Fatal Crash Haunts Pal Who Gave Up Her Seat

New York Post ^ | 5/23/05 | Lorena Mongelli and Kate Sheehy

[Conservatrix]

The high-school senior who cheated death by suddenly backing out of a doomed Coney Island plane ride thanks God she's alive — but feels excruciating guilt over the pal's dad who took her place and died, a friend said yesterday.

"She feels guilty. Wouldn't you?" said Brother Rene Roy, principal of the tiny Catholic school in West Virginia that stricken teen Melissa McCulley attends.

Two of McCulley's best friends, Danielle Block and Jo Beth Gross, both 18, as well as Block's dad, Courtney, and the plane's pilot died in the tragic beach crash Saturday.

[Dinsdale]

Sounds more like your neighbor side swiped the teenager across the street.

[pageonetoo]

Which is why you must train yourself to Aviate first. The rest doesn't matter if you fail that part.

Your first lessons deal with defensive maneuvers, and the repetitive drills of take-off/landing procedures, know as "touch and go". These are to help you accustom yourself to controlling your leap and fall from the sky.

You learn the airplanes ability to turn, and stall, and challenge yourself repeatedly, with practice for disaster.

Once that is sound, then you ca learn navigation, and long distance travel.

Every time you leave the ground, you are taught to have checked your gasoline for water, and your fuel levels should have been visibly checked, in the tanks.

You go through a pre-flight checklist that begins before you turn the key, scanning the instruments for anomalies, and is continued with an engine run-up, and systems check, before you even get on the runway.

The training teaches you to continually scan the sky, and your instruments. They both let you know your level of safety.

Every thing else, is hope... trust... and bliss!

[rlmorel]

Truer words were never spoken.

[Paved Paradise]

Huh? Our neighbor had his car parked in front of the house; teenager was cruising by and she reached down to get phone and "oops" she totally swiped the entire side of his car. Her fault - no ifs, ands, or buts and cops said so too.

[RightOnline]

"Now that I think about it, fighter pilots really have to get to the point where everything they do is instictive and not waist [sic] time thinking about what to do."

That's more true than you know, and not just for fighter pilots. It's also why it takes so much training to become....and remain.....a mission-ready pilot in any of the military branches.

[no more apples]

waist=waste (I think that was B.C. in the A.M.!)

It's interesting to hear from a couple of folks who really know. Sometimes there's a lot of folks who think they know about a subject, so I went and checked out your profiles. Thank you both for your years of service to our country.

[no more apples]

I meant to send you post #86 as well.

[Gunrunner2]

Understood. . .and thanks.

[RightOnline]

Thank you for your kind words, my friend.

[RadioAstronomer]

"The Shepherd", by Frederick Forsyth

Wonderful book. I have always had a warm place in my heart for the twin engine Mosquito since I first read that book.