Stoney wrote:
Since this happened, I have been quiet because I didn't know the facts, but since Tim Savage written his note on it I want to add something. In the 25 years I have run NATA the association has lost too many members to accidents of low altitude acro over land and water. I feel that these could have been prevented if the pilots had just flown higher. I know 20/20 hindsight is easy, but after 7 or 8 friends kill themselves, a normal person get a little p!$$ off that they do this.
Showing off is fun, but remember you can only tie the low altitude record.
To Tim, I am sorry you had to witness that, it must have been incredibly difficult. I can empathize, as I have seen somebody die in a warbird in front of my own eyes. It is not something I want to ever see again. It grips you and affects you for weeks, even months. Even now, many years later, I still think about that nightmare from time to time. Thanks for your input Tim.
Stoney, why do you suppose that is? Do you think that is becoming a trend? I can understand it from a young person's perspective, as I too did stupid human tricks in an airplane at low level, but I was in my early 20's. Would I do that now - absolutely not! Sometimes I shudder to think about all the stupid things I did in my early aviation career. But this person was older - 57 years old. Usually when you get older you tend to make more mature and conservative flying decisions. It's the same rationale that insurance companies use for insuring their male motorists. The MOST expensive auto insurance is for males, under the age of 25. They figure that by that age, they have already "sewed their wild oats" with driving immaturely and also have more experience. The same parallel could be said here with flying.
I have done low-level aerobatics before, but as a passenger, with my pilot being a highly experienced crop duster pilot who knew what he was doing and was intimately aware of where the ground was. Even then, with all my confidence in him, looking straight down at the ground at 500' AGL with the nose 90 degrees nose low, is not exactly comforting. I guess I just don't understand. I've done aerobatics low, and high, and to me they are much more fun up at altitude. It just gives you so much more buffer in case something goes wrong.
Back to the original question. Stoney, do you think there is not enough institutional emphasis on NOT accomplishing low-level aerobatics in the T-6? Do you think that all the successful T-6 aerobatic demo acts in the past, have "lulled" T-6 operators into a false sense of security, making them think the T-6 is very well suited for the low-level environment, even in "inexperienced" hands?
This is not meant to be critical of the pilot, but I'm just trying to figure out what would motivate somebody to do something like this? Typically speaking, I would hazard a guess that your average T-6 pilot would NOT be a student pilot with low hours - quite the contrary. I can understand this accident if it happened to a 22 year old who was new to the flying experience, but not to a 58 year old experienced pilot. Hence, my inability to comprehend why this would happen.
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