Pilot Bailed Out Near STL

HighFlyingA380

HighFlyingA380

Cleared for Takeoff
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Jim F.
I left STL about an hour ago and there was a pilot on frequency asking TRACON for a radar fix of another aircraft that just had an emergency. He said the pilot bailed out with a chute and is reportedly ok, but they were unable to locate him or the plane. Waiting for more details...
 
Can't wait to hear this one. Last weekend I could barely make out someone saying "no no he has a real emergency and is landing" then "wave off wave off" and a bunch of similar stuff. It was very distant. Always curious when I hear that stuff
 
RV10flyer said:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_b6022742-5b2e-5699-935b-51fa7f365fba.html

"The mechanic told him to bail..."

Other than an in-flight engine fire that I could not extinguish or a severely out of balance prop, I think I would prefer to be in control of the landing as opposed to hoping a 182 does not hit someone.
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I find the report of "engine trouble" as the pilot's reason for bailing out to be suspect. Further down in the article, the following:
The plane, a 1959 Cessna 182B, was from Fly Free Skydiving. In June 2014, a pilot from the same company had engine trouble with a plane and parachuted out, landing safely east of Crystal City.
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In a news video I saw, the pilot of last year's mishap aircraft said that he had no elevator control and could not land the aircraft.
 
Do we collectively think this is some kind of insurance scam deal?

I can't imagine a jump pilot knowingly getting in a plane that he's planning to crash, but I guess stranger things have happened. If the A&P told me to bail, I'd bail and deal with the insurance investigator/cops with a lawyer present. I wonder how many pilots are dead because they thought 'just a little bit longer, just a little bit more, I can do it, I got it, everything is ok,,, oops, I was wrong'.
 
I do find it odd that he had time to call the airport, get a hold of a mechanic, explain the issue to the mechanic, get the mechanic to diagnose and then have the mechanic advise him to bail out but during that time he was unable to find a suitable place to land.
 
Something's fishy!
 
Just seems to be a little rehearsed,company seems to be losing their jump planes. With all the time on the phone he may have been able to find a suitable landing site.
 
He saw that the F-16 pilot did it recently and maybe felt he could do that too?
 
wilkersk said:
I find the report of "engine trouble" as the pilot's reason for bailing out to be suspect. Further down in the article, the following:

In a news video I saw, the pilot of last year's mishap aircraft said that he had no elevator control and could not land the aircraft.
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Yes, loss of elevator control would be understandable too.
 
I think they're misunderstanding the definition of "jump plane."
 
Sounds like he had a split flap situation...not engine problems and he did come back to the airport to attempt a landing...that's a little different story.

Here's much better coverage of it...it actually sounds like the pilot handled the situation quite well and appropriately.

http://www.ksdk.com/media/cinematic/video/30173535/pilot-jumps-from-skydiving-plane-before-crash/

Oh, but Ed's still an idiot (IMO) as you can likely tell from the video and I'd still be prepared to jump out of any airplane that he's wrenched on!:) He worked on my plane exactly twice, never again.
 
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timwinters said:
Sounds like he had a split flap situation...not engine problems and he did come back to the airport to attempt a landing...that's a little different story.

Here's much better coverage of it...it actually sounds like the pilot handled the situation quite well and appropriately.

http://www.ksdk.com/media/cinematic/video/30173535/pilot-jumps-from-skydiving-plane-before-crash/

Oh, but Ed's still an idiot (IMO) as you can likely tell from the video and I'd still be prepared to jump out of any airplane that he's wrenched on!:) He worked on my plane exactly twice, never again.
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Well that splains it
 
Almost ended up in that situation, just without a parachute, but I caught problem with the flaps on preflight. The manual flaps looked funny, so I cycled them a few times and the right side started hanging down more and more.
 
BTW...illinois, across the river from KFES has large expanses of river bottom farmland with few or no houses. The chance that a plane will harm anything but crops is extremely low. Likely less than 0.01%
 
timwinters said:
Sounds like he had a split flap situation...not engine problems and he did come back to the airport to attempt a landing...that's a little different story.

Here's much better coverage of it...it actually sounds like the pilot handled the situation quite well and appropriately.

http://www.ksdk.com/media/cinematic/video/30173535/pilot-jumps-from-skydiving-plane-before-crash/

Oh, but Ed's still an idiot (IMO) as you can likely tell from the video and I'd still be prepared to jump out of any airplane that he's wrenched on!:) He worked on my plane exactly twice, never again.
Click to expand...

The first time and the last time?......lol
 
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