typhoonpilot
Daddy
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2002
- Posts
- 1,381
I don't know if this was posted here yet or not, but a former colleague of mine was killed in a recent crash in Northern California, story and link below.
http://www.alpineaviationonline.com/Events_index.htm
Federal aviation investigators were trying to figure out Tuesday what
> caused an aerobatic airplane to crash at the Oroville Municipal
> Airport during a training session a day earlier.
>
> Butte County officials had not yet identified the bodies. However,
> Nevada County flight afficcionados believed the airplane's flight
> instructor was Gary "Bear" Smith, 63, of Grass Valley. His student was
> believed to be from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Officials did say next of
> kin had been notified.
>
> Smith had been a decorated Vietnam-era Navy pilot who flew more than
> 300 missions. Later, he was selected to fly with the celebrated Blue
> Angels Navy aerobatic demonstration team.
>
> The yellow-and-white plane Smith and his student were flying, a 2002
> American Champion Super Decathlon, took off from Nevada County Airport
> at about 2 p.m. Monday for a training session, local airport manager
> Greg Marshall said.
>
> The Super Decathlon is a light-weight craft with a tubular metal
> fusilage covered with cloth. It is designed for advanced aerobatics.
>
> A yellow-and-white plane of that sort was seen Monday afternoon at the
> Oroville Municipal Airport, said Eric Teitelman, airport manager
> there. "They were doing touch-and-goes and aerobatics," Teitelman
> said.
>
> At about 2:45 p.m., the plane rose straight into the air, then dove
> straight down into a nearby meadow off Larkin Road, according to a
> witness report published Tuesday in the Oroville Mercury-Register. The
> fire caused a small fire in the vegetation in the field about a
> half-mile south-east of the airport.
>
> "It was climbing and then just stopped climbing and turned back down
> with its nose first and headed straight down to the ground," witness
> Shirley Sherron of Biggs told the Mercury-Register.
>
> "That was not a pretty sight," Teitelman said. The craft was burned so
> badly that the registration numbers were destroyed, delaying the
> plane's identification.
>
> Smith had been had been an instructor-pilot and certified charter
> pilot for about a year at Alpine Aviation near the Nevada County
> Airport, school owner Gordon Mills said.
>
> "The (Federal Aviation Administration) confirmed it was our airplane.
> We do not have confirmation on the bodies untiil the Butte County
> Coronor positively identifies the bodies," Mills said.
>
> The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the
> accident, Mills added.
>
> Butte County Chief Deputy Coroner John Kuhn said he expected a
> tentative identification later today. On Wednesday, he will perform an
> autopsy, using dental records to positively identify the bodies, he
> said.
>
> Mills said an accident of this type "is very unusual" for Nevada
> County pilots.
>
> "We've strived and worked very hard for this not to happen. We've
> never had an incident like this (at Alpine Aviation). Never," Mills
> said.
I believe this happaned on the 10th.
Bear was a test pilot at McDonnell Douglas/Boeing in Long Beach before retiring to Northern California. Heck of a nice guy who'd had a pretty amazing career in aviation.
May God rest his soul.
Typhoonpilot
