[pabianice]

Denver bought a "Long-EZ" that had been hand-built and was thus registered as "Experimental" with the FAA. The builder placed the fuel tank selection handle in a hard-to-get-at location, not the standard for hand-built models of that plane. Denver was flat-hatting over the water at 500 feet (stupid #1) AGL, ran the fuel tank in use dry (stupid #2), reached for where the tank selector handle should have been, didn't find it (stupid #3), and crashed into the water at high speed (stupid #4). Died. He never even pre-flighted the plane before flying. Idiot. His father was a retired USAF pilot. Bummer, man.

Airplanes don't give a s*** how rich or famous you are. Screw up, die. JFK Jr. took two other people to their deaths the same way. James Horner (composed music for Star Trek, Titanic, Aliens, others) augered in a few years ago (plane vaporized). Baseball player screwed up and hit Manhattan skyline. Another celebrity killed himself flat-hatting in his A-5. The list goes on. The Laws of Physics are strictly enforced.

[SamAdams76]

Gravity sucks.

[Yardstick]

What is “flat hatting”?

[thecodont]

Another celebrity killed himself flat-hatting in his A-5.

Thanks to you, I learned something new today.

http://aboutww2.com/flat-hatting/flat-hatting.html

[Axenolith]

Don’t forget Stevie Ray Vaughn and Bill Graham, helicopters, but stupidity involved with respect to conditions and level. Pops always said wires and lines were as bad if not worse than ground fire for pucker factor.