Co-pilot plunges from small plane

[frankbama]

yes, but i don't like them i'm more of an albatross fan. seaplanes requiring a type now thats cool.

 

[rumpletumbler]

"Plunges" (snicker)

RT

 

[dmspilot00]

Re: 9000ft ??

C152 @ 9000Ft doing steep turns ??? and where was the guys seatbelt......this CFI is in big trouble if you ask me.

9000 feet is quite odd. But CFI in big trouble? Why, is the CFI supposed to continuosly monitor the other pilot's seatbelt status at all times? I think that's a little too much to ask.

Too bad airplanes don't have little beeping idiot lights on them that go on when the seatbelt is unbuckled or door opened. Yeah, I flew solo in a 172 once and about 20 minutes after I took off, I finally realized the passenger-side door was open. Oops.

Edit:
I guess it was 9500 feet!! Holy crap!

FAA Prelim. incident report:
ACFT LANDED WITHOUT INCIDENT AFTER STUDENT PILOT JUMPED OUT OF ACFT WITHOUT A PARACHUTE AT 9,500 FEET, HOUSTON, TX

Perhaps the student's medical condition involved oxygen, and his judgement was affected by the high altitude! Really, though, if you're going to commit suicide, don't do it from an airplane. You would save a lot of hassle if you just jumped off a bridge or gassed yourself with CO.

 

[Toy Soldier]

Ain't the first

As a former skydiver, I remember a news article about a dude coming to static-line ground school, spending the day doing the class and practice, then undoing his leg straps on the jump.......

 

[ILS JNKY]

jumper a way

well, that goes to show that you never realy know who your stuident is.


that has to hurt,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[PilotMonkey]

You guys are all assuming that it was a student that jumped out. The report says it was the co-pilot of the C-152. He must have been busted down from Captain by the airline that he flew for. This explains why he wasnt wearing his parachute!!

How clueless is the media on aviation issues??!!

 

[TurboS7]

Maybe the co-pilot had a very large bankroll and was married to a flight attendant.

 

[COOPERVANE]

9000 feet? how about STEEP TURNS at 9000 feet.

Instr- "O.K. lets try those steep turns we talked about"
Student - "Higher"
Instr-" well......... O.K." (20 min climb)
Instr-"now try"
Student - "higher" (20 more min.)
Instr- "now try"
Student - "higher"
Instr- "hey, where'd you..."


"Deceleration trauma"

 

[VFR on Top]

It was probably a suicide--the dude was a private pilot, lost his medical.

 

[avbug]

I'm not sure why anybody thinks that 9,000 is a strange place for doing airwork. Much better than 200', I would think. It's quite possible that other things were being performed at that altitude, and the instructor elected to request steep turns there. I've spent plenty of time there, with students.

Anybody who has ever exited an airplane like that in flight through a standard production door has an appreciation for the difficulty in doing so. It's not easy.

Why is everyone so quick to jump on murder or suicide, when plainly this is probably an alien abduction?

Figure on ten seconds to terminal, then six seconds per thousand, for a grand total of fifty eight seconds of pure bliss, followed by a very sudden stop at the end. Quick, relatively painless, no reasonable expectation (didn't see it coming) based on amost certain sensory overload, there are much worse ways to go.

If there was no big insurance policy in force, it had to be aliens. Because it was Texas, I'd say illegal aliens, but being at 9,000', we can probably fix on extraterrestrials. But that probably goes without saying...