>>>Seem like have a disposable junk barge named after you would be a dubious honor.<<<
I had the same reaction. Then as it turned out, history didn’t do any favors, especially because:
“Following a deorbit engine firing on Saturday, July 13, Cygnus will begin a planned destructive re-entry, in which the spacecraft – filled with trash packed by the station crew – will safely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.”
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Robertson died May 24, 2001, in Houston from burn injuries sustained in the crash of a private plane at Wolfe Air Park, Manvel, Texas, on May 22, 2001; she was 38 years old. Robertson had been providing instruction to a private pilot when control of the aircraft was lost.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Robertson
Probable Cause and Findings
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
the flight instructor’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during a touch-and-go landing, for an undetermined reason.
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The airplane came to rest 40 feet past the departure end of runway 02, in a near 90-degree nose down attitude, against a tree. The airplane was consumed by fire. Both pilots sustained multiple injuries, including burns to 90% of their bodies. On May 24, 2001, the flight instructor succumbed to her injuries, and subsequently, the private pilot succumbed to his injuries.
Then to add insult to injury, is that a typo on the report? In this day and age, these sorts of details leap right off the page:
Pilot Information
Certificate:
Flight Instructor; Commercial
Age:
38, Male
So the garbage barge named after her will also “destructively” designed— crash and burn as well. Very strange memorial, agree.
Seems the NTSB got her gender wrong, as you observed. The student was male. Don’t know how a trained pilot instructor doesn’t have dual control on a touch and go landing— report says “unknown reason” (medical, mechanical undetermined?). Odd.
A garbage show named after a tranny?