Plane crashes into Northwest Austin building

[waka]

You're an imbecile.

Coming from you, than means a lot!

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

And no doubt some stupid new rules lay in store for GA in an effort to make everyone feel safe.

Dirt

I'm sure TSA and Homeland (In)Security are ready to pounce. Not that GA is thriving but I speculate this will be yet another obstacle to overcome. Oh well, maybe TSA and DHS will hire more people so we can spy on each other.

 

[Ad Lib]

How can anyone empathize with, or support this man's actions?

First, as a pilot he knows that General Aviation is threatened by the very forces he rallies against and that our only defense to maintain our freedom is the safety and security standards that keep General Aviation non threatening to the general population.

Second, his act was so random and non specific as to not even be targeted. He would have been much more effective talking on the college lecture circuit, or publishing, or going to Rotary Meetings to air his grievances. Better yet, he could have got involved in charitable work and wrote that off on his taxes.

The IRS employees in that building likely had nothing at all to do with his case, and even if every employee in the building was involved, is it worth killing some kids parents for a $1,500 tax debt? That's just stupid.

Anyone else see how ridiculous it is for a guy with a wife and kid, a 2,500 square foot house and an airplane to kill himself over some piddling sum of money.

The whole thing reflects incredible selfishness, stupidity and insanity. How anyone, PARTICULARLY PILOTS, could emphasize with this guy is sad. I've got a similar airplane in my hangar and I dread all the stupid questions and dread the reaction the Homeland Security folks are going to have to this. Joe Stack did a lot to take freedom away from the rest of us.

 

[Salukipilot4590]

How can anyone empathize with, or support this man's actions?

em·pa·thy - the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.

I definitely don't agree with his method or actions but I feel his pain.

First, as a pilot he knows that General Aviation is threatened by the very forces he rallies against and that our only defense to maintain our freedom is the safety and security standards that keep General Aviation non threatening to the general population.

Second, his act was so random and non specific as to not even be targeted. He would have been much more effective talking on the college lecture circuit, or publishing, or going to Rotary Meetings to air his grievances. Better yet, he could have got involved in charitable work and wrote that off on his taxes.

That would be what a rational person would do. When you "snap" you're no longer rational. It could happen to anyone, especially if you hold sh*t in or are weak willed.

The IRS employees in that building likely had nothing at all to do with his case, and even if every employee in the building was involved, is it worth killing some kids parents for a $1,500 tax debt? That's just stupid.

Anyone else see how ridiculous it is for a guy with a wife and kid, a 2,500 square foot house and an airplane to kill himself over some piddling sum of money.

Once again, no rational person would do this...if Stack was acting rationally he wouldn't have set fire to his house, endangered his family, and flown his plane into an IRS building.

The whole thing reflects incredible selfishness, stupidity and insanity. How anyone, PARTICULARLY PILOTS, could emphasize with this guy is sad. I've got a similar airplane in my hangar and I dread all the stupid questions and dread the reaction the Homeland Security folks are going to have to this. Joe Stack did a lot to take freedom away from the rest of us.

Joe did nothing to take freedom away from us, in 2002 Charles Bishop crashed a stolen Cessna 172 into a building in Tampa, given how close to 9/11 that was did you see anything really change? Not really.

Tiger Woods is now the big thing on TV, the world keeps turning and soon...like 9/11, most people will forget this happened.

 

[Ad Lib]

Joe did nothing to take freedom away from us, in 2002 Charles Bishop crashed a stolen Cessna 172 into a building in Tampa, given how close to 9/11 that was did you see anything really change? Not really.

Tiger Woods is now the big thing on TV, the world keeps turning and soon...like 9/11, most people will forget this happened.

Well yes, I did see a lot change. At the airport where my father and I built the taxiways, I was required to get a full background check, finger printed, credit check and a photo ID to enter the security perimeter and visit the place where I grew up as a child. The place where I rode my bike to my first flying lessons, where I solo'd, bought my first airplane and embarked on a career.

Today, a kid would find the gate locked and if he managed to get in and look at the airplanes "concerned" people would call the cops.

Wonder why general aviation is dying? Here's your answer. We build walls to keep people out. No more front porches full of aspiring customers on Saturday afternoons.

 

[Salukipilot4590]

Well yes, I did see a lot change. At the airport where my father and I built the taxiways, I was required to get a full background check, finger printed, credit check and a photo ID to enter the security perimeter and visit the place where I grew up as a child. The place where I rode my bike to my first flying lessons, where I solo'd, bought my first airplane and embarked on a career.

Today, a kid would find the gate locked and if he managed to get in and look at the airplanes "concerned" people would call the cops.

Wonder why general aviation is dying? Here's your answer. We build walls to keep people out. No more front porches full of aspiring customers on Saturday afternoons.

Wow...where do YOU fly? That's really sad! As for me, nothing has changed security wise and I operate out of a large GA airport in socal.

Tiger's got the spotlight again and this will all go away by Monday.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

Probably a conservative... right wing type...

 

[gfvalvo]

Damage by PA28

I'm absolutely astounded by the extent of damage I'm seeing in the pictures online. I've always maintained that something like a PA28 couldn't carry enough fuel to cause something like this. Remember the C172 that hit the building in FL shortly after 9/11? The building yawned and shrugged it off. Score:
Building 1, Light Plane 0

I don't want to start a bunch of irresponsible, uniformed speculation (we have the news media for that), but could he have been carrying extra fuel in the cabin? Or, maybe explosives? I certainly hope not as it will give even more ammo to the anti-GA nuts and politicians.

Greg

 

[islandhopper]

Well this didnt take long at all. At least the media waited a whole day.

Austin plane crash exposes gap in US air security

GEORGETOWN, Texas – After 9/11, cockpit doors were sealed, air marshals were added and airport searches became more aggressive, all to make sure an airliner could never again be used as a weapon. Yet little has been done to guard against attacks with smaller planes.

That point was driven home with chilling force on Thursday when a Texas man with a grudge against the IRS crashed his single-engine plane into an office building in a fiery suicide attack. One person inside the building was also killed.

"It's a big gap," said R. William Johnstone, an aviation security consultant and former staff member of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks. "It wouldn't take much, even a minor incident involving two simultaneously attacking planes, to inflict enough damage to set off alarm bells and do some serious harm to the economy and national psyche."

 

[getonit]

The ire should be directed at Congress, they are the ones who have created this abysmal, special interest, complex tax code. The IRS is the one who has to enforce it. They are under pressure to raise every single dollar because the morons in DC keep spending like women at a shoe store.
(I was going to use drunken sailors, but somebody said they stop spending money when they don't have any left)

 

[Amish RakeFight]

I'm absolutely astounded by the extent of damage I'm seeing in the pictures online. I've always maintained that something like a PA28 couldn't carry enough fuel to cause something like this. Remember the C172 that hit the building in FL shortly after 9/11? The building yawned and shrugged it off. Score:
Building 1, Light Plane 0

I don't want to start a bunch of irresponsible, uniformed speculation (we have the news media for that), but could he have been carrying extra fuel in the cabin? Or, maybe explosives? I certainly hope not as it will give even more ammo to the anti-GA nuts and politicians.

Greg

A drum of fuel was missing from the departure field. There's also a report that he had the rear seats removed.

 

[DieselDragRacer]

A drum of fuel was missing from the departure field. There's also a report that he had the rear seats removed.

I'd be curious how he supposedly manhandled a ~350# drum into the plane......

 

[islandhopper]

As soon as I saw the video that morning I knew the explosion was a little large. The guys house going up first is also indicative of a possible cover up.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/19/texas.plane.crash/index.html?hpt=T1

I also find the client list of Stack's software company as curious. He wrote software for the NSA, Homeland Security and other military contractors. The software he was writing? Among other things he worked for Interstate Electronics Corporation, which among other neat gee whiz projects also is developing a GPS-based Fight Management System.

The FBI had the page removed but here is the archive http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:embeddedart.com/customers.htm&ie=UTF-8

Now before anyone jumps on my junk and accuses me of being a tin foil hat wearing nut job... I don't think Stack was kidnapped by men in black and/or his airplane flown by remote control to satisfy some evil overlords agendas.

Yes I did say cover up, but it doesn't have to be a government cover up.

I would like to know why hasn't anyone suggested that since the guy was a seemingly extremely intelligent software engineer for several government contractors developing GPS and remote control aircraft systems, why couldn't the guy set up and program his own aircraft to fly by remote control and then run off to some remote Nicaragua or Thai beach hideaway with his girlfriend?

Think about it, a guy as smart as him, even if he has had enough of the IRS and others, a guy like this isn't going to trip and go postal. He seemed like an independant thinker. His friends are all smart people too. I think he is on a beach somewhere stirring his drinks with his middle finger.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

I'd be curious how he supposedly manhandled a ~350# drum into the plane......

It was empty when carried in and fueled once inside?

 

[DieselDragRacer]

It was empty when carried in and fueled once inside?

Duh?

:laugh:

But wait it said a drum of fuel was missing....not an empty fuel drum was missing.....maybe I'm not that dense after all?

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Duh?

:laugh:

But wait it said a drum of fuel was missing....not an empty fuel drum was missing.....maybe I'm not that dense after all?

Perhaps he drained it before refilling?

Never took you for dense.

I have no idea WTF this guy did. Media states a drum was missing; whether it was coincidental or not, he did create quite an inferno. I do like islandhoppers theory though. Im into the conspiracy angle, often. Makes reality seem real.