Warbird Information Exchange

Curtiss was a very nice young man and a good T-6 pilot, he also had a FAST Wing card and flew a good formation. Very sad to lose him.
Stoney Stonich
President NATA

Only 22, and had his own AT-6?

To echo Stoney... Curtiss was probably one of the nicest people you could ever meet. His loss will be felt by many within the T-6 community who had the opportunity to fly with him. He was a good stick and was type rated in a whole bunch of biz-jets as well, as his father owned a large aircraft sales organization.

I've been a WIX lurker for quite some time, but I feel that now is the appropriate time to make a first post. As a young T-6 pilot, I got to meet Curtis at the NATA fly-ins prior to OshKosh every year and this year when I was finally able to bring my own T-6, I looked forward to putting together a flight with him. We never worked out a time b/c it seemed as if he always had another flight proud to take him on and I always figured there would be more time. He was well respected by all in the T-6 community and known to be a solid stick despite his age. While Stoney and Tim have already expressed this, I feel that another time is needed b/c Curtis was that kind of guy. He was a person who made you feel proud to be associated with him. This 'kid' who was taming one North American's fiercest and it made me impressed, jealous, and motivated to do the same. Of course, I think this is why it hits so hard when I realize he's gone. I don't feel justified in being this upset by his loss because I know there are thousands more out there who knew him better and will miss him more. I was simply a week long acquaintence of him, an OshKosh buddy who he added to his cell phone before blasting off towards home. But this community is built in that way, which is something that makes it so special. Curtis died sharing his love of aviation with others as he gave rides to community members and the I feel like the least we could all do to remember him is to take a moment and think about how we fly our birds, to consider some unnecessary risks we might've taken (that final flown a little low, that base turn flown a little slow, etc) and make a decision to not let it happen again. This is not to make any assumptions about why Curtis's T-6 went down or whether he was at fault or not, b/c I do not know. What I do know is that he was a good, safe pilot and if this can happen to him then it can happen to me. Curtis Bell was a fine man, a good pilot, and an upstanding representative of the warbird community and he will be missed by all!
Jason Griffin

Regretfully this accident happened, and it's extremely sad. At any rate, there have been a few accidents and close calls in T-6s due to loss of power. The majority of these have been caused by a faulty fuel selector valve cork "cone". When switched the rotted cork doesn't gets stuck and doesn't rotate to the other tank. There is a treflon cone available, but they are not STC'd yet.

Chris

Thanks Jason, you said it better then I could.

About the fuel valve, many years ago, Walt Ohlrich told me two things about it; never switch tanks except over an airport and never turn off the fuel, it keeps the cork wet. I feel that because of that, in 24 years of flying my SNJ I never had a problem.

I bow to the master...

Stoney: same in the Mustang.
(The quiet really scares me).

I understand the pilot/owner was selling rides has part of a community event. No matter what the cause of this tragic accident, this has lawsuit written all over it. I'm curious how other operators deal with the issue of passenger liability. What's your feelings on this issue Vlado?? Or anyone else??

I can still trip over that crack in the sidewalk and sue the city.

not here you can't.

because of massive numbers of legal proceedings over faulty things such as footpaths almost all of our local insurers have rewritten the policies for local government so that if you fall and get hurt, as my wife did recently, the best you can hope for is replacement of any costs incurred because of the fall and the repair of that section of footpath.

Jeff:

How about this: people sue over anything and everything, so why would it matter. It would be no different if this guy who rode in this T-6 crashed in a car and was killed. You're killed on the ground rather than in the air.

Reminds me of the often said phrase here ' only in America'

If you did that here, you would be told to 'watch where you were bloody well going'

Dave

ROB,
I DIDN'T EXPECT SOME SMART REMARK ABOUT SIDEWALK CRACKS IN RESPONSE TO MY POST. MY COMMENTS WERE MADE IN ALL SINCERITY.
I'VE NEVER SEEN THE FLYPAST BOARD SO I'M NOT SURE OF THE NATURE OF THE REFERENCE YOUR MAKING TO IT. IT'S NOT MY INTENT TO DIMINISH THE GREAT LOSS THESE 2 FAMILIES ARE SUFFERING THOUGH OR TO USE THE TRAGEDY HAS AN EXCUSE TO JUMP ON MY SOAP BOX. LIABILITY IS A VERY SERIOUS ISSUE. I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT IT WEIGHTS HEAVILY ON THE MIND OF THE OWNER/PILOT OF ANY AIRCRAFT FROM BUGSMASHER TO WARBIRD. BECAUSE THIS ACCIDENT OCCURED WHILE A RIDE WAS BEING GIVEN THERE UNDOUBTLY WILL BE A LAWSUIT. THIS YOUNG MAN'S FAMILY HAS SUFFERED PLENTLY ALREADY I ONLY HOPE THEY DON'T LOSE MORE IN IT'S AFTERMATH. JACK COOK