It is a truism that the more things that can be done, the more modes of failure lurk.
Posted on 11/07/2017 1:44:55 PM PST by ZagFan
Former MLB pitcher Roy 'Doc' Halladay has been killed after his plane crashed in the Gulf of Mexico.
Halladay, 40, was a keen pilot whose Twitter feed includes several references to his love of flying - including his brand new ICON MY2018 A5 plane, which was seen floating upside down in shallow water on Tuesday.
But Halladay will be best known for playing for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies from 1998-2013, and for being one of just six MLB pitchers to win the Cy Young award for both American and International play.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Denver was killed in a Long EZ, a Burt Rutan design, trying to change fuel tanks with a pair of pliers while on final.”””
IIRC, Denver was test flying a plane he wished to purchase from the owner. The owner of the plane was quite a bit taller that Denver & Denver moved the seat up for his comfort.
When he tried to reach the switch to get on the reserve fuel tanks, he could NOT reach it-—because the owner was so much taller.
I NEVER understood why Denver didn’t top off the fuel tanks before he took the flight in the first place.
However, I sure miss his music.
R.I.P.
Odd title reminded me of the Syracuse.com stories.
Sounds like it was more mechanical failure than pilot error, maybe the wiring.
That sucks. He was a big favorite of Blue Jay fans.
It is a truism that the more things that can be done, the more modes of failure lurk.
Cutting edge or not, two things stand out to me here. One, many light sport aircraft have speed and G limits that the pilot has to be mindful of. And pilots of light sport aircraft often are on the lesser end of experience, since one can get a ‘sport’ license with less time and training than a full ‘private’ license. Second, any flight over water can become disorienting very quickly depending on lighting, altitude, visibility, and again, pilot experience. I have no idea if any of these were factors in the accident.
There are go2pro videos of him skimming the water and being thrilled to death. How about strong gusts hit the airplane from behind and force the nose to dig into the water, flipping it and killing him?
It’s a British paper. They know less about baseball than I do about cricket.
If he accidently ditched it while trying to impress himself with low level flight, then very likely he could have snapped his neck in the sudden stop. Has happened to other pilots who had to ditch for other reasons, even when they knew it was coming.
The EZ has a small primer tank because your start it with the nose resting on the ground. After extending the nose wheel you are supposed to switch the tank. It is a common mistake to forget to switch to the main tank. A friend of mine tried it, once. He was able to switch tanks and keep the engine running.
The plane found upside down. The water is pretty shallow there.
It was rather light winds here this morning when he crashed and a low tide and shallow water.Neighbors here reported seeing him flying low the last few days.
It was rather light winds here this morning when he crashed and a low tide and shallow water.Neighbors here reported seeing him flying low the last few days.
How ever it happened he was skimming the water too often and somehow the airplane nosed into it and flipped. My theory.
Great find. Don’t guess Icon will be using the video. The only point of interest for me was why her hair was blowing so much during one portion of the flight. Also didn’t know the A5 was a light sport aircraft until now.
I wouldn’t try to land that thing on anybody of water that had even small wave action going.
I have been on De Havilland seaplanes taking off and landing in the Keys and you need a strong airframe to handle the stress.
That thing looks very unforgiving.
I would agree with your theory.I think he got a real thrill out of low level flying not realizing the dangers. Old axim: There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.
Water LOOKS soft and the inexperienced can lack the appreciation of how hard it gets with velocity. Hitting the wave without the respect it needs will make it a bad day for anyone. Still, it could have been something entirely different than pilot error or inexperience, it is just too early to know!
I just know that even the best training on a new aircraft will not be the same as for an aircraft with lots of experience from lots of pilots. Add a *new* aircraft that is an amphibian, one that straddles two worlds, and ‘designed’ for the minimally trained market, and I’d approach every flight with very healthy RESPECT!!
Recall all of the problems and crashes with the V-22 Osprey and you know that the crews were TRAINED but it needed TIME to learn how wonky transitions could be. Lots of too young lives were spent there and that was for a real and vital military need!
“I keep telling my dad flying the ICON A5 low over the water is like flying a fighter jet!”
https://sports.yahoo.com/plane-roy-halladay-flying-jet-ski-wings-234327786.html
This is what struck me when reading a few days ago. He had all of Tampa Bay right outside his house so a good percentage of his flights were over water and *unfortunately* flying close to the water for the thrills. And too much skimming is what did him in. RIP. And just my take on it.
His father was a commercial pilot and maybe he was trying to impress him. Subconsciously.
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