Plane down off Destin, FL- 2 aboard, search underway

[lmritger]

Just saw a news item over on Hyperscale referencing this and confirmed it with the Northwest Florida Daily News... a yellow aircraft, possibly WWII vintage, crashed into the Gulf and burned around 12:30 today. No word on the two people aboard yet... here's hoping they somehow made it out.

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/underway-30612-crashes-destin.html

Lynn

[RyanShort1]

According to another WIXer - who is on the scene (or nearby) - it was a T-6 and someone who was a friend. Twitter posts indicate the aircraft was performing aerobatic maneuvers. Suggest because of personal relationships it would be best not to speculate further or name names until after it is officially reported.

Ryan

[Silverplate]

Another news link with photos

http://www.thedestinlog.com/news/mexico ... -gulf.html

Sad

[Nathan]

According to another WIXer - who is on the scene (or nearby) - it was a T-6 and someone who was a friend. Twitter posts indicate the aircraft was performing aerobatic maneuvers. Suggest because of personal relationships it would be best not to speculate further or name names until after it is officially reported.

Ryan

Roger that!

[Nathan]

I hate it when these articles have optional comment boxes to add opinions. Already a bunch of cruel and joking remarks about the crash.

I am sorry to even post my venting on this. Feel free to delete. It's just frustrating......

[RyanShort1]

A truly frightening comment there included this:

A friend working beach service saw that the plane had a near miss with an advertising plane and after it's evasive maneuver...never regained control.

Ryan

[Dave Lindauer]

Nathan - I fully agree with you regarding the posting of insensitive remarks. I saw this after a friend's son was murdered. People who knew none of the facts posted horrible comments that I pray were never seen by his family. I feel for the families and friends of the folks involved in this accident and hope that they can be spared any more of this junk.

[warbird1]

Names have been released. Condolences to everyone affected. Blue skies.

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/underw ... estin.html

[daveymac82c]

That is very sad news. My condolences go out to the family and friends of the two men.

Peace,

David

[astixjr]

Very sad news. I've always enjoyed watching the T-6/SNJs fly on our family vacations down there. My thoughts and prayers are with their family and friends.

[mustangdriver]

Very sad news. I tried to explain old aircraft to the masses on that thread but they are just a nasty bunch on there. I think it is completely tasteless to make jokes about the crash.

[mrhenniger]

Which T-6 is it?

Mike

[Tim Savage]

Unfortunately, my wife and I were witnesses to this horrible event.

We were in Destin, Florida for a getaway without the boys since we hadn't had a chance to get away since we got married last June. We were on the beach and I saw Tim come down the beach and immediately recognized the airplane since it was the first of four T-6s that Midwest Texans rebuilt before it closed. This aircraft was N92778, a T-6G which won Grand Champion at both Oshkosh and Sun n Fun. I commented to my wife that it was kind of cool to see an airplane I had a small part in preserving and had a considerable amout of hours at controls.

Tim was making passes down the beach and doing wing overs and duster turns centered on a restaurant that was located about 1/4 east of the beach from our condo. I didn't see him doing any loops or rolls when I was watching him, which was probably consistent for 10 or 15 minutes. I can't say what he was doing prior to his arrival at my portion of beach. I have to admit, I wasn't very comfortable with what I was observing and my wife commented that I was getting pretty ancy. I know it sounds contrived given the events that transpired, but I was just about to tell my wife that I was concerned about Tim and was afraid he was going to hit the water, when he did. It looked to me that he did a wingover too lower and just went in the water. I can't be sure, because I am still in shock from seeing a friend and former customer die in front of my eyes. You can't be in this 'business' for too long without losing friends and acquaintances and I have lost a number, but this is the first time it has happened right in front of me.

I had last seen Tim in April when he and I got together for a few hours at the Destin airport to catch up. This was right after Evan had been killed in his SNJ-6 along the same beach. We discussed Evan's accident and Tim made the comment that he was going to be very careful along the beach from now on, and make sure he maintained a lot of altitude whenever he did any manuevering. I haven't talked to Tim since that day in April.

I understand from other sources that his daughter's wedding was today (Saturday) and that his wife and the wife of his brother-in-law Tim (who was in the backseat) were on the beach watching...maybe from one of the two large restaurants in the vicinity.

I am pretty sick about this. Maybe a little angry. It was another needless accident. We need to be more careful out there.

PS. The part about him avoiding the tow-plane and never recovering is complete bunk. He was offset from the tow-plane and was not manuerving to avoid him from what I can tell.

[Dan K]

Thank you, Tim.

That was a difficult message at a tough time for you to write, but it needed to be said.

[Robbie Stuart]

Tim, I know that took a lot out of you to witness what happened, especially knowing the pilot involved. Godspeed to the 2 people lost, & my sincere condolences to all affected by this accident. Thanks for letting us know what you saw.
Robbie