by beaky » Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:38 pm
How upsetting it is depends on one's interest... as a pilot, I'm not any more or less disturbed by the death than by any other kind of accident, but I would like to know how it happened because it makes us all look bad every time an airplane crashes. It's particularly damaging when it's a small GA aircraft, as we don't enjoy the status of scheduled carriers in the minds of the average person, and are more vulnerable to attack. Of course, the main reason to want to know what happened is to try prevent it from happening again (every safety innovation now taken for granted in aviation was paid for with blood). I couldn't load the video, but I'm willing to bet the local media's description of the accident and its cause was highly dramatic and wildly innacurate.
It is odd that things went so badly making an emergency engine-out landing at a golf course; most golf courses are perfect for that. Well, not knowing the details, I can't say I'd do any better.