Pilot who fell linked to NASA theft probe

Houston Chronicle ^ | November 19, 2002 | TERRY KLIEWER and RUTH RENDON

[Dog Gone]

Russell Edward Filler

Russell Edward Filler appeared to be just another guy who had let his general aviation pilot's license lapse when he showed up Sunday at Hooks Airport and arranged for a spin to brush up his skills.

By the end of the day he was in the spotlight as the focus of a federal investigation into a space program technology theft.

And he also was dead, although authorities had no body to prove it.

The strange story of Filler, a 47-year-old engineer for a NASA contractor in the Clear Lake area, continued to unfold Monday as Waller County deputies and other law enforcement officers searched unsuccessfully for his remains.

"He either fell out or jumped out" of the cockpit of the Cessna 152 he was co-piloting on Sunday afternoon at 9,000 feet above Waller County, Sheriff Randy Smith said.

The sheriff said a daylong search of pastures and ponds and rice fields turned up no body, and as evening approached he wasn't sure how much longer or farther to extend the effort today.

"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, although I hate to use that expression," he said. "We've got at least 20 square miles to cover."

He said the initial search area was bounded by U.S. 290 Business on the north, Brumlow Road on the south, FM 362 on the east and FM 359 on the west. A state police helicopter and searchers using all-terrain vehicles scouted the countryside to no avail from dawn to dusk on Monday.

Smith reported that federal officials who inspected the Cessna found nothing wrong with its cockpit door-latch mechanism or with the seat belt that Filler apparently had disengaged just before the incident.

Meanwhile, other federal officials were providing a glimpse into their own review of Filler's recent past.

Filler, who celebrated a birthday last week, was under suspicion in connection with the theft of a NASA-owned laptop computer containing possibly sensitive space program data. The laptop disappeared Oct. 25, and officials traced it to Filler's home earlier this month when he made a connection through the computer's modem.

Last Thursday, representatives of NASA, the Johnson Space Center, the U.S. Inspector-General's Office and the Harris County Sheriff's Department talked with him about the theft.

Harris County sheriff's Capt. Robert Van Pelt said Filler told them he bought the computer from an individual who had posted an ad on a bulletin board at a grocery store. He claimed he bought it for $500 in a parking-lot transaction.

When Filler got to his Clear Lake area home and turned on the computer, he saw that it had some non-sensitive NASA software on it, Van Pelt said.

"It piqued his curiosity, but he kept the computer," he said, adding that Filler knew the computer was stolen. "He made that oral admission to them."

The computer was retrieved from Filler's home, and a deputy was completing a report required to charge Filler with theft, Van Pelt said.

Smith said he wasn't sure whether Filler's trouble with the law had any bearing on what happened Sunday: "We're still investigating, as are others."

Filler had worked for United Space Alliance since 1996 in the contractor's integrated test and verification group, which does ground testing for the international space station.

Mike Curie, a spokesman for the firm, described the workplace reaction as "shock" but declined to say more, partly because no confirmation of Filler's death was yet forthcoming

"We're going under the assumption that it is Russ Filler. He was not at work today," Curie said.

Filler was unmarried and lived in the 14600 block of Graywood Grove in the Clear Lake area. He added that Filler reportedly had confided to a friend that he was worried about the theft case.

Smith said the prelude to Sunday's incident was unremarkable.

Filler, who needed more hours in the cockpit to renew his pilot's license, went aloft with instructor Benito Frank Munoz, 23, for a routine outing to get time at the controls and renew flying skills.

Munoz told deputies that Filler took the plane to a relatively high altitude -- about 9,000 feet -- and, once there, turned control of the single-engine plane back over to him. They had been flying about 45 minutes.

Filler asked Munoz to bank the plane in a steep turn and, as Munoz complied, the startled instructor heard a bump and glanced over to "see Filler's feet going out the door," Smith said.

Munoz said Filler had buckled up and donned his radio-intercom headset when they left Hooks, but at the time of the incident apparently had disconnected both. He said nothing beforehand and left no note, Smith said.

Munoz flew back to Hooks to meet with Federal Aviation Administration officials, who were notified immediately.

A woman who answered the phone Monday at Munoz's northwest Houston home said he had no comment regarding the incident.

[vnix]

On the contrary, his body will be fully in tact.A bit mushy mabe, because all his bones will be shattered, but fully in tact. I saw a guy, when I was in the Army, fall 14,000 feet to his death from an airplane. He was plenty ugly when we got to him and his entire body was purple but he was intact.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Courtesy ping.

[mhking]

Cooper.

Oops...

[MHGinTN]

Post #26, partial bingo! Faked death, yes. Heading toward South America? Not likely. More likely that the 'authorities' are noq questioning the disappeared one, or the disappeared one is setting into a new identity elsewhere in the US.

[hattend]

Is the plane's name "I'm-Ona-Rolla-Gay"?

[Coop]

Anyone else old enough to remember D.B. Cooper?

Why?!?

Who wants to know? Huh?!?

What are you trying to say? Just mind your own business!

[vortigern]

I'm a little confused with this story:

First, the instructor is usually in the right seat, and the student is usually in the left seat -- actually flying the aircraft.

Secondly, the instructor usually would be telling the student when and where to turn...not visa versa.

Third, why waste expensive instruction time climbing all the way up to 9,000 ft. unless to practice stall/spins?

Fourth, if he had let his general aviation license lapse, obviously he knew how to fly -- the instructor would have mostly been an observer, letting his student do most of the flying.

This story doesn't read like your typical bush-up flight lesson.

[freepersup]

Yes, a concealable parachute system was designed for the James Bond character and his nemesis. The exact movie title escapes me. However, it was only concealable to the movie patron's eye. A high degree of parachute rigging skill would be needed to set this rig up safely and then a high degree of freefall skill would be required to successfully jump from an aircraft and operate such a system.

Also, this pilot would have to have been very unaware of his student, for him not to notice a rig under his students clothing, unless... temperatures dictated bulky clothing. Then, just maybe, an undercover rig could be kept a secret. Obtaining an undercover rig would be the long shot, meaning, of the type used in the movies.

However, some acrobatic aircraft emergency parachute systems are very streamlined (thin), and they could be hidden with a little ingenuity. One would have to be adept at removing the outer garments covering up said rig while in freefall. If this actually occurred, I would bet on an acrobatic rig. The unique rigs designed for the movies are too few in number to be in circulation. Unless stolen...

The fact that there was a significant amount of altitude reached by this aircraft in it's flight, offers a faint, very faint, degree of substantiating evidence regarding the theory that it was an escape rather than a suicide.

It is possible that this individual did alight from the aircraft with an escape plan, however, unless there was a freefall background, I would venture a guess that said jumper made about a 12" to 18" crater in the ground.

Pure speculation on my part because it ultimately would depend on the motivation factor. How bad did this person want to escape, and, how bad did this person want to live, or... how bad did this person want to die ?

Without a freefall table in front of me, based on past experiences, I would say our swooper enjoyed about 50 seconds of freefall prior to impact. Exiting an aircraft at 7,500' would net a jumper about 30 seconds of freefall, with a parachute opening at 2,000'. From 10,500' a jumper would net about 45 seconds of freefall time. This averages out to about 37.5 seconds of freefall time from 9,000' to 2,000'. In addition, another 12 seconds of freefall time would occur from 2,000' until impact, for a grand total of 49.5 seconds of freefall time, give or take a few seconds depending on the jumpers body position.

[jiggyboy]

(I think that was "Moonraker", where JB follows somebody ("Jaws"?) out of a doomed plane.)

I heard on the radio news this morning that he undid his seat belt and jumped. Can't find any links to it, though.

[Dog Gone]

The Houston Chronicle is now reporting that they've found the body.

[Eaker]

Latest reports have stated that it indeed "left a mark"!!!

Eaker

[Dog Gone]

We shall dub it the "Filler Crater."

[Dog Gone]

Searchers find what may be body of pilot who fell from aircraft

The body was found in a Waller County field Tuesday afternoon.

By The Associated Press
(11/19/02 - Houston) — Searchers have found what's believed to be the body of a Houston pilot who went out of a private plane at about nine-thousand feet.

The body was found in a field about five miles southwest of Waller, about 40 miles from Houston.

[gwmoore]

Darn right, I have gotten 125-130K at cruise (in an old 150) by either being very lucky, or (most probably) a messed up airspeed indicator.

I guess you know, that if you have the right wind, you can hover a C150/152. If one is fortunate to have a wind of, say 20-25K, and one puts down full flaps,adds power, does their best "slow flight" thing, you can just hang there with the airspeed vibrating around < 40K. It's kind of fun to do it over an interstate and watch the cars go by (heck, they do that at cruise, but this is more fun), and being "apparently stopped" draws some idiot behavior on the part of drivers LOL.

At any rate, no way did this go down as described. The Instructor is lying his butt off. You crack a door, the noise level is deafening, (so is the noise with the door closed, but one's ears soon adapt--what?? what'd you say?? ) No body??? No radio call?? I wonder if this "NASA thief" was wearing a suit, maybe a little bulky in back of the coat???

All this being said, it's still a good story, and reminded me to reserve my vanity tail number for another year (hey, one can hope, can't one??))

Keep the Faith for Freedom

Greg

[SSN558]

Something is not right with this story. I've jumped out a a few Cessnas. The noise is close to deafing when the door is open at 9000 ft cruising. I use to stand on the landing gear with another jumper and we had to yell right in each others ear to communicate. How could the pilot not notice ?

[SSN558]

Something is not right with this story. I've jumped out a a few Cessnas. The noise is close to deafing when the door is open at 9000 ft cruising. I use to stand on the landing gear with another jumper and we had to yell right in each others ear to communicate. How could the pilot not notice ?