Posted on 11/18/2002 4:11:02 AM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
HOUSTON (AP) - The co-pilot of a single-engine aircraft plunged from the plane as it made a steep turn 9,000 feet over the Houston area. The 45-year-old Houston man apparently jumped or fell from the plane Sunday afternoon near Prairie View, about 20 miles northwest of Houston, federal and local authorities told the Houston Chronicle for Monday editions. An instructor pilot, the only other person on board, was concentrating on a steep turning maneuver when he heard a thump and saw the co-pilot's feet and legs leaving the airplane, Waller County Sheriff's Lt. John Kremmer told the Chronicle.
Kremmer said a search for the pilot in the area's pastures, woods and lakes was expected to resume early Monday. Officials said the Cessna 152 had taken off 45 minutes earlier from David Wayne Hooks Airport in Spring. The pilot notified authorities about the incident before returning to the airport. "The instructor and the aircraft landed safely," said Roland Herwig, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. 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.
The instructor pilot told investigators that both men were strapped in when the small trainer aircraft took off from the airport. "He just doesn't know at what point that changed," Kremmer said. Kremmer said there was no indication the man had a parachute.
The 152/172 floats like a lighter than air ship. Whe you need to put the damn thing down in a hurry, kick rudder, hold wing, and slip like a brick. If you don't you can write War and Peace while on final.
Now fly a Cherokee Arrow, Six, Aztec, or Comanche and then you are flying an airplane. Kill power and down, down you go! I can go in and out of larger airports doing 140kts on final in front of some heavy stuff and still make the first turn-off. The only big worry is shock cooling.
IMHO the Cesna trainer platform makes dangerous pilots. How much skill is involved on ILS approaches, holding, intercepting a localizer, or stall recovery when you are in something that needs such little management? The first time a 152 pilot finds himself in a Bonanza or Malibu, they find religion. If they ignore religion, they meet the originator.
The 172 has those stupid tubes for airflow. More like drive-up teller vacuum tubes. The other thing that makes the Cesna trainer dangerous is the fact that the level of seating puts you up so high, away from a proper panel scan pattern. Most all real airplanes put your visual range horizontal with the instrumentation, not the frigging blue sky. Doing an NDB in a high wing Cesna has you looking at your feet.The 210 becomes the first exception with Cesna. Even at that, the whole line is too lofty. Even the Citation Jet is way to lifty and underpowered. The CJ is the Fischer Price of jets. If you put the slightest back pressure on the thing, up you go. A go around is in order which is very humbling in a jet. A lear on the other hand likes to come down like a knife and has enough thrust to make you feel like a man.
But that's just my unbiased opinion.....I bet you the guy jumped out of the 152 thinking it was cruel and unusual punishment to be cramped into a crawling 2'X 2' cage.
Terminal Velocity, maybe.
Being an airport operator, I get to see all types. I've had everything from a plane on final being clipped by a dump truck on the highway, to a guy who landed because he couldn't stop his Bonanza from climbing. He was convinced something in his rigging went south. He had a huge tire filled with concrete and dirt still tied to his tail.....
The dump truck incident was amazing! The battery came tumbling like a tire at an Indy-car crash, right thru the side of our garage. Both mains went right on down the highway inside the dump truck bed. The wings stayed attatched until the first bounce. They then snapped right off like matches. The fuselage humped in the center like a porpoise and rolled. The tail mushed like butter and the whole mess came to rest in our driveway. The guy climbed out of the huge hole that was the front window. His only injury was from the buckling bounce. It snapped his ankle in a compound fracture.
An Archer is a Cherokee 180. Nice plane. Simple. The arrow and six's are the first with contoled pitch props. The six with retractable became the Lance, and subsequently the Saratoga. I always wished that Piper would have a fixed trainer with pitch. It would really slick out the 150 HP Cruiser,160hp Warrior,&180hp Archer. The Piper Gear system is brilliant. Hydraulics hold it up. System failure causes it to drop. Low airspeed causes it to drop, you actually have to over-ride it and hold it up in slow flight. Most gear failures occur when mice build nests in the gear wells. Undetected, the gear just bends the metal or shears bolts due to the enormous hydraulic pressure acting against the mouse nest and metal.
Good luck getting back in the air. I've been trying to convince my wife that I am in mid-life crisis and helicopter training would make good therapy.(of course followed by a purchase, but one thing at a time.)
One last thing.....Did you know that sheep are the only ground animal I have found that like to look up at airplanes landing and taking off? Stupid fact I know, but it must have some importance.
I'm still here so it couldn't have been the Rapture.
Not if the aircraft is skidding/slipping with the realative wind coming from starboard (for the port door). Would have to have been a pretty unusual turnning manuever though to get into such a state.
OTOH, the very difficulty argues against a suicide, don't you think?
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