Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: rpm on April 20, 2006, 12:51:22 PM
-
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Authorities were searching early Thursday for a small plane registered to a famed test pilot that vanished from radar on Wednesday on a flight from Prattville, Alabama, to Manassas, Virginia.
Air traffic control last had contact with the plane registered to test pilot Scott Crossfield about 11 a.m. Wednesday when it was about 10 miles southwest of Ellijay, Georgia, about 60 miles north of Atlanta, an FAA spokeswoman told CNN.
The spokeswoman said she could not confirm who was aboard the single engine plane.
Crossfield, 84, was the first man to fly the X-15 rocket-powered jet and made aeronautical history in 1953 by becoming the first pilot to fly faster than Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound).
Capt. Paige Joyner of the Civil Air Patrol also would not confirm the identity of the pilot but said the family had reported no contact.
Joyner said the plane departed Prattville, about 12 miles northwest of Montgomery, at about 9 a.m.
:(
-
if he is dead, he died doing what he loves. no better way to go.
-
They found the wreckage with his body inside.
:(
Mac
-
This was his flight path.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6579X (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6579X)
-
At 84 isnt he a little too old to fly?
-
Originally posted by Callisto
At 84 isnt he a little too old to fly?
Seeing how Yeager was flying F-15's into his 70s - the answer is no.
-
I bet he went out the way he always dreamed to.
-
Originally posted by Wolfala
Seeing how Yeager was flying F-15's into his 70s - the answer is no.
uh.. big difference between "in his 70s" and 84 but still... impressive.
-
Originally posted by MrRiplEy[H]
I bet he went out the way he always dreamed to.
Having the dashboard of his airplane act like a sieve through which his body got rammed?
-
I hope I'm still flying at 84.
-
Originally posted by MrRiplEy[H]
I bet he went out the way he always dreamed to.
i don't think anyone would dream of being smashed into the ground then probably burned :confused: :(
-
AOPA reports He was flying a 1960 210 (that's the 1st year of production). I just assumed He was flying a late year model.
Regardless, they also report he encountered a Tstorm.
-
Fair skies and tailwinds forever,
to a great pilot.
-
We had some pretty bad weather in parts of GA yesterday.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/8848425/detail.html
RANGER -- The son-in-law of legendary test pilot Scott Crossfield confirmed Thursday that Crossfield's body was found in the wreckage of his plane in north Georgia.
Ed Fleming said authorities told him Crossfield's body was found in the plane.
Crossfield, thm first man to fly at Mach Two, twice the speed of sound, was flying from Alabama to Virginia yesterday when his plane disappeared.
The Civil Air Patrol, a Georgia helicopter and searchers on foot found the wreckage shortly after 1 p.m. today in the mountains near Ranger. A Civil Air Patrol spokeswoman said the area is near the Gordon-Pickens County line.
The plane left Prattville, Alabama, around 9 a.m. yesterday en route to Manassas, Virginia.
The Edwards Air Force Base Web site says Crossfield became the first man to fly at twice the speed of sound piloting the Douglas D-558-Two Skyrocket to a speed of 1,291 miles per hour in November 1953.
He was featured in the movie The Right Stuff, based on the book by the same name by Tom Wolfe.
-
Looks like he tried to get away from the storm and ended up running into one even bigger.
-
suixide not an option?
-
Originally posted by dynamt
This was his flight path.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6579X (http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N6579X)
Big old nasty storm he was heading into....:confused:
-
I would imagine a test pilot would like to end his day in a crash speeding a million instead of a hospital bed. Just a guess.
-
Always Another Dawn, his autobiography, hard to find & highly recomended...
-
Originally posted by ChickenHawk
I hope I'm still flying at 84.
I'll hoping for a regular bowel movement when I'm 84....
Scott Crossfield... a long and distinguished life....
My regards,
Widewing
-
well he died flying at least which is what he loved
-
Originally posted by Maverick
Fair skies and tailwinds forever, to a great pilot.
word.
-
All of the planes and all of the incidents he was involved with when he was a test pilot and then to have to go out like this. Man, the irony of it all.
A legend, a phenominal pilot, and a great American...
Scotty. Now there is one less old-bold pilot in the world.
-
Rockets, high Mach numbers, experimental aircraft are tough stuff, but flying in T-storms are as dangerous as it gets for a pilot.
-
Just goes to show ya. You never know how or when it's gonna happen. Like the health nut jogger that gets hit by a bus or the PETAtard that is eaten by a shark. God has a plan, and it will be followed to the letter.
One thing that keeps coming to mind is an interview I saw with Scott on the X-15. He was strapped in during a ground engine test when the plane suddenly exploded. Scott said it felt like he was kicked in the back by a mule, infact he had been hit by over 50 g's. The cockpit was blown forward of the fuselage about 30 feet, but remained sealed and intact, Scott was perfectly safe from the inferno due to the X-15's heat resistant construction.
He tried to tell them he was ok and to concentrate on putting the fire out, but the landline was torn away and no radios were active. Emergency crews immediately tried to pry him out with the fire blazing all around. With all the firehoses pointed at the cockpit, when they popped the canopy it soaked him down pretty good, and he was injured more from the rescue than the explosion. He suffered some scrapes an bruises and tore one leg of his flightsuit when they yanked him out.
When he finally was interviewed by on scene reporters, he told them 'I'm fine; just spoiled the crease in my pants'. The headline the next day was "X-15 explodes, Pilot wets pants".
Scott
-
Originally posted by MrRiplEy[H]
I bet he went out the way he always dreamed to.
If he died of a heartattack in the wild blue, then yes. if he was fumbling with his dentures and went down in a fiery crash, then I'd have to disagree.
-
Like all the best test pilots, I imagine his last thoughts as the aircraft was spinning towards the ground, were along the lines of 'I've tried A, I've tried B, time to try C.................
-
Yup. I have no doubt he was workin the checklist all the way down.
Not many aviation hero's left. This was a big loss. :(
-
Mr. Crossfield
hap
-
According to AvWeb (regrettably, I deleted the newsletter before I saw this post), witnesses say the plane was struck by lightning, lost power, and possibly caught a strong downdraft as a result of the storm.
-
Not Scott Crossfield, This totally sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cry :( :huh
-
2 days before the accident:
(http://www.chuckyeager.com/images/Crossfield-Thompson-a.JPG)
"This photo was taken Monday afternoon at the Prattville, AL, airport just after he'd landed. He had come down to Maxwell AFB to speak to the new 2nd Lts. on Tuesday. He took off Wednesday morning to go home."
-
Last news I saw (http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=40e370cf-f5ed-4f77-a306-c069d0aa50c0&Dynamic=1&Range=NOW&FromDate=04%2F24%2F2006&ToDate=04%2F28%2F2006&Category=%2Findex.cfm) mentioned an in-flight breakup
-
Word was that there was level 5 stuff that he got into. As I understand the 210 had been in an accident before (no idea involving what) but it doesn't really matter. A light airplane vs a level 5 Tstorm isn't going to win.
-
"Recorded radar data indicate that the accident airplane entered a level-6 thunderstorm prior to the loss of radar contact," the NTSB said.
Level 5's are bad ju-ju. I can't even imagine a 6.
-
Originally posted by Toad
Level 5's are bad ju-ju. I can't even imagine a 6.
A blender.