% fatality. By keeping calm and going for a controlled crash landing using slow gliding descent (look to Cat for the technical terms!), Haynes and Fitch managed to land the plane and save 185 of the 296 lives on board.

Not underrated at the time if I recall correctly, though perhaps largely forgotten lately with more recent air accidents, e'g. Miracle on the Hudson.

 

First-hand account here from Denny Fitch, well worth an hour of your time.

 

There is also a multitude of other reports, reconstructions and interviews on youtube for those so inclined.

[Sir Creep 7,011]

10 hours ago, Grim Up North said:

Thanks to all 3 of you. I did not know of the event or the details. Even having read the headline I was still moved by the accounts.

It's a Yank thing, along with perhaps my age (26) when it happened.  For me the photos or video of this happening are (short of Sept 11) the most memorable plane crash in my history.  I had forgotten about it but when I saw your reference to 'Sioux City, Iowa', I immediately saw the replay all over again in my mind.  I can see a tumbling ball of fire.  Horrid.  But the majority lived somehow.

I guess the plane crash out of Detroit Metro in 1987 (Notrthwest Airlines 255) was very memorable for obvs.  But I had flown out of Detroit that very morning and didn't know about it till I got in my rented chariot and turned on the radio.  We (Detroit) NEVER had a crash, that was the touchstone for why I never feared flying.  All that went to hell lol.  The Detroit plane crashed on takeoff.  To this day, I am tense as shit on takeoffs, and it's all because of that.  After that, I'm relaxed AF.....what goes up must come down and if my day is up, it's up.  
But Detroit's had no video basically, and the Iowa one was just awful.  So I remember it more I guess.
SC
  

[time 7,940]

10 hours ago, Grim Up North said:

Thanks to all 3 of you. I did not know of the event or the details. Even having read the headline I was still moved by the accounts.

 

I wonder if if the pilots involved felt like heroes or not (a lot of people still died) - perhaps they were just happy to be alive personally.

From Capt. Haynes first TV appearance a few days after the crash - 

" There is no hero, just a group of four people who did their job"

[YoungWillz 18,970]

Jo Lancaster, RAF Bomber Pilot and the first man to eject from a British aircraft in an emergency, dead at 100: http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/235613/lancaster

[drol 10,037]

On 14/10/2017 at 23:14, One shot Paddy said:

Swore he had his own thread but the good old search won't bring amything up.

 

But anyway 70 years ago today Chuck Yeager had his first bang!

Chuck Yeager is 97 today! 

[YoungWillz 18,970]

Of passing interest, probably more so to @Cat O'Falk, death notice for helicopter pilot Ron Salt: http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/240299/salt

 

I mention him because of the story on the BBC from 2012, when he revisited Coventry Cathedral spire which in 1962 he helped lower into place: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-17865700

 

Gawd bless him.

[Cat O'Falk 3,287]

1 hour ago, YoungWillz said:

Of passing interest, probably more so to @Cat O'Falk, death notice for helicopter pilot Ron Salt: http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/240299/salt

 

I mention him because of the story on the BBC from 2012, when he revisited Coventry Cathedral spire which in 1962 he helped lower into place: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-17865700

 

Gawd bless him.

 

Aye and about 30 years later I admired his work from over the road on top of the Alan Berry building where I delivered the materials for the atrium.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.407913,-1.5058534,34a,35y,39.53t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

 

 

[YoungWillz 18,970]

Sir Michael Beavis, who rose to become Air Chief Marshal in the RAF, dead at 90: http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/242358/beavis

 

Rather more interestingly, in 1961 he set a then record for the fastest non-stop flight from the UK to Australia (just over 20 hours).

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Investigators with the U.S. Coast Guard and Michigan State Police are looking for a pilot who flew a plane under the Mackinac Bridge in June, officials said Wednesday. They are asking the public for help to find the culprit in the cockpit.

Officials said the fugitive flying ace zoomed under the Mighty Mac at about 2:50 p.m. June 28.

(video embedded)

SC

[adrian0719 210]

Chuck Yeager dead at 97.

[Ulitzer95 10,976]

On 13/02/2020 at 10:14, drol said:

Chuck Yeager is 97 today! 

Chuck Yeager being reported dead on his official Twitter account.

 

Now that’s a big death!

 

Surprised he doesn’t have his own thread. I mean he was only the first man to break the speed of sound.

[Joey Russ 7,119]

Chuck Yeager’s DDP QO

[Whitehouse 820]

Finally my drought is over.

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Qualifies as a big miss by The Committee imho.  

RIP

SC

[Spade_Cooley 9,019]

6 hours ago, adrian0719 said:

Chuck Yeager dead at 97.

One of the most ornery men in history, and he should be remembered as such.

[Bibliogryphon 8,625]

32 minutes ago, Sir Creep said:

Qualifies as a big miss by The Committee imho.  

RIP

SC

Not on Crowdsourced or Drop 40 so there is no collective I Told You So

[msc 17,741]

5 minutes ago, Bibliogryphon said:

Not on Crowdsourced or Drop 40 so there is no collective I Told You So

 

tbh I thought he'd see 100 easily...

[Ulitzer95 10,976]

U.S. Air Colonel and test pilot Eugene Peyton Deatrick (wiki) died on 30th December according to this.

Known for his rescue of American aviator and POW Dieter Dengler (1938–2001) during the Vietnam War. The events were depicted in the 2006 Christian Bale film Rescue Dawn.

He'll obit if the Press spot it in time.

A past DDP pick (2015).

[Sir Creep 7,011]

Nigeria's former Chief of Air Staff (lol FOR ONE WEEK), Nsikak Eduok, is dead.

Mr Eduok, 73, died on Wednesday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, his aides and family members told PREMIUM TIMES, Thursday.

The late air marshal enlisted into the Nigeria Air Force in 1968 and became the 12th Chief of Army Staff on August 27, 1993, an appointment that was reversed a week later by the then military government.

He was reappointed Chief of Air Staff on March 30, 1996 by General Sani Abacha. Mr Eduok retired from the Nigerian military in 1999. He was reputed to be one of the best trained combat pilots the Nigerian Air Force has produced.

SC