Legendary pilot Scott Crossfield's body found in plane wreckage.

CNN/AP | 4/20/06

[kilowhskey]

I blew it above. I intended to add my voice to that of Loud Mime. I say again: your remark is way out of line.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

White knuckle express

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Pilots like Scott and Chuck make us mere mortals.

[RunningWolf]

So sad.

The X-15 project was yet another USA pioneering venture that was never even remotely duplicated anywhere else in the world, and he was at the pointed end of it.

Wolf

[Prophet in the wilderness]

They do have one of the X-15s at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., but, the really cool stuff is at the AIR&SPACE museum near Dulles airport.

[Lancey Howard]

Sort of like Francis Gary Powers dying in a helicopter while doing traffic reports for news radio.

Or Neil Armstrong jumping from a tractor and tearing off his finger after his ring got caught on a barn door.

[P-Marlowe]

Isn't it amazing how people will come to this thread - LOADED with Pilots and Aviation Enthusiasts - and tell us we are idiots?

My son is a pilot and I am an aviation enthusiast. That being said, whenever anyone uses the phrase "he died doing something he loved" I am always reminded that people who love to smoke often die of cancer and people who love drugs often die of overdoses. The only excuse for dying in a solo aircraft accident should be that you were dead before you made an uncontrolled flight into terrain.

My cousin died in a plane crash about a week after he took me up in his new Cessna 180. He loved to fly, but I would not be so bold as to say he died doing something he loved. There is not a lot of room for mistakes once your wheels leave the ground. My son worked in a flight school. He worked there about a year and in that amount of time he got to know at least three people who died in aircraft accidents and two more who barely survived one. All the crashes involved pilot error.

[Dashing Dasher]

Whenever we talk about a pilot who has been killed in a flying accident, we should all keep one thing in mind. He called upon the sum of all his knowledge and made a judgment. He believed in it so strongly that he knowingly bet his life on it. That his judgment was faulty is a tragedy, not stupidity. Every instructor, supervisor, and contemporary who ever spoke to him had an opportunity to influence his judgment, so a little bit of all of us goes with every pilot we lose.
- author unknown

[RunningWolf]

Salute to American patriot and legend Scott Crossfield



Wolf

[P-Marlowe]

I suspect Crossman was dead before he flew into the mountain. Only if that were the case could it be said that he died doing something he loved. Nobody loves trying to recover from an uncontrollable spin.

[GOPJ]

However, I do know that roughly half the people who I personally have known in my life who regularly pilot private small planes have died in plane crashes. I wouldn't regularly fly small planes as an amateur in a million years.

It's a problem with doctors - and others with more money than patience. They buy planes beyond their real skill level -- and crash them.

[RunningWolf]

I have been to the Air Force museum several times circa 1985 to just before they started building the new wing

It was a different place back then. The B70 was still outside/good pictures> not to many people were visiting.
So I was able to do my my own walk up (close enough to touch) inspections of the YF-12, and some of the other aircraft.

I never made it out to the AIR&SPACE Dulles facility yet. But I did tour Smithsonian AIR&SPACE on New Years . It was the best time, for hardly anyone was there for about 2 hours.

BTW, I successfully 'flew' the pterodactyl simulator at the museum first time up, LOLOL

Wolf

[Dashing Dasher]

HE would have NEVER gotten into an "uncomfortable spin".

[US_MilitaryRules]

Over 11,000 hours in taildraggers(7000 citabria, 3100 converted C172M taildragger, 1000 misc 172's) All over the ocean. I hate flying over land!

[RunningWolf]

// Bob Hoover., His routine were the stuff of legends, his engines out loop in an aero commander!//

Yes I saw those those too! Has anyone ever even remotely duplicated them?

If there is ever was a case for defying all laws of physics aerodynamics, drag, etc., I think he made it! or proved it

Wolf

[RunningWolf]

I heard that story too, and I think my hearing might predate yours somewhat.

The story could be a myth, at the same time (where people involved) it might well might have happened.

Wolf

[fieldmarshaldj]

May he rest in peace.

[dinoparty]

I note you didn't quote any statement of mine implying that he was an amatuer. That's because there is not one. You only quote another hasty reader. What does that prove?

[jaydubya2]

Hoover video.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

[Muzzle_em]

SUPPOSEDLY,
because of that incident (or myth), the military will not allow spouses of pilots to fly on the same aircraft with the pilot of that aircraft. Anyone here on FR know if that is true?