ShawnC
Skirts Will Rise
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6-15, Local: Local pilot Southern dies in airplane crash
By JOHN LYNCH
GLADEWATER — Tom Southern — who loved the sky more than he loved the ground, but not as much as he loved his family and neighbors — died in a plane crash Saturday.
The Longview civic leader, business executive and nationally known pilot would have turned 61 on Thursday.
Saturday morning, Southern, a member of Longview Downtown Rotary Club, got up before dawn to help fellow members put up U.S. flags around town, a tradition for the club on holidays such as Independence Day and Flag Day, which was Saturday. At 5:30 a.m., he was helping load flags.
A couple of hours later, Southern was at the Gladewater Municipal Airport, where he was a regular. He had helped arrange for a group of children from Tyler to fly with fellow pilots. The fliers, like Southern, are members of the Piney Woods Tail Draggers, a chapter of the national Experimental Aircraft Association. The group regularly holds flights for children as part of the Young Eagles program, aimed at getting more kids interested in flying.
About a dozen of the kids saw the accident and watched the plane go down, but did not see it hit the ground, said longtime friend and fellow pilot Bart Robinett, one of the Tail Dragger members who witnessed the plane breaking up.
The fixed-wing plane, specially designed for strenuous flying, crashed about 9 a.m. in a heavily wooded river bottom about a half-mile south of the Gladewater airport and a half-mile west of U.S. 271. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
Southern did not take up any children with him Saturday morning, but had helped put together all the necessary paperwork for the flights, said fellow Tail Dragger Jerry Gardner of Tyler.
Instead, Southern went up in his CAP 10B, a lightweight airplane made from spruce wood and covered with fabric, to practice his aerobatics for an upcoming competition. Southern is the fourth owner of the French-made plane, which is designed to take the stress of six times its own weight. The plane was one of 30 in the world, 14 of which are owned privately. The rest are used at flight schools to teach aerobatics.
Southern's practice sessions have become so regular at the airport that onlookers weren't sure exactly how long he had been in the air. He was performing his normal loops and rolls, Gardner said.
"I wasn't paying attention because he's always doing that," he said.
But the fellow pilot did see Southern's plane break in mid-flight.
"He was just at the top of his loop ... then all at once, the wing just popped off," he said, tracing arcs in the air with his hands to demonstrate Southern's doomed flight. "It's a freak incident."
The aircraft plummeted, but the wing drifted to earth a couple of minute later, Gardner said.
"It looked like slow motion to us," he said. "(The wing) just drifted, just rocked in the breeze."
Southern was wearing a parachute. But because the plane was so close to the ground, he did not have time to get out of the plane and probably didn't have time to react, Robinett said. The greatest pilot in the world wouldn't have been able to save himself, he said.
"He was a good pilot, a careful pilot," Robinett said. "Even Eddie Rickenbacker himself could not have saved the plane," he said, Invoking the World War I flying ace.
Gregg County Justice of the Peace Arthur Fort visited the accident site to pronounce Southern dead. He said Southern's plane disintegrated on hitting the ground. He has ordered an autopsy.
Southern is survived by his wife, Barbara; a son, Wesley of Longview; and a daughter, Michellea of Santa Fe, N.M. His death comes just a week after Barbara Southern's father died in Odessa, and she was with family in West Texas on Saturday, friends and officials said.
Southern had been participating in aerobatics, which he described as an aerial ballet, for about five years. He trained regularly with an instructor, Robinett said, and the skillful flying style was something he had always wanted to try.
"Aerobatics, that was his passion," Robinett said. "He had wanted to do this all of his life."
Most people don't know what aerobatics are, Southern told the Longview News-Journal last year. So he sometimes described himself as a stunt pilot, but he despised the label.
"I hate the term stunt pilot," he said, "because it has connotations of someone who is taking unusual risks. There is nothing further from the truth about the sport of aerobatics."
Southern had been competing in aerobatics for about three years, placing 16th in his class nationally in 2001. He skipped the 2002 competition for his daughter's wedding, but was planning to participate at an upcoming contest.
Southern emphasized safety in his flying and made sure he was in good physical shape to handle the rigors of aerobatics, losing 40 pounds during his first two years of aerobatic flying. A 12-minute competitive flight can put six G's of force (six times the force of gravity) on a pilot, compared with the two G's of a roller coaster.
Southern previously said he dreamed of flying as a boy, working his way up from model planes to radio-controlled planes and overcoming setbacks to take his first flight at age 21. He stalled his air career after five years to raise a family. Southern, who has a doctorate from the University of Texas and a master's degree from Southern Methodist University, worked for 30 years as a chemist with Eastman Chemical Co.
Southern returned to the hobby in the mid-1980s, flying cross-country and using planes on family trips and vacations.
He was the president and chief financial officer for Cardinal Premium Finance of Longview. He also was an enthusiastic booster for Longview, participating in Leadership Longview, Opera Longview and last year's Christmas at the Courthouse.
He was well-known as a driving force behind the Great Texas Balloon Race, regularly organizing the airplane demonstrations.
Vice chairman for the upcoming race, Southern was scheduled to chair the 2004 festival. Race Chairman Troy Moore said Southern's loss is a blow to the community.
"He was definitely an important part of the success of the race," Moore said Saturday
By JOHN LYNCH
GLADEWATER — Tom Southern — who loved the sky more than he loved the ground, but not as much as he loved his family and neighbors — died in a plane crash Saturday.
The Longview civic leader, business executive and nationally known pilot would have turned 61 on Thursday.
Saturday morning, Southern, a member of Longview Downtown Rotary Club, got up before dawn to help fellow members put up U.S. flags around town, a tradition for the club on holidays such as Independence Day and Flag Day, which was Saturday. At 5:30 a.m., he was helping load flags.
A couple of hours later, Southern was at the Gladewater Municipal Airport, where he was a regular. He had helped arrange for a group of children from Tyler to fly with fellow pilots. The fliers, like Southern, are members of the Piney Woods Tail Draggers, a chapter of the national Experimental Aircraft Association. The group regularly holds flights for children as part of the Young Eagles program, aimed at getting more kids interested in flying.
About a dozen of the kids saw the accident and watched the plane go down, but did not see it hit the ground, said longtime friend and fellow pilot Bart Robinett, one of the Tail Dragger members who witnessed the plane breaking up.
The fixed-wing plane, specially designed for strenuous flying, crashed about 9 a.m. in a heavily wooded river bottom about a half-mile south of the Gladewater airport and a half-mile west of U.S. 271. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
Southern did not take up any children with him Saturday morning, but had helped put together all the necessary paperwork for the flights, said fellow Tail Dragger Jerry Gardner of Tyler.
Instead, Southern went up in his CAP 10B, a lightweight airplane made from spruce wood and covered with fabric, to practice his aerobatics for an upcoming competition. Southern is the fourth owner of the French-made plane, which is designed to take the stress of six times its own weight. The plane was one of 30 in the world, 14 of which are owned privately. The rest are used at flight schools to teach aerobatics.
Southern's practice sessions have become so regular at the airport that onlookers weren't sure exactly how long he had been in the air. He was performing his normal loops and rolls, Gardner said.
"I wasn't paying attention because he's always doing that," he said.
But the fellow pilot did see Southern's plane break in mid-flight.
"He was just at the top of his loop ... then all at once, the wing just popped off," he said, tracing arcs in the air with his hands to demonstrate Southern's doomed flight. "It's a freak incident."
The aircraft plummeted, but the wing drifted to earth a couple of minute later, Gardner said.
"It looked like slow motion to us," he said. "(The wing) just drifted, just rocked in the breeze."
Southern was wearing a parachute. But because the plane was so close to the ground, he did not have time to get out of the plane and probably didn't have time to react, Robinett said. The greatest pilot in the world wouldn't have been able to save himself, he said.
"He was a good pilot, a careful pilot," Robinett said. "Even Eddie Rickenbacker himself could not have saved the plane," he said, Invoking the World War I flying ace.
Gregg County Justice of the Peace Arthur Fort visited the accident site to pronounce Southern dead. He said Southern's plane disintegrated on hitting the ground. He has ordered an autopsy.
Southern is survived by his wife, Barbara; a son, Wesley of Longview; and a daughter, Michellea of Santa Fe, N.M. His death comes just a week after Barbara Southern's father died in Odessa, and she was with family in West Texas on Saturday, friends and officials said.
Southern had been participating in aerobatics, which he described as an aerial ballet, for about five years. He trained regularly with an instructor, Robinett said, and the skillful flying style was something he had always wanted to try.
"Aerobatics, that was his passion," Robinett said. "He had wanted to do this all of his life."
Most people don't know what aerobatics are, Southern told the Longview News-Journal last year. So he sometimes described himself as a stunt pilot, but he despised the label.
"I hate the term stunt pilot," he said, "because it has connotations of someone who is taking unusual risks. There is nothing further from the truth about the sport of aerobatics."
Southern had been competing in aerobatics for about three years, placing 16th in his class nationally in 2001. He skipped the 2002 competition for his daughter's wedding, but was planning to participate at an upcoming contest.
Southern emphasized safety in his flying and made sure he was in good physical shape to handle the rigors of aerobatics, losing 40 pounds during his first two years of aerobatic flying. A 12-minute competitive flight can put six G's of force (six times the force of gravity) on a pilot, compared with the two G's of a roller coaster.
Southern previously said he dreamed of flying as a boy, working his way up from model planes to radio-controlled planes and overcoming setbacks to take his first flight at age 21. He stalled his air career after five years to raise a family. Southern, who has a doctorate from the University of Texas and a master's degree from Southern Methodist University, worked for 30 years as a chemist with Eastman Chemical Co.
Southern returned to the hobby in the mid-1980s, flying cross-country and using planes on family trips and vacations.
He was the president and chief financial officer for Cardinal Premium Finance of Longview. He also was an enthusiastic booster for Longview, participating in Leadership Longview, Opera Longview and last year's Christmas at the Courthouse.
He was well-known as a driving force behind the Great Texas Balloon Race, regularly organizing the airplane demonstrations.
Vice chairman for the upcoming race, Southern was scheduled to chair the 2004 festival. Race Chairman Troy Moore said Southern's loss is a blow to the community.
"He was definitely an important part of the success of the race," Moore said Saturday
