Bill Anders, Apollo 8 Astronaut, killed in cars of his T-34 yesterday. near Orcas island, Wa.
I saw that. Sad story. What was a 90 year old doing all by himself flying an airplane doing aerobatics? I recognize a pretty good number are in very good shape for their age but still. Can you get a medical at 90? It looked like a pretty big loop but it looked like he was trying to avoid a lot of Gs on pullout and ran out of sky. Just the same, Major General, Apollo astronaut. Sorry to see him go.
Correction. Anders was killed in the CRASH of his T-34. Darn computer makes too many misteaks lately.
I never subscribed to any conspiracy theories on that one. I remember it very well. He was flying a homebuilt, built by an idiot being flown by someone who knew it had issues. Foreseeable outcome all around but without stupidity we would have very few airplane crashes.
Many said the same of Frank Tallmans crash. As I recall he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had a huge accident insurance policy.
He could have had Basic-med? Good for 4 years, and no FAA doc required. Though, if you look at the requirements, it actually should be harder to pass Basic-med than 3rd class med. No one looks at your anus for 3rd class. It doesn't look like flying acrobatics has any additional medical restrictions. I suspend when you are Bill Anders, an AME or regular doc(basic-med), may let things slide a bit. Other option is he didn't have a medical? Lot's of small airports where no one is going to stop you jumping into your own plane. I think the old joke was that the FAA had a goal of getting at least 50% of the people flying planes in Alaska to have a current license.
Denver or Anders? Anders was clearly trying to pull out of a dive. Way too low for any such aerobatics which IS confusing. pilot Juan Browne . The crash .... it is at a distance, but, .... VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED .
I think Denver was just a typical screw-up. That view does make it look like Anders just screwed up a loop. The view I saw earlier was from further away, and the recovery was less obvious. That said, he'd probably prefer that we thought it was intentional, rather than just screwing up a loop.
From comments that I see , the analysis is a split S out of an attempted roll with not enough altitude to recover.
I haven't seen enough video of what he was doing in the minute or so before to know what he was trying to do.
I just hope if I get to 90 I would have the option of doing that. Nice way to go rather than withering away in a bed, perfect ending to an incredible life I think.
I can't remember the guys name but they also complained about the editing out of the beginning of the maneuver but they all seem to agree that he was at 7-1000 ft, Split-S'ed out of what they thought was a roll and there wasn't enough altitude to recover. He obviously tried to pull out but, again, not enough altitude.
I have done a split-S in a Stearmanand. I'm not an expert but I felt that the first half of it is doing nothing but losing altitude. You start out with little or no airspeed and then gobble up altitude getting enough speed to get some active controls. Kind of fun in a Stearman ....at altitude. More dangerous in a PT-19 because they were heavier and clean and could build up a head of steam very fast. I imagine that a Ryan PT-22 would turn into a streamlined rock. I always believed in that 1st Commandment......" Thou shalt always maintain airspeed and altitude lest the earth arise and smite thee."
I can see that. I do Split-S occasionally in my Citabria, but as was pointed out you enter very slow (80 mph is the entry speed, I think) and I always start from at least 4,000 feet. I think you lose about 1500 feet in the Citabria, probably a bit more in the T-34 as it has less drag.
