Planes Of Fame Hellcat destroyed in fatal accident

[Randy Haskin]

Passing this along for the Baugh family via e-mail:

"The Planes of Fame Hellcat crashed and burned this evening near Monterrey, Tenn. It apparently clipped a powerline above Interstate I-40 .No survivors. Flames 40 feet in the air . Sorry to have have to pass this information forward.

Marine Air, Nashville, Tennessee"

Here is a news report:

http://www.herald-citizen.com/NF/omf.wn ... story.html?[rkey=0037269+[cr=gdn

Plane crashes on I-40 near Monterey
By JILL THOMAS
Herald-Citizen Staff

MONTEREY -- A single engine plane crashed on a median of Interstate 40 Saturday afternoon near Monterey causing at least one fatality, massive traffic delays on the interstate, power outages in Monterey and power surges in Cookeville.
An eyewitness to the event said he was driving past the I-40 Monterey 298 mile post at about 4:30 p.m. when he saw a single-engine plane "that looked like a vintage World War ll plane" flying about 60-feet in the air apparently trying to make an emergency landing.

"It looked like the pilot was trying to follow the interstate," said Jim Winters of Monterey. "It was like a movie to see that plane suddenly appear. He wasn't that far above me. I thought I'd have to move out of the way."

Winters then saw the plane briefly through his rear window as it headed west and saw "fire fly" when he thought the plane may have hit a power line. Officials confirmed one fatality Saturday, though no details were available.

According to a report from the Associated Press, Melissa McDonald, Tennessee Highway Patrol spokeswoman, said no drivers on the interstate were hurt in the crash.

At press time, there was no information on how many people were in the plane or the extent of their injuries.

The Monterey Fire Department, Putnam County Fire Department, Putnam County EMS and Emergency Services Agency and the Tennessee Highway Patrol were working together on handling the resulting fire and traffic, officials said.

Authorities have notified the FAA.

Published October 08, 2005 8:44 PM CDT

[JANSSONNE]

Bad news which I have just learned !!!

A year really very black for the people of Warbirds !!!

My condolences for the family of the Pilot.

ERIC JANSSONNE

[Brian]

God, this makes me sick to my stomach. We just had the Hellcat at our show in August. On behalf of the Historical Aircraft Squadron, our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the pilot and the POF.

[JANSSONNE]

Hi Brian,

I understand you especially if you met the pilot and considering the "Hellcat" in August!!!

Afflicted, but I am French, what is it "Historical Aircraft Squadron", I don't know ???

You have a Web site ???

ERIC JANSSONNE

[Mike]

A tragic loss indeed. Sincere condolences to all at PoF.

Eric, the website you asked about can be found at http://www.historicalaircraftsquadron.com/index.html I hope this is of help.

[Rob Mears]

Amyone have a clue who's been piloting the plane at recent shows?

[JANSSONNE]

Thank you Mike for the link and information,

Best regard,

ERIC JANSSONNE

[Mike]

Amyone have a clue who's been piloting the plane at recent shows?

I'm sure it would be sensitive not to indulge in any speculation at this stage Rob.

[Chuck Gardner]

Mike is correct. The information will be out soon enough. It would be desrespectful to discuss this so early after the event. I know that we all care about the pilot, plane, and museum that it was involved with and just want to know.
Please just wait for the information to be released through official avenues.

[JANSSONNE]

Mike and Chuck are correct, it is necessary to be careful
on the reasons and them causes of the accident !!!

ERIC JANSSONNE

[Scott Rose]

It is my understanding that the next of kin have been notified and since this news has been reported elsewhere by now I am releasing this post. There were several posts sequestered but they are redundant to this one and were sequestered before any notable responses were made. Thus I will release only this one and leave the other ones in storage.

One this I ask of all of you. Please be respectful and leave wild speculation off the forum. These topics often get out of hand quickly and I would ask you to wait until more information presents itself. Wild speculation serves no purpose and can be harmful to those involved with this aircraft so please leave it out of the forum.

Thanks for understanding and cooperating.

My condolences go out to the Vance family and all thier friends and supporters.

[Manonthefence]

This is a direct copy of my post on Flypast. I apologise if you read it twice

This is very sad news.

A few words about Art from a friend of mine, I was asked if I would post this anonymously.

He was
what every warbird pilot wanted to be...cool under pressure, low key, level
headed and funny, with a VERY dry sense of humor. I remember talking to him
at Reno about Matt Jackson and how he was upset about being called for the
pylon cut and thought it unfair. I told Art I was going to give him the
pole in the Sunday race, to which Art said, "**** him, it's just whinny baby
crap". Art spent several evenings on the phone with me going over the finer
points of air racing, and really went out of his way at Reno rookie school.
I remember being upset about my airplane being down with a bad fuel pump at
Reno in June and thinking I wasn't going to get my race license. Art took
me aside and told me not to worry, that air racing needed younger guys who
would race and return to keep the sport alive.

Art also told me that Reno is the most dangerous flying we're likely to do,
and he described it as "reasonably dangerous". "You need to be prepared to
accept that this is an endeavor in which people die", he said to me.

After I finished my Commercial Pilot's License I asked Art if I should send
a copy to Reno right away, or wait until we got to the air races. "****
them, I never send any information to RARA. It's none of their goddamn
business what my paperwork looks like. You're an Unlimited Air Racer now,
so you had better get used to being a bit of an elitest. This isn't the
Sport Class."

Several years ago Art bailed out of a burning Corsair at a few hundred feet,
coming down almost on top of the wreckage. He said that in hindsight he
probably stayed with the airplane too long, but thought it was pretty tough
to know when exactly too long was when you were sitting in a burning
Corsair. His bailout procedure that he taught me was the 3
asses...plexiglas, harness, my ass. I asked him if I should take a jump
class to learn about parachutes, as I know nothing about them. "Ever watch
a John Wayne western?", Art asked me. "Sure", I said. "Well then, you know
everything there is to know about killing Indians, don't you.", which he
said while pretending to shoot an imaginary six gun. "OK Art", I said, "I
get it".

Thanks again for letting me know about this. Sorry to wax on, but it seems
to help put some closure to the loss of a friend. So many people told me
that Art was such a tough ass, and hard to get along with. I found him to
actually have a very soft side, which he hid well.

Blue skies Art, blue skies.

[Randy Haskin]

Geat post, MOTF.

Like with the news of losing Bobby Younkin and Jimmy Franklin, I was shocked to hear the name of the lost pilot. Amazing loss to the warbird family, and he will be deeply missed.

[TimAPNY]

My thoughts & Prayers go out to Family and friends.

[Robbie Stuart]

Very sad news! I also offer my thoughts & prayers to those affected by this terrible accident. We have lost some very good aviators this year.
Blue Skies Art
Regards
Robbie