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

CNN/AP | 4/20/06

[Names Ash Housewares]

Breaking on CNN web page from AP report.

[narby]

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?

It proves that that the english language is not mathematically precise, and different people can read things in different ways. When talking of Crossfields death, and saying that you'd never ride in small airplanes with amateurs, that's implying that Crossfield and every other small airplane pilot (like me) is am amateur. Whether intentional or not, your original comment was insulting to Crossfield and anyone who flies General Aviation aircraft.

The fact that another poster reacted as I did should be plenty enough confirmation that despite your good intentions toward Crossfield and his pilot status, you failed.

[dinoparty]

Yes I failed. Will you ever forgive me?

[RunningWolf]

I am not partial to GA aircraft because of their inherent limitations.

Usually it is a single engine (piston) with no TAI (thermal anti ice) and no cabin pressurization, oxygen if there is limited.

So if you get into bad weather you can rarely fly above it or around it and if there are mountains etc you might not be able to fly below it either.

W.

[Dashing Dasher]

;-)

[Phsstpok]

Pilots like Scott and Chuck make us mere mortals.

Well, actually, God and our own circumstances made us mortals.  Scott and Chuck just remind us of it by comparison to them, who will both be immortal, at least in memory.

[BenLurkin]

"Legendary Pilot Killed in Crash" by Allison Gatlin

http://www.avpress.com/n/21/0421_s1.hts

[nuconvert]

Thanks

[narby]

I am not partial to GA aircraft because of their inherent limitations.

Thank you for disparaging my field of interest.

Usually it is a single engine (piston) with no TAI (thermal anti ice) and no cabin pressurization, oxygen if there is limited.

So don't fly in icing conditions, and don't fly above 12,500 feet.

So if you get into bad weather you can rarely fly above it or around it and if there are mountains etc you might not be able to fly below it either.

So land, or turn around.

Criticisims like this are like saying you'd never go on a private boat because it can't handle hurricanes, has no roof to keep out rain, no heater or air conditioning, and not enough range to cross the atlantic. You don't *use* a private boat in those conditions, just like you don't fly a private aircraft in conditions it's not meant to be in.

Crossfield possibly broke that rule in flying into a thunderstorm. Which would take out many large aircraft too, if they fly into the severe areas. Note the L-1011 that crashed in the microburst at DFW several years ago.

Stuff happens. He flew constantly until he was 84 before getting into trouble he couldn't or didn't get out of.

You pick a funny thread to jump into and disparage flying in aircraft that many of us own.

[KeyLargo]

Sad that Mr. Yeager could not keep his mouth shut in respect for Mr. Crossfield's family.

Yeager suggests it's Crossfield's own fault he was killed in plane crash
(Ranger, GA-AP) April 21, 2006 - They were bitter rivals as they beat each other's records as test pilots in the 1950s. And now, after the death of pilot Scott Crossfield in the crash of his own private plane this week, fellow test-pilot Chuck Yeager is getting in some more digs.

Yeager says he's "sure sorry to hear" about Crossfield's death.

But the first man to break the sound barrier says "complacency" seems to have led to the accident. Yeager says Crossfield often flew in bad weather and sometimes "exceeded his capability and got in trouble."

Yeager was the first to pass the speed of sound in 1947. In 1953, Crossfield flew twice that fast, at Mach Two. That didn't sit well with his rival Yeager, who went out and topped him again a few weeks later.

Yeager wrote in his autobiography that Crossfield was "among the most arrogant" pilots he'd ever met.

Crossfield's body was found in wreckage Thursday in mountains about 50 miles from Atlanta. The 84-year-old's single-engine plane dropped off radar with thunderstorms in the area.

[Names Ash Housewares]

"You pick a funny thread to jump into and disparage flying in aircraft that many of us own."

Me thinks some don't quite "get it" about flyers.

"The airplane is just a bunch of sticks and wires and cloth, a tool for learning about the sky and about what kind of person I am, when I fly. An airplane stand for freedom, for joy, for the power to understand, and to demonstrate that understanding. Those things aren't destructible." -Richard Bach 'Nothing by Chance' 1963

http://www.onesixright.com/video/aerials.html

[RunningWolf]

I talked about the inherent limitations to that type of aircraft. Thats just how it is, not any sort personal disparaging.

Sometimes weather can change (and defy weather predictions) more swiftly than a low slow and small fuel load airplane can cope with, no matter who the pilot is.

I will wait for the NTSB or the FAA to make a ruling on this one.

Your sailing example is a good one. I used to single hand sail a 26' boat on SFO Bay. I went out into the ocean several times, also competed in the Farralon Island races there.
So yes I know how quickly weather can change and you might not get out of it in time.

But just so it does not get lost, here is a repeat of an earlier post of mine on this thread.
Salute to American patriot and legend Scott Crossfield



Wolf

[narby]

Don't try to teach a pig to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

LOL.

Ok. I give up....

[Dashing Dasher]

Good boy!

You will be rewarded in heaven.

[Dashing Dasher]

I have the DVD 16R and LOVE it!

Have you seen the whole thing?

[Names Ash Housewares]

My plan is to order it from King or Sportys so Im entered in the airplane giveaway contest. ;)

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Well, I was just speaking in aviation terms, not in human terms, but, yes, they will be legions.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

For the last 6 weeks, my son has been at Maxwell AFB, which is near Prattville, AL, attending a training school. Scott Crossville briefed my son's class earlier this week, and later took off in his plane from Prattville. My son's group was called ... somthing 06 Charlie, being the 3rd group attending that training school this year.

After Crossville's, crash this week, they renamed the class 06 Crossville.

At the graduation ceremonies yesterday, the class had a video tribute to Crossville. Very moving.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

... urgh, not enough coffee yet, not Crossville, CROSSFIELD. Sorry.

[Farcross]

Actually, my reply is to all of you...well, all I read...I am one of Scott's daughter's...and reading your comments made me laugh as well as cry.... thanks! Especially the laugh part....

As Daddy-O would say...Carry on.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Please accept our condolences.