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Jack, I don't agree with you about Jeff Ethell. First let me say he was a friend, I consider him a very good person, so maybe I am biased in his favor . But there is one thing I know that some, if not all of his critics may not; I flew with Jeff. Not just saw him fly or in the same airshow, but in the same plane. At a Ca. show, Madera or Minter Field, I did a dual flight with Jeff in my Spitfire. He flew just fine in the rear seat and the first roll he did was as good as anyone I've flown with. I also flew in formation next to Jeff in a 51, as well as in many shows. I never saw any problems with his flying. As for as ego, every pilot has some in the sense that you want to be good and think you can do it. But of all pilots, as for as I knew I NEVER saw him as the braggard type too good to listen or learn.
As for as not getting a P-38 checkout, I think that is not really true. There are no dual control P-38s, so there is no dual checkout. Anyone, whether it is a low time pilot or Howard Pardue can only go the same route, that is to read the pilot manual, sit in the cockpit and get familiar. You may watch others fly one and/or talk to experienced pilots in one. But there's no simulator and no dual time. I don't know who Jeff talked to, but his Dad had flown them and it is reasonable to believe he got that advice and more, perhaps from Lefty or Bill Ross. What else would you have done? At the time of the accident Jeff had already flown a 38 successfully, even made a video on it. He had a much of a checkout as anyone on a one seat plane. There no squawking from the owner until assets were lost.
Now was he legal? Maybe not, as I understand it he had unlimited piston rating, also a B-25 rating and flew/owned a D-18 twin. But since a 38 is heavy he needed a type rating, which I guess he did not have. Did this cause the accident or is it more of a legal catch? I have heard an experienced check pilot say Jeff needed a heavy twin checkout. This pilot could legally give it to Jeff. But this pilot has zero P-38 time, so maybe it would only be some B-25 or similar, which Jeff already had. This checkout would have made it legal, and might have made Jeff more current, but I don't think it was the difference in the accident. Did Jeff make a mistake, probably. I don't agree with the idea that he was a bad pilot, many other people trusted him to fly their planes. For example he flew Rudy Frasca's Mk XVIII, and well. Above all, I thought Jeff was good people.
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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK
Last edited by Bill Greenwood on Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:19 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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