CO-PILOT PLUNGES FROM SMALL PLANE 9,000 FEET OVER TEXAS; PILOT LANDS SAFELY

The Houston Chronicle ^ | 18 November 2002

[willy WOXOF]

"instructor pilot, the only other person on board, was concentrating on a steep turning maneuver"

must not have been very coordinated turns..

note ..more training in steep-turns needed.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA...

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Hi there :)

Come here and check this out...

[SerpentDove]

NOT the WED ONE!!!

Don't EVER touch the WED ONE!!!

[MindBender26]

In flight, it takes tremendous exertion to open door of a Cessna 150, 152, 172 or the like. You are pushing about 1000 square inches into a 80 knot wind!

Pipers are easier (any low wind aircraft is because of laws of aerodynamics I won't do into here) But in a high wing A/C, such as Cessna mentioned above, even if unlatched, door opens about three inches and is very hard to open further.

This was no accident.

[MindBender26]

low wind=LOW WING

[wingtip]

That airport is at 152 ft. elevation. Can two men climb to 9000 ft. in 45 min in a 152? And why so high unless practicing aerobatics. Perhaps a hammerhead.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

He could have made us all winners.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I thought maybe they were doing a Chandelle

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Hmmmm

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Dat wascilly piwot!

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Ritalin or prozac? Place your bets!

Oh...oh...that's mean.

[Congressman Billybob]

Remember our motto here at camp: "Gravity -- not just a good idea -- it's the law."

Congressman Billybob

Click for "Let's Hear It for Fraud -- And REAL Soon"

Click for "to Restore Trust in America"

[Froggie]

I agree it's likely a suicide - he'd have to have removed his seat belt to have fallen out.....I was flying a C150 over the Colorado mountains at 12,000 feet coming out of the mountains toward Boulder at a steep decent rate - the door popped open - scared the Bejeebers out of me, but no way I could have fallen out!

[The FRugitive]

The latch on 152s is not very solid. I've had the door on 152s open a couple of times on me in mid flight.

But if he was strapped in it shouldn't have been a problem. Hmmm...

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Suffered a brown-out?

[The FRugitive]

Not to mention, the door in a 152 latches first, then clamps from the inside.

Never unbuckle. We found this out the hard way when approsching a mountain ridge on the windward side at a 90 degree angle. My head smashed the air ducts on the ceiling, my family was glued to the cabin ceiling.

I think you're thinking of a 172.

[MotleyGirl70]

LOL!!!!! :)

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Kremmer said the co-pilot - whose identity was being withheld pending notification of relatives - had a pilot's license but could not fly alone because of an unspecified medical condition.

I guess he showed them. Not only did the guy fly without a pilot's license, but he also did it without a plane.

[wingtip]

Maybe just practicing suicide!
I had a 1964 172 that I used for aerial photography for a while.

I would take the right hand door off when I took pictures. A good pilot friend of mine would fly the left seat.

You can be sure I triple checked my seat belt, but I never
felt the least bit uncomfortable flying with the door off.

Sometimes we would intentionally slip the aircraft to the right as I could get sharper photographs and a clearer field of veiw.