Posted on 03/30/2013 8:48:50 AM PDT by Doogle
Edited on 03/30/2013 8:51:03 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Authorities in southeastern Tennessee are searching for a man who was thrown from an experimental aircraft while he was learning to fly from an instructor.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that police in Collegedale and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office on Friday were searching the ground for the man, who has not been identified.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The trainee without his seat belt on hit the canopy and away he and the bubble top went.
Just saw a show on the tube yesterday, where a woman had driven her car into the river and as it was sinking she called 911.
The advice given to viewers - when you are in a sinking car, get outta there asap. Don't depend on having an air pocket, there may not be one or if there is, in your disoriented state you may never find it, also, you cannot open a car door when it's completely submerged, try to lower a window, which probably will not work either.
They showed a punch device available for less than $10, that will break a window easily.
The trainee without his seat belt on hit the canopy and away he and the bubble top went.
Certainly could have happened that way.
But, what instructor would let the pilot fly with an unfastened seat belt?
“I suspect there is more to this story.”
I own a Zenith 601, and the crew sits very deep in the airframe, like a sportscar. It takes a good deal of effort to get out, having to lift yourself up and back from the seats, and get your legs out from under the instrument panel. Even without a seat belt, it would be really hard to “get thrown” from the airplane under normal flight.
The news report says the canopy “came off”, but the photo shows the canopy attached as normal via the front pivot bolts. Should the canopy become unlatched in flight, it will rotate up due to aerodynamic lift, but it won’t come off.
The only way someone could accidentally fall out would be if they were unrestrained by the lap and shoulder belts, and the canopy was unlatched, and the aircraft was encountering negative G loads or inverted.
The instructor needs to tell us what really occurred during that flight.
And we need to remember that there’s nothing funny about falling to your death, I’m amazed by some of the comments here.
Good to hear from you. Long time no sea !
Leni (aka "Bahama Mama")
That device is called a spring punch. They are always within reach in my shop anywhere near a machine tool.
They work great for punch starting drill holes.
They also work great for breaking windows.
I trained my daughters to have one with them in the center console...
Recently, my younger daughter 'splained that a .40 does a great job on a window as well, and it's multi-purpose.
Yeah... she's the one that scored expert with grenades. Loud boom=good in her book. Go figure. I raised practical children. ;)
/johnny
A gun is like a parachute.
If you NEED one and don’t have one...
You are likely to never need one again.
I thought about posting this but I cannot imagine the hell this guy suffered. My goodness, what a way to go home.
I'd tell you what it is about senility that I hate, if I could just remember what it is.
My very first instructor put it simply, “Don’t hit ANYTHING! Just land it on the wheels where you’re supposed to.”
Congratulations!
My second instructor was better. We were taxi-ing out for a pre-dawn takeoff and a rabbit ran in front of the AC... So what... I kept going.
She chopped throttle and toed brakes right before we chewed up the coyote that was chasing the rabbit.
She's also the IP that gave me my first zero-gee kiss. ;)
/johnny
There was a thread on FR a few weeks back recommending various TV Series. I finished “Carnivale” which was #1 on the list and then started “Justified” a couple weeks ago. Just finished Season 1 and am a couple episodes into Season 2. You’re right...great writing, well produced, excellent acting. I swear I met all those low-lifes in my 20s when I was working in various powerplants, paper mills, and mines.
“And we need to remember that there’s nothing funny about falling to your death, I’m amazed by some of the comments here.”
“I thought about posting this but I cannot imagine the hell this guy suffered. My goodness, what a way to go home.”
A doctor told me that when people fall great distances over 40 feet either deliberately or accidentally, that they actually suffer a heart attack and are actually dead before they hit the ground. It sounds reasonable to me so that hopefully he did not suffer as much as one might think.
This happened in my area of TN
This morning I talked to one of the guys who searched last night...
there were alot of people out searching most of the night but he said the grass was fairly high so they might have passed him in the dark and not known it...
the 2 men were from Nashville...
It was an expertimental plane that went into a 600 foot dive..
they werent wearing seat belts nor parachutes...
the one who died either fell out or jumped out..
2 TN highway helicopters searched last night using the body heat thingy...
They found both cellphones and a log...
I think I would wait until all the experiments were thru before I learned how to fly in any plane.......
Some LSA classification aircraft are themselves equipped with a parachute, deployed via a very small explosive charge. The Allegro I mentioned upthread can be.
I see they found him in the county they were searching last night...
That doctor was trying to allay someone’s fears but it’s not true, otherwise everyone who has ever done a parachute jump would hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, dead. Not to mention bungee-jumping or even a number of amusement park rides.
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