Bill Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut, crashes in Puget Sound

[TonyG]

I've never been in a seaplane, but has the water been reported as glassy at the time and location of the accident? Having spent a lot of my childhood on the Puget Sound shoreline, I would guess that it would be rare there.

I’ve just landed on one of the outer San Juans this evening, about 6-8 miles from the accident site. About half the surface right now is glassy-there’s regions of non glassy too. (Not a seaplane guy though). Who knows if that mattered.

Impromptu aerobatics can be bad news, even for experienced folks. As Ed said above, he either had a waiver or was busting the 1500’ floor. Heck, I use 4000’, but I’m a chicken, and don’t think I could ever get out fast enough to make 1500 work. Same thing though: who knows why he was doing what? And at 90, not a bad way out.

Reminded of a friend’s uncle who died when he tboned his Harley into a car after running a stop sign.

At age 96.

 

[Hengelo]

Nothing “chicken” about using 4000. That’s called “smart”.

 

[Ed Haywood]

Heck, I use 4000’, but I’m a chicken, and don’t think I could ever get out fast enough to make 1500 work.

IAC contest floor is 1500 for Primary and Sportsman, 1000 for intermediate, and 500 for advanced. Accidents are almost unheard of ... AFAIK one fatal crash in 50+ years of US contests. A significant amount of practice and discipline goes into that safety record. But the key is being very deliberate about altitude, airspeed, and position for each figure and sequence.

Impromptu acro breaks that chain of preparation and execution. Not saying a bit of gentleman's acro can't be done fun and safely, but spur of the moment decisions for something as unforgiving as aerobatics should raise a red flag in a pilots' mind. I am sometimes tempted to do "just one" loop or roll at the end of a non-acro flight. I usually have the restraint to tell myself no.

I reviewed every fatal Decathlon crash in the NTSB database and compiled stats. The clear majority of aerobatic accidents were showing off at low altitude.

Reminded of a friend’s uncle who died when he tboned his Harley into a car after running a stop sign.

At age 96.

Favorite movie depiction of this is the Stearman flight in Second Hand Lions.