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T-6 Crash

Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:39 pm

No details, but here is the initial.

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 494S Make/Model: AT6D Description: NORTH AMERICAN
AT-6D
Date: 10/15/2005 Time: 2230

Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N
Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
City: MOCKSVILLE State: NC Country: US

Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:44 pm

T-6G Pilot.... see my post above. We must have been typing at the same time.

More

Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:44 pm

HUNTSVILLE, N.C. — A Mocksville man remains in critical condition after a plane crash that left another man dead on Saturday.

Fred A. Smith, 58, also of Mocksville, was killed, WGHP-TV in High Point reported.

Todd Naylor, 41, was flown to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and was listed in critical condition Sunday night.

The single-engine, military replica plane crashed in a rural area near the border of Yadkin and Davie counties shortly before 6:30 p.m., the Yadkin emergency management coordinator said.

Wierd Timing.....

Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:47 pm

Brian,

That sure was strange. Even more so is that when you "google" the N# you see that an airplane bearing that same N# crashed a few years back, a KitFox. I think the FAA should retire this number from their ranks. Bad mojo.........

Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:57 pm

Using other airplanes' registration happens all the time but....

When Bill Spears used Enhorning's Passion Wagon's registration, then the owner even called the airplane Deja Vu.... and sure enough crashed also just two weeks short of the fourth anniversary of the original's fatal crash. Deja Vu all over again. I'm not too superstitious or into the outer fringes of stuff on Coast to Coast with Art Bell BS but that's pushing the limits.

John

Thu Oct 20, 2005 8:27 pm

Hey T-6G pilot!

which one are you? I recognize that paint job anywhere. Must be one of the guys NOT in real estate. Probably Hogan I'd bet.

Glenn

Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:56 pm

"single-engine, military replica plane"???????? :?

Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:30 pm

More info...

Man killed in crash had restored plane
Aviation was his whole life, his wife says
By James Romoser
JOURNAL REPORTER
Tuesday, October 18, 2005


MOCKSVILLE

For Fred Smith, flying was many things: a hobby, a job, a boyhood dream, a lifelong passion.

Smith belonged in the air.

"He loved aviation. That was his whole life," said his wife, Rita.

For decades, he had flown all over the world for US Airways. But the crash that killed him was just a few miles away from his home.

On Saturday evening, Smith, 58, was flying a single-engine AT-6D plane - a vintage military plane he had just finished restoring - when it crashed into woods near the Yadkin-Davie county line.

Rescuers found Smith dead at the crash site, and his passenger, Todd Naylor, seriously injured. Naylor, 41, also of Mocksville, was in critical condition at Wake Forest Baptist University Medical Center after the crash. Naylor is the chief of the Farmington Volunteer Fire Department.

Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration inspected the wreckage yesterday morning.

According to Dale Trivette, the emergency-management coordinator for Yadkin County, it could be months before they determine what caused the crash.

Smith was known as an impeccable pilot. "That's just what he was. Fred was a great pilot and a great instructor," Rita Smith said. "Ever since he was maybe 3, he always had the intention of being a pilot."

He was a captain for US Airways who flew international flights, and he was one year away from retirement.

In his free time, he flew three small private planes, which he kept in a hangar on his property in Davie County. He used a small private airstrip nearby.

Smith's newest plane was the T-6, a training aircraft known as "the Pilot Maker" that was used during World War II.

Smith, with help from his friends, had taken eight years to assemble the plane by hand. On Saturday, he was having a party to celebrate its completion and take people up in it.

Beyond his passion for flying, friends and relatives said they will remember Smith for his generosity and love of his family.

He had four grown children and five grandchildren. The nicknames he gave to his grandchildren were famous in the family. Jake was "Jakester," Marley was "Motorboat," Mila was "Buster," Isaiah was "Shadow," and Hannah was "Sweet-tater."

The plane he was flying when he died also had a name. He called it "Miss Rita," after his wife.

• James Romoser can be reached at 727-7284 or at jromoser@wsjournal.com

This story can be found at: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satel ... 7645509099

Fri Oct 21, 2005 6:56 pm

love the name of the town, Mocksville; rolls off your tongue.

Fri Oct 21, 2005 8:33 pm

Rolls of the tongue? Moxieville!

Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:00 am

Col. Rohr's away home??

Lynn
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