HAFAS awardees - Columbia Aviation Association

HAFAS awardees (Honorable Association of the Fractured Air Screw)
Bob Allegre (Deceased)
Greg Austin (Deceased)
Bruce Bennett & Larry Brons ran Beech jet off the runway at Sun River
Gordon Bennett (Deceased)
Frank Berger Threw his towbar in frustration; towbar lost on the roof of the hangar
Doug Black (Deceased)
Bob Blodgett (Deceased)
Dr. Bovard (Deceased) Clipped a power line with his tailwheel in RV 4. Got mad at
being awarded the prop; quit the club. Later died of heart attack on take off roll trying to
fly home to take care of his chest pain
Ed Buckwell (Deceased) propped his Debonaire and it ran into a hangar
Phil Carrell (Deceased) Landed Stinson on highway; Bellied in a Bonanza
Scott Carpenter (Astronaut) Accident with a TV 2 NASA Astronaut (Former)
Scott Carpenter, a dynamic pioneer of modern exploration, has the unique distinction of
being the first human ever to penetrate both inner and outer space, thereby acquiring the
dual title, Astronaut/Aquanaut. Born in Boulder, Colorado, on May 1, 1925, the son of a
research chemist Dr. M. Scott Carpenter and Florence Kelso Noxon Carpenter. He
attended the University of Colorado from 1945 to 1949 and received a bachelor of
science degree in Aeronautical Engineering.
Carpenter was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1949. He was given flight training at
Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas and designated a Naval Aviator in April,
1951. During the Korean War he served with patrol Squadron Six, flying anti-submarine,
ship surveillance, and aerial mining, and ferret missions in the Yellow Sea, South China
Sea, and the Formosa Straits. He attended the Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River,
Maryland, in 1954 and was subsequently assigned to the Electronics Test Division of the
Naval Air Test Center, also at Patuxent. In that assignment he flew tests in every type of
naval aircraft, including multi- and single-engine jet and propeller-driven fighters, attack
planes, patrol bombers, transports, and seaplanes. From 1957 to 1959 he attended the
Navy General Line School and the Navy Air Intelligence School and was then assigned
as Air Intelligence Officer to the Aircraft Carrier, USS Hornet. Carpenter was selected as
one of the original seven Mercury Astronauts on April 9, 1959. He underwent intensive
training with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), specializing in
communication and navigation. He served as backup pilot for John Glenn during the
preparation for America’s 1st manned orbital space flight -Feb '62.
Carpenter flew the second American manned orbital flight on May 24, 1962. He piloted
his Aurora 7 spacecraft through three revolutions of the earth, reaching a maximum
altitude of 164 miles. The spacecraft landed in the Atlantic Ocean about 1000 miles
southeast of Cape Canaveral after 4 hours and 54 minutes of flight time and was picked
up by the WWII aircraft carrier USS Intrepid CVS-11.
On leave of absence from NASA, Carpenter participated in the Navy’s Man-in the-Sea
Project as an Aquanaut in the SEALAB II program off the coast of La Jolla, California, in
the summer of 1965. During the 45-day experiment, Carpenter spent 30 days living and
working on the ocean floor. He was team leader for two of the three ten-man teams of
Navy and civilian divers who conducted deep-sea diving activities in a seafloor habitat at
a depth of 205 feet.
He returned to duties with NASA as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Manned
Spaceflight Center and was active in the design of the Apollo Lunar Landing Module and
in underwater extravehicular activity (EVA) crew training. In 1967, he returned to the
Navy’s Deep Submergence Systems Project (DSSP) as Director of Aquanaut Operations
during the SEALAB III experiment. (The DSSP office was responsible for directing the
Navy’s Saturation Diving Program, which included development of deep-ocean search,
rescue, salvage, ocean engineering, and Man-in-the-Sea capabilities.) Upon retirement
from the Navy in 1969,after twenty-five years of service, Carpenter founded and was
chief executive officer of Sear Sciences, Inc., a venture capital corporation active in
developing programs aimed at enhanced utilization of ocean resources and improved
health of the planet. In pursuit of these and other objectives, he worked closely with the
French oceanographer J.Y. Cousteau and members of his Calypso team. He has dived in
most of the world’s oceans, including the Arctic under ice. As a consultant to sport and
professional diving equipment manufacturers, he has contributed to design improvements
in diving instruments, underwater breathing equipment, swimmer propulsion units, small
submersibles, and other underwater devices. Additional projects brought to fruition by
his innovative guidance have involved biological pest control and the production of
energy from agricultural and industrial waste. He has also been instrumental in the design
and improvement of several types of waste handling and waste-transfer equipment.
Carpenter continues to apply his knowledge of aerospace and ocean engineering as a
consultant to industry and the private sector. He lectures frequently in the U.S. and
abroad on the history and future of ocean and space technology, the impact of scientific
and technological advance on human affairs, and man’s continuing search for excellence.
An avid skier, he spends much of his free time on the slopes in his home of Vail,
Colorado, his home for the past fifteen years.
He has appeared as television spokesman for many major corporations, including General
Motors (Oldsmobile), standard Oil of California, Nintendo, and Atari; and has hosted and
narrated a number of television documentaries. He has also served as actor/consultant to
the film industry in the fields of space flight, oceanography, and the global environment.
He has written two novels, both dubbed “underwater techno-thrillers.” The first was
entitled “The Steel Albatross.” The second, a sequel, was called “Deep Flight.” His
memoir, “For Spacious Skies” which he co-authored with his daughter, Kristen Stoever,
was published by Harcourt in January 2003.
Carpenter’s awards include the Navy’s Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross,
the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, U.S. Navy Astronaut Wings, the University of
Colorado Recognition Medal, the Collier Trophy, the New York City Gold Medal of
Honor, the Elisha Kent Kane Medal, the Ustica Gold Trident, and the Boy Scouts of
America Silver Buffalo. He has been awarded seven honorary degrees.
Dewey Conroy landed hard 6/8/05, wheels up through the wings, took off again, broke
everything the second landing incl all 3 prop blades, caught on film by KGW news crew.
In Jerry Dale’s Miya which he couldn’t sell to anyone
Kieth Crimmin (FAA Safety officer) Flew glider into Power lines at Eagle airport;
Blacked out 2000 homes.
Roger Dion (2) (Deceased) Baron accident
Paul Emerick (Deceased)
Lloyd Ericsson (Deceased) Lloyd was an aviation lawyer. He told us the last words on
every single black box recovered is, “Oh shit.”
Rich Finley (Cook) driving accident coming home from cooking dinner at club
Phil Fogg 2/22/08 fueled his L-39 jet himself and did not remove fueling mat which the
engine ingested on take off roll. Stopped. New engine needed;
Landed wheels down in borrowed amphibian in the river and nosed over inverted; barely
escaped, 2/20/11
Earle Freedman (Deceased)
Tim Gabler wingtip in the bramble bushes 5/20/10
Roger Giles Mistakenly landed on a road instead of field. Wrecked his Twin Comanche
Guy Gorrell EXONERATED of blame. Charged with running his float plane on rocks
and puncturing a float in B.C. Claim that float was punctured by a male sealion’s sexual
assault which mistook it for a beautiful female sealion was believed by the jury of his
peers. (Amid gales of laughter.)
Bill Granewich Sheared the gear off a Citation at Punta Pescadero in 2006
Dropped landing gear in the mud at Aurora Dec 2008; towed back out onto taxiway
Jim Graves Ran out of gas in a float plane; Groudlooped his Pacer 5/11. Groundlooped
his Debonair 5/2012. Wife persuaded him to give up flying in 2013.
Dennis Griffith (guest) smashed a runway light landing airport near Lake Okeechobee
Jim Gustafson Nose gear would not come down; Co-pilot (Sayler) managed to
extend the main gear leaning out and getting his belt around it (Cardinal RV)
Leonard Hall Taxied with the tail tie down still attached to cement block
Al Haner (Deceased)
Dan Hanna (Deceased)
Vic Hefferin
Jim Helander Interrupted the weather report on the radio to ask what the weather
forecast was
Merv Henkes Gear up Bonanza at Aurora
Ken Heuvel (Deceased) Cast off & Drifted out into the Columbia River locked out on
his pontoon with the FAA inspector with him (My personal favorite because he got the
FAA inspector to paddle back to the dock while he sat in the pilot’s seat and steered.)
Paul Heys
Norris Hibbler Prop fell off experimental plane in flight over Redding, CA; landed on
a strawberry field, just missing some power lines.
Peter Hoff 1. Gear up landing narrowly averted at Aurora. Witness radioed at last minute.
Greg Mottau asked him 3 times if the gear was down and he replied in the affirmative,
but it wasn’t.
2. Close call vented fuel due to loose caps on IFR flight to Aurora from Bend 6/16/2010.
bought 77 gal
Gale Jacobs Taxied Cardinal into a ditch at Aurora.
Jake Jacobson Dragged a wingtip in 180 w crosswind gusty landing. Award pending;
Later was copilot on wheels up. (see Zurcher) Subsequently jailed in Texas on a felony
charge.
Eldon Jenne hand propped Bonanza; taxied fast. Leaped a fence and hit a cow. Eldon
flew the P-47 Thunderbolt in WWII in Europe.
Col. Ken Jernstedt crashed P-40 Warhawk in China, took off from improvised base not
totally repaired and just made it to base.
David Jinings Wheels up Malibu at Independence during demo flight.
Hank Jinings Dinged prop taxiing in tall grass; hit a cement bucket used as a tiedown
Martin Johnson (Deceased) failed to secure baggage compartment door in rented aircraft
on departure from Siletz Bay. Wife panicked at the noise when it flew open during IFR
climb out. (Never awarded)
Kip Kappler (Deceased) Bellied in his Navion
Jack Kahle 1. Smashed nose gear of Cessna 206 landing at Chehalis 2/04
Jack joined the ranks of illustrious aviators whose names are inscribed on our broken
propeller by landing his Glasscar heavily nosewheel first twisting it into a pretzel. May
2006. Early viewers may see the result up on a sawhorse at Lenhart’s airport. Numerous
“squealers” made it impossible to avoid publicity for the event. Remember, as an old
aviation saying goes, the number of witnesses is directly proportional to the stupidity of
the act.
2. Control yoke c 3/8 inch hole bored thru it broke off
Bill Kinney Took off with 4 passengers from Bob Stark’s airport in 2009 with his gas cap
not secured. He promptly vented all his fuel and had to land in a farmer’s field and call
Bob Stark to bring over some more fuel.
Nobody was hurt. So that his passengers would not be frightened as he was landing he
told them that since he had not had any breakfast he was going to land and get breakfast
before continuing the sightseeing trip to Mt St Helens. One of the passengers, when once
on the ground, looked around her in the middle of the farmer’s field, and asked where the
restaurant was. We should get the prop for her too, but she doesn’t speak English, so it
would pose a difficulty, explaining that too, I suppose. After refueling, he took off again
and took his employees up to see Mt St Helens after all. And no breakfast was ever
served on the whole trip.
Milt Kingsland Set off his ELT alarm and CAP traced it to his hangar at midnight
Monte Kirsch (Lyle Bower’s friend) Put a 180 in the ditch at Long Beach (WA) airport
Dennis Kranz Wheels up landing MU2 at Scottsdale, AZ 1985
Valery Kubasov (Russian cosmonaut) Chewed tail off German plane with prop after
ammo ran out (These two Russians were told about the HAFAS award and begged to be
allowed to be on it.)
Bob Lansburg at Aurora wheels up 1995
John Lear Crashed Buker during low pull out in Switzerland. I learned to fly at Clover
Field in Santa Monica when I was 14. However before I got to get in an actual airplane
Dad made me take 40 hours of Link with Charlie Gress. I can't remember what I did
yesterday but I guarantee you I could still shoot a 90 degree, Fade-out or Parallel radio
Range orientation. When I turned 16 I had endorsements on my student license for an
Aero Commander 680E and Cessna 310.
I got my private at 17 and instrument rating shortly thereafter. The Lockheed 18 Lodestar
was my first type rating at age 18. I went to work for my father and brother flying copilot
on a twin beech out of Geneva Switzerland after I got out of high school. Dad was over
there trying to peddle radios to the European airlines.
However just after I turned 18 and got my Commercial I was showing off my aerobatic
talents in a Bucker Jungmann to my friends at a Swiss boarding school I had attended. I
managed to start a 3 turn spin from too low an
Altitude and crashed. I shattered both heels and ankles and broke both legs in 3 places. I
crushed my neck, broke both sides of my jaw and lost all of my front teeth. I managed to
get gangrene in one of the open wounds
In my ankles and was shipped from Switzerland to the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque
where Randy Lovelace made me well.
When I could walk again I worked selling pots and pans door to door in
Santa Monica. In late 1962 Dad had moved from Switzerland to Wichita to build the Lear
Jet and I went to Wichita to begin work in Public relations until November of 1963 about
2 months after the first flight when I moved
To Miami and took over editing an aviation newspaper called Aero News. I
Moved the newspaper to El Segundo in California and ran it until it failed. I then got a
job flight instructing at Progressive Air Service in Hawthorne, California. From there I
went to Norman Larson Beechcraft in Van Nuys flight instructing in Ercoupes.
In the spring of 1965 I was invited by my Dad back to Wichita to get type rated in the
model 23 Learjet. I then went to work for the executive aircraft division of Flying Tigers
in Burbank who had secured a dealership
For the Lear.
In November of 1965 my boss Paul Kelly crashed number 63 into the mountains at Palm
Springs killing everybody on board including Bob Prescott’s 13 years old son and 4 of
the major investors in Tigers. I took over his job as President of Airjet charters a wholly
owned subsidiary of FTL and flew charters and sold Lears. Or rather tried to sell them. It
Turns out that I never managed to sell one Learjet in my entire life.
In March of 1966 2 Lear factory pilots Hank Beaird, Rick King and myself set 17 world
speed records including speed around the round the world, 65 hours and 38 minutes in the
first Lear Jet 24. Shortly after that flight I
Got canned from Tigers and moved to Vegas and started the first 3rd level airline in
Nevada, Ambassador Airlines. We operated an Aero Commander and Cherokee 6 on 5
stops from Las Vegas to LAX. This was about the time
Howard Hughes moved to Las Vegas and I was doing some consulting work for
Bob and Peter Maheu.
The money man behind Ambassador was Jack Cleveland who I introduced to
John Myers in the Hughes organization. Cleveland and Myers tried to peddle
The 135 certificate to Hughes without success and Jack ended up selling Howard those
phony gold mining claims you all may remember. I went back to Van Nuys and was
flying Lear charter part time for Al Paulson and Clay
Lacy at California Airmotive, the Learjet distributor.
That summer I started a business called Aerospace Flight Research in Van Nuys were I
rented aircraft to Teledyne to flight test their Inertial Guidance Systems. We had a B-26,
Super Pinto and Twin Beech. I think we
Lasted about 4 months.
I then went to work for World Aviation Services in Ft. Lauderdale ferrying the Cessna
O2 FAC airplanes from Wichita, fresh of the assembly line to Nha Trang in Viet Nam
with fellow QB Bill Werstlein. We were under the 4440th ADG Langley VA. and hooked
up with a lot of other military pilots ferrying all manner and types of aircraft.
Our route was Wichita to Hamilton, Hickam, Midway, Wake, Guam, Clark and then in
country. The longest leg was Hamilton to Hickam an average of 16 hours, no autopilot,
no copilot, and one ADF. We also had 3 piddle packs.
Arriving in Nha Trang we would hitch a ride to Saigon and spend 3 days under technical
house arrest, each trip, pay a fine for entering the country illegally, that is being civilians
and not coming through a port of entry, catch an airline up to Hong Kong for a little R
and R and
straight back to Wichita for another airplane I flew this contract for 4 years.
During some off time in 1968 I attempted to ferry a Cessna 320 from Oakland to
Australia with the first stop in Honolulu. About 2 hours out from Oakland I lost the right
engine and had no provisions for dumping fuel. I went down into ground effect (T effect
for you purists) and for 3 hours and 21 minutes flew on one engine about 25 feet above
the waves and made it into Hamilton AFB after flying under the Golden Gate and
Richmond bridges. An old friend Nick Conte, was officer of the day and gave me the
royal treatment. Why did I go into Hamilton instead of Oakland? I knew exactly where
the O club was for some much needed refreshment.
In September of 1968 between 0-2 deliveries I raced a Douglas B-26 Invader in the Reno
Air Races. It was the largest airplane ever raced at Reno, and I placed 5th in the Bronze
passing one Mustang . It was reported to me after the race by XB-70 project pilot Col.
Ted Sturmthal that when I passed the P-51, 3 fighter pilots from Nellis committed suicide
off the back of the grandstands. In the summer of 1970 I helped Darryl Greenamyer and
Adam Robbins put on the California 1000 air race in Mojave California.
That's the one where Clay Lacy raced the D7. I flew a B-26 with Wally McDonald.
I then started flying charter in an Aero Commander and Beech Queen Air for
Aero Council a charter service out of Burbank. They went belly up about 3 months later
and I went up to Reno to work for my Dad as safety pilot on his Lear model 25. After my
Dad fired me I was personally escorted to the Nevada/California border by an ex-Los
Angeles police detective who worked for Dad and did the muscle work.
I went back down to Van Nuys and was Chief Pilot for Lacy Aviation and was one of the
first pilot proficiency examiners for the Lear Jet. In the summer of 1973 I moved to
Phnom Penh, Cambodia as Chief Pilot and Director of Operations for Tri Nine Airlines
which flew routes throughout Cambodia forKhmer Akas Air.
I flew a Convair 440 an average of 130 hours a month. We had unlimited quantities of
115/145 fuel and ADI and were able to use full CB-17 power (which was 62" for any of
you R-2800 aficionados). In November of 1973 I
moved to Vientianne, Laos and flew C-46's and Twin Otters for Continental Air Services
Inc. delivering guns and ammo to the Gen. Vang Pao and his CIA supported troops.
We got shot down one day and when I say we, Dave Kouba was the captain. We were
flying a twin otter and got the right engine shot out. Actually the small arms fire had hit
the fuel line in the right strut and fuel was streaming out back around the tail and being
sucked into the large cargo opening in the side of the airplane and filling the cockpit with
a fine mist of jet fuel.
I held the mike in my hands, "Should I call Cricket and possibly blow us up or...?" (Some
of you may remember "Cricket"... "This is Cricket on guard with an air strike warning to
all aircraft".) But Davy found us a friendly dirt strip and we were back in the air the next
day. When the war came to an end in 1973 I moved back to Van Nuys and started flying
Lears for Lacy again until October when I went up to Seattle and sat in on a Boeing 707
ground school for Air Club International on spec.
3 weeks later I ended up in the left seat of the 707 with a total of 8 hours in type. Air
Club begat Aero America and we flew junkets out of
Vegas for the Tropicana and Thunderbird Hotels. I left Aero having not been fired and in
the summer of 1975 I was Director of Ops for Ambassador Airlines flying 707 junkets
also out of Vegas. After that airline collapsed I moved to Beirut, Lebanon in September
of 1975 and flew 707's for 2 years for Trans Mediterranean Airways a Lebanese cargo
carrier. It was a very interesting job in that they had 65 stations around the world and you
would leave Beirut with a copilot that had maybe 200 hours
in airplanes and fortunately a first rate plumber and off you'd go around the world. My
favorite run was Dubai to Kabul, Afghanistan with a stop in Kandahar. Kabul is a one
way strip, land uphill and take off downhill, it was 6000 foot elevation with no navaids.
During those 2 years I made many round the world trips and many over the pole trips. In
1977 I moved back to Vegas and was Director of Operations for Nevada Airlines flying
DC-3's and Twin Beech's to the Canyon. In September of 77 I was called to Budapest for
another CIA operation flying 707's loaded with arms and ammo to Mogadishu.
Leaving Budapest then refueling in Jeddah we flew radio silence down the Red Sea
trying to avoid the MiGs based in Aden, whose sole purpose on earth was to force us
down. The briefing was simple. If you guys get into
trouble DON'T CALL US. Back to Vegas in December of that year I was hired as Chief
Pilot for Bonanza Airlines operating DC-3's and a Gulfstream 1 from Vegas to Aspen.
After that airline collapsed I was hired by Hilton Hotels to fly their Lear 35A. In my
spare time I flew part time for Dynalectron and the EPA on
an underground nuke test monitoring program. I flew their B-26, OV-10, Volpar Beech
and Huey helicopter. I also flew the Tri Motor Ford part time for Scenic Airlines. In 1978
my Dad passed away and his will left me with one dollar, which incidentally, I never got.
In 1980 I ran for the Nevada State Senate district 4. I lost miserably only because I was
uninformed, unprepared and both of my size 9 triple E's were continually in my mouth.
I got fired from Hilton shortly after that and moved to Cairo, Egypt to fly for Air Trans
another CIA cutout. After the Camp David accords were signed in 1979 each country,
Egypt and Israel were required to operate 4 flights a week into the others country. Of
course, El Al pilots didn't mind flying into Cairo but you could not find an Egyptian pilot
that would fly into Tel Aviv. So an Egyptian airline was formed called Nefertiti Airlines
with me as chief pilot to fly the 4 flights a week into Tel Aviv. On our off time we flew
subcontract for Egyptair throughout Europe and Africa. All this, of course was just a
cover for our real missions which was all kinds of nefarious gun running throughout
Europe and Africa which we did in our spare time.
And now that our beloved 40th president has passed on I can tell you that in fact (with
my apologies to Michael Reagan) the October Surprise was true. The October surprise
for those of you that don't remember happened during October of 1980 when Reagan
and Bush were running against Carter and Mondale. George Bush was flown in a BAC
111 one Saturday night to Paris to meet with the Ayatollah Khomeini. Bush offered the
Khomeini a deal whereby if he would delay the release of the hostages held in Tehran
until Reagans inauguration, the administration would supply unlimited guns and
ammunition to the Iranians. In order to get Bush back for a Sunday morning brunch so
that nobody would be alerted to his absence he was flown back in an SR-71 from Reims
field near Paris to McGuire AFB. Of course Reagan won, the hostages were
released and one of my jobs in Cairo was to deliver those arms from Tel Aviv to Tehran.
Unfortunately, the first airplane in, an Argentinean CL-44 was shot down by the
Russians just south of Yerevan and Mossad who was running the operation didn't want
to risk sending my 707. The arms where eventually delivered through Dubai, across the
Persian Gulf and directly into Terhan.
During the 2 years I was in Cairo I averaged 180 hours a month with a top month of 236
hours in a 31day period. I spent a 6 week tour in Khartoum flying cows to Saana, North
Yemen in an old Rolls Royce powered 707.
Back in Las Vegas in December of 1982 I sat on my ass until I was out of money, again,
and then went to work for Global Int'l Airlines in Kansas City, another CIA cutout run by
Farhad Azima, an Iranian with a bonafide Gold Plated Get Out of Jail Free card flying
707's until they collapsed in October of 83.
During the summer of 1983 the FAA celebrated its 25th Anniversary at the Mike
Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City. There was much fanfare and speech
making and 2 honored guests. Bill Conrad from Miami, Florida who had the most type
ratings, I think over 50. And myself. I had the most airman certificates issued of any
other airman.
After Global's collapse I went to work for American Trans Air flying 707's. I wrote their
international navigation manual as MNPS for North Atlantic operations was just being
implemented and became the first FAA designated check airman for MNPS navigation.
ATA then added 727's and then Lockheed L-1011's. For a very brief time I was qualified
as captain in all three.
After getting fired from ATA in July of 1989 I became a freight dog flying DC-8's for
Rosenbalm Aviation which became Flagship Express and after that airline collapsed I
was hired as Chief pilot for Patriot Airlines out of Stead Field in Reno, flying cargo 727's
from Miami to South America. After getting fired from Patriot I went to work for Connie
Kalitta flying DC-8s then the L-1011 on which I was a check airman. Kalitta sold out to
Kitty Hawk International which went bankrupt in May of 2000.
I was 57 at the time and nobody is going to hire an old f*ck for two and a half years
except to fly sideways as a FE so I turned in my stripes and ever present flask of
Courvoisier. Except for one last fling in March of 2001 where I flew the Hadj for a
Cambodian Airline flying L-1011's under contract to Air India. We were based in New
Delhi and flew to Jeddah from all throughout India. There was absolutely no paperwork,
no FAA, no BS and for 6 weeks we just moved Hadji's back and forth to Saudi Arabia.
One final note, in October of 1999 I had the honor and extreme pleasure to get checked
out in a Lockheed CF-104D Starfighter. My instructor was Darryl Greenamyer, the
airplane was owned by Mark and Gretchen Sherman of
Phoenix. It was the highlight of my aviation career particularly because I survived my first
and only SFO in a high performance fighter.
One other thing, somehow I managed to get the following type ratings:
Boeing 707/720/727, Convair 240/340/440, DC-3, DC-8, B-26, Gulfstream 1,
Lockheed Constellation, Lear Jet series, HS-125, Lockheed L-1011, Lockheed
L-18, Lockheed P-38, Martin 202/404, B-17, B-25, Grumman TBM and Ford Trimotor.
I also have single and multi engine sea, rotorcraft helicopter and gyroplane, and lighter
than air free balloon. I never got all categories having missed the Airship. And in case
you are interested many, many airmen have lots more type ratings. What I did get, that
no other airman got, was most FAA certificates: These are: the ATP, Flight Instructor
with airplane single and multi engine, instrument, rotorcraft helicopter and gyroplane and
glider. Flight Navigator, Flight Engineer, Senior Parachute Rigger, Control Tower
Operator, A&P, Ground Instructor, Advanced and Instrument and Aircraft Dispatcher.
I have 19,488 hours of Total time of which 15,325 hours is in 1,2,3 or 4 engine jet. I took
a total of 181 FAA (or designated check airman) check rides and failed only 2. Of the
thousands of times I knowingly violated a FAA regulation I was only caught once but
never charged or prosecuted.
The farthest I have ever been off course was 321 miles to the left over the South China
Sea in a 707 on New Year’s day 1977 on a flight from Taipei to Singapore. The deviation
was not caught by Hong Kong, Manila or Singapore radar and I penetrated six different
zero to unlimited restricted areas west of the Philippines. I landed in Singapore 7
minutes late without further incident. How, you ask, did I get so far off course? The short
answer is I was napping at the controls. I have flown just about everywhere except
Russia, China, Mongolia, Korea, Antarctica, Australia or New Zealand. I am a senior
vice-commander of the American Legion Post No1 Shanghai, China (Generals Ward,
Chennault and Helseth) (operating in exile) and a 21 year member of the Special
Operations Association. Now some of you may be asking why so many airlines
collapsed that I worked for and why I got fired so many times. My excuse is simple. I am
not the brightest crayon in the box, I am extremely lazy, I have a smart mouth and a real
poor attitude
Cliff Low Bonanza accident
Jim Matsies Dinged a rental car mirror while on a fly-out. Not an airplane accident.
Earle May (Deceased) 1.Taxied into mud at Rancho El Cypres Mexico with a 500B Commander
2. Dinged the prop of a Baron on a rock at Roche Harbor
3. Helped shear the gear off a Citation at Punta Pescadero 2006
Roger May 1. Safety pilot when Dennis Kranz landed gear up in MU2 at Scottsdale
2. Backed an elevator into something (hangar maybe?) 1985
3. Collapsed nose gear of a 421 on a Mexican dirt strip.
Bill McDonald
Event happened in 1998 or 1999. Cessna 150 rented from
Aero Maintenance at Pearson Field. I believe Bill was solo and made a
low, slow carrier approach to runway 25 at Port of Camas-Washougal
airport. He caught the tail section on the first (only) wire which was
the airport fence and slammed onto the runway. Damage: including but not
limited to the following: Nose gear and firewall, prop, engine and tail
section. By an anonymous squealer
Pat McNamee bent connecting rod on 414 by failing to secure the boost
pump when simulated engine out, thus flooding cylinder and destroying
engine on restart.
Merrill McPeak (USAF Chief of Staff) Pulled wings off an F100 during
Thunderbirds airshow. Visited us prior to retirement from active duty’ His staff of
colonels and captains were aghast, but he lapped it up.
Del Rio could be the movie set of a West Texas border town. It's windy, and
the weather tends toward seasonal extremes. A large U.S. Air Force Base 6
mi. east of town is named after 1st Lt. Jack T. Laughlin, a B-17 pilot and
Del Rio native killed over Java within a few weeks of the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor.
Our Thunderbirds Team flies into Laughlin on Oct. 20, 1967, for an air show
the next day, honoring 60 or so lieutenants graduating from pilot training.
We go through the standard pre-show routine. Lead and 5 do their show-line
survey, while the rest of us make the rounds of hospital and school visits
and give interviews. Next day, proud parents watch as new pilots pin on
wings.
At noon, we brief at Base Ops. As usual, an "inspection team" comprising
base and local dignitaries joins us for a photo session before we step to
the jets. The film Bandolero! is in production near the base, and its stars,
Jimmy Stewart and Raquel Welch, show up in the inspection team. Jimmy
Stewart is a USAF Reserve brigadier general, a founder of the Air Force
Assn. and a big hero to all of us. Raquel Welch is . . . well, she's Raquel
Welch.
We're wearing white show suits, my least-favorite outfit. Lead can choose
from among gray, blue, black or white, but today, we look like Good Humor
men. Plus, I work hard during the demonstration and sweat soaks my collar.
This wouldn't matter much, except we do a lot of taxiing in-trail. With only
6 ft. between the end of my pitot boom and No. 5's afterburner, I take a
load of engine exhaust in my cockpit. Soot clings to the dampness, leaving a
noticeable "ring around the collar" when I wear white. At Del Rio, I follow
my usual routine and roll the collar under once we have taxied away from the
crowd. After the show, I'll roll it back out again, the chimney-black still
there, but now underneath, out of sight.
We taxi short of the runway for a "quick check" pre-takeoff inspection by a
couple of our maintenance troops. As No. 6, I'm flying F-100D serial number
55-3520.
We take the runway, the four-aircraft Diamond in fingertip and Bobby Beckel
and I in Element, 500 ft. back. The Diamond releases brakes at precisely
1430. Bobby and I run up engines, my stomach tightening against the surge of
isolation and exhilaration that comes before every air show takeoff.
The USAF Thunderbirds flight demonstration team inadvertently uncovered a
wing-structure flaw in the supersonic F-100D fighter fleet during a 1967 air
show performance. Credit: USAF MUSEUM By this time in the season, the Team
is really clicking. We have a lot of shows under our belt and know what we
are doing. Twenty-one minutes into the event, it's going well--a nice
cadence and rhythm. We approach the climax, the signature Bomb Burst. My job
is to put "pigtails" through the separating formation, doing unloaded,
Max-rate vertical rolls.
Even a few vertical rolls require establishing a perfect up-line; more than
a few also requires starting the rolls with a ton of airspeed. I grab for
altitude as the Diamond pirouettes into the entry for the Bomb Burst, and at
just the right moment, dive after them, hiding behind their smoke. Airspeed
builds rapidly. I have to be mindful of a hard-and-fast rule: don't go
supersonic during an air show. The Thunderbirds switched to the F-100 in
1956, making us the world's first supersonic flying team. The next year, the
FAA banned public demonstrations involving supersonic flight. No booming the
crowd. So, I want to be subsonic, but just barely--say, Mach 0.99.
The biggest mistake I can make is to be early. The Diamond is about to break
in all four directions, so if I get there too soon, I don't have an exit
strategy. (In a pinch, I'll call the break, rather than wait for Lead to do
it.) Today, my timing looks good, so I light the 'burner and start a pull
into the vertical. We don't have a solo pilot's handbook, but if we did, it
would say this is a 6.5 g pull.
If I get it right, I'll hit the apex of the Bomb Burst 5 sec. after the
Diamond separates, snap the throttle out of 'burner to get the smoke going,
be perfectly vertical and very fast. As the Diamond pilots track away from
one another to the four points of the compass, I'll put on those lazy,
lovely pigtails. Then I'll get the smoke off and figure out how to do a
slow-speed vertical recovery. But at Del Rio, it doesn't turn out right. I
start the aggressive pull into the vertical--and the aircraft explodes.
Now, F-100 pilots are accustomed to loud noises. Even in the best of
circumstances, the afterburner can bang pretty hard when it lights off. It's
also fairly common for the engine compressor to stall, sometimes forcing a
violent cough of rejected air back up the intake. Flame belches out the oval
nose--which will definitely wake you up at night--and the shock can kick
your feet off the rudder pedals. Any F-100 pilot who hears a loud "BANG!"
automatically thinks, "compressor stall," and unloads the jet to get air
traveling down the intake in the right direction.
SO, INSTINCTIVELY, the explosion causes me to relax stick-pressure to unload
the airplane. By now, I'm fully into one of those fast-forward mental
exercises where seasons compress into seconds, the leaves changing color
while you watch. I move the stick forward lethargically, even having time to
think, "That's no compressor stall."
In retrospect, the airplane had already unloaded itself, making my remedy
superfluous, but there was some pilot lore at work here. No matter what else
happens, fly the airplane. Forget all that stuff about lift and drag and
thrust and gravity, just fly the damn airplane until the last piece stops
moving. Good old 55-3520 has quit flying, but I have not.
Now there's fire, and I don't mean just a little smoke. Flames fill the
cockpit. I have to eject. I grab the seat handles and tug them up, firing
the canopy and exposing ejection triggers on each side of the handles. I
yank the triggers and immediately feel the seat catapult into the
slipstream. Seat-separation is automatic and too fast to track, the seat
disappearing as I curl into a semi-fetal posture to absorb the parachute's
opening shock. Jump school helps here; I congratulate myself on perfect body
position. For one elongated moment, I imagine how proud they'd be at Ft.
Benning.
Then the chute snaps open--much too quickly--jolting me back to real time
and short-circuiting the transition from stark terror to giddy elation, the
evil Siamese twins of parachute jumping. My helmet is missing. Where did it
go? I look up and see a couple of chute panels are torn, several shroud
lines broken, and there's one large rip in the crown of the canopy. I'll
come down a bit quicker than necessary, but there's not much altitude left
anyway. Going to land in the infield, near show-center. Have to figure out
the wind, get the chute collapsed fast so as not to be dragged. Heck! On the
ground and being dragged already. Get the damn chute collapsed! Finally, I
stand up, thinking I'm in one piece. And here comes a blue van with some of
our guys in it.
Then it begins to sink in. In 14 years and 1,000-plus air shows, the Team
has been clever enough to do all its metal-bending in training, out of
sight. This is our first accident in front of a crowd and the honor is mine.
I gather my gear and climb into the van. Somebody wants to take me
immediately to the base hospital, but I say, "Let's go over and tell the
ground crew I'm OK." So we stop, I get out of the van, shake hands, toss the
crew chiefs an insincere thumbs-up. Jimmy Stewart is still there and comes
over to say nice things, but Raquel hasn't stayed for the show, so no
air-kiss. I'd given our narrator, Mike Miller, some ad-libbing lines to do
in the middle of his presentation, and he stops to say maybe we should leave
"that thing, whatever it is," out of the show sequence. That's when I learn
I'd pulled the wings off the airplane.
On most modern fighters, the wings are well behind the pilot. You can see
them in the rearview mirror or if you look back, but otherwise they're not
in your field of view. Of course, I had been watching the Diamond, ahead and
well above me. I hadn't seen the wings come off. All I knew was the airplane
blew up.
The F-100 has a large fuel tank in the fuselage, on top of the wing center
section and forward of the engine. When the wings folded, a large quantity
of raw fuel from that tank dumped into the engine, which exploded. The shock
wave from the blast propagated up the air intake and blew the nose off,
removing the first 6 ft. of the airplane. The tail of the jet also was badly
damaged, liberating the drag chute. As it came fluttering down, some in the
crowd thought my personal parachute had failed.
After it exploded, the engine started pumping flames through the
cockpit-pressurization lines. Conditioned air enters the cockpit at the
pilot's feet and behind his head. My flying boots, ordinarily pretty shiny
for an ROTC grad, were charred beyond repair. I never wore them again. Where
I had rolled my collar underneath to protect show-suit appearance, my neck
got toasted.
I have no idea how fast I was traveling at ejection. I was certainly barely
subsonic when the wings failed, but with the nose blown off, the F-100 is a
fairly blunt object and would have slowed quickly. On the other hand, I
remained with the aircraft no more than a second or two after it exploded,
so there wasn't time to decelerate much. When I came out of the jet,
windblast caught my helmet, rotated it 90 deg. and ripped it off my head. It
was found on the ground with the visor down, oxygen mask hooked and chin
strap still fastened. As the helmet rotated, a neck strap at the back rubbed
the burned part of my neck, causing some bleeding.
The Team keeps a zero-delay parachute lanyard hooked up during the air show,
giving us the quickest possible chute deployment. That explained why my
chute opened fast--too fast, as it turned out. I didn't get enough
separation from the seat, which somehow contacted my parachute canopy,
causing the large tear. The immediate, high-speed opening was certainly
harsher than normal, and as my torso whipped around to align with the chute
risers, the heavy straps did further damage to the back of my neck, the body
part apparently singled out for retribution.
Walking into the base hospital, I'm startled by my image in a full-length
mirror. Above, a sign says: "Check Your Military Appearance." Mine looks
like I've crawled into a burlap bag with a mountain lion. The white show
suit is a goner, the cockpit fire having given it a base-coat of charcoal
gray accented by blood and a final dressing of dirt, grass and sagebrush
stain. Being dragged along the ground accounts for the camouflage, but I
hadn't realized my neck was bleeding so much They keep me in the hospital overnight. The
Team visits, and Mike Miller smuggles in a dry martini in a half-pint milk carton. Everybody's
leaving for Nellis AFB the next morning. I tell the hospital staff I'm leaving, too,
and ask our slotman, Jack Dickey, to pack my stuff at the motel. The 1967
show season is over.
After I jumped out, my aircraft continued on a ballistic trajectory,
scattering parts and equipment along the extended flight path. Most of the
engine and the main fuselage section impacted about 2 mi. downrange from my
initial pull-up spot. All the bits and pieces landed on government soil, and
there was no injury or property damage. My aircraft was destroyed--I signed
a hand-receipt for $696,989--but if there is a good kind of accident, this
was it. Nobody was hurt, and all the scrap metal was collected for post-game
analysis.
The F-100's wings mate into a box at the center of the fuselage, the
strongest part of the airplane. When my aircraft's wing center box was
inspected, it was found to have failed. North American Rockwell, the
manufacturer, tested the box on a bend-and-stretch machine, and it broke
again at an equivalent load of 6.5 g for the flight condition I was at when
the wings departed. It shouldn't have happened, since the F-100's positive
load limit is 7.33 g, but my F-100's wing center box broke along a fatigue
crack, and there were about 30 more cracks in the vicinity.
Some then-recent F-100 losses in Vietnam looked suspiciously similar. The
recovery from a dive-bomb pass is a lot like my high-speed, high-g pull-up
into the Bomb Burst. In the Vietnam accidents, the pieces had not been
recovered, and the aircraft were written off as combat losses.
Later, specialists discovered considerable fatigue damage in the wing center
boxes of other Thunderbird aircraft. USAF immediately put a 4 g limit on the
F-100 and initiated a program to run all the aircraft through depot
modification to beef up the wing center box. My accident almost certainly
saved lives by revealing a serious problem in the F-100 fleet.
Gen. Merrill A. (Tony) McPeak flew F-100, F-104, F-4, F-111, F-15 and F-16
fighters, participated in nearly 200 air shows as a solo pilot for the
Thunderbirds and flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam as an attack pilot and
high-speed forward air controller (FAC). He commanded the Misty FACs, 20th
Fighter Wing, Twelfth Air Force and Pacific Air Command, and completed his
career as the 14th USAF chief of staff.
Dennis (Downwind) Meyer Taxied into soft dirt in Animas airport; bent prop
Bob Miles landed at wrong airport--American Falls, some miles short of Pocatello....
Also did same at military base in New Zealand looking for the civil field.
Ted Millar 1. Landed float plane at PDX with wheels retracted.
2. Started helicopter with the rotor tied down
3. Ted Millar incident. 7/16/2015. First flight just out of annual. Aircraft mechanic’s 9
year old son along for a ride. Took off north to south on runway at Aurora. Complete
engine failure seconds after liftoff. Runway to spare so he put it down rather hard causing
one wheel strut to break which then groundlooped the airplane. Nobody hurt. Engine not
damaged further. Wingtip and landing gear assembly damaged. Parts coming from New
Zealand. Again largely a mechanical difficulty actually handled rather well by the pilot.
HAFAS accepted graciously. Takeaway thought: Careful always of surprises on first
flight after annual or mechanical check.
Hal Morley 1. raised the gear on Yak before take off at Madras; ELT activated in hangar
2003; 2. Set off his ELT alarm and CAP traced it to his hangar
Bud Morrison (Deceased) Wheels up Mooney Mite at Scappoose
Greg Mottau Narrowly averted gear up landing with Hoff at Aurora. Backed plane into
hangar and dinged the tail.
John Noordwijk Prop strike w crosswind landing c new Cirrus. August 04
Bill Owen Called cops from the tower to report suspicious person on hangar roof who
turned out to be furnace repairman.
Damaged John Tragis’ Cessna 182 while instructing at the old Mulino airport.
Herm Parsons (Deceased) Dropped a wheel off the runway and ground looped
Jim Perkins Landed nose gear first at night at Newberg; Dinged prop hard, added
power, ran off the end and down the ravine. Wrecked Mooney/Hurt his lady
Miraculously did not burn.
Dick Peyran nose gear collapsed landing after emergency extension Trinidad at UBG.
Whit Pierson (Deceased) Wheels up in a Mooney Mite at Pearson. Hans Walther was
the real culprit. This was the origin of the award.
Guy Pratt Talking crazy to the fuel line man
Guy Pratt is 43 in 2008. He was born deaf or became deaf as an infant, but has no other
known congenital anomalies nor measles stigmata. When I first knew him his speech was
all but unintelligible and he had no hearing at all. Modern technology has made a huge
difference and he is easily conversant now with implants and hearing aids. All of this is
since 2002 when he had a serious misunderstanding that ended up astounding the whole
metropolitan Portland area. Guy had a Stinson airplane which had no radio—he certainly
could not have used one if it had. He kept it at Evergreen Airport which had no radio and
no fuel availability either, so he flew it to Scappoose Airport which had no radio to get
fuel from time to time. It was shortly after 911 when he went to Scappoose to get fuel late
one afternoon and had some sort of conversation with the person there who pumps the
fuel into airplanes. He paid for his gas and flew back to Evergreen, put the Stinson in the
hangar and went to dinner later in the evening. Next morning he found he was a notorious
celebrity, the FAA took away his credentials to fly and he was sent to psychiatric
evaluation.
After Guy left to fly back to Evergreen, the gas attendant at Scappoose reflected on their
conversation. The more he thought about it, the more worried he became. He couldn’t
have been sure what guy had said, because Guy’s speech was so hard to understand, but
the conversation had touched on the subject of flying airplanes into buildings as had
recently happened in New York and Washington. The more he thought, the more
troubled he became, so he called his boss. About an hour had gone by, but he thought he
better talk to his boss, so he wouldn’t be accused of not reporting. The boss was appalled.
He thought if somebody is going to fly an airplane into the tall bank building in Portland,
the FAA ought to know about it. He called the FAA. (FSDO?)
The FAA person having a report of a threat to fly an airplane into “Big Pink” as the bank
building is known in Portland, called someone in the air force. The report of an incipient
catastrophe was magnified at each stage and the local air force person reached a Brigadier
in the Pentagon. The air force general in the pentagon knew what to do with a report that
a rogue airplane was flying toward Portland’s tallest building –launch the F-15s. The
Stinson could fly to downtown Portland in less than 5 minutes from Scappoose airport.
At least a couple of hours had now passed since Guy’s plane had been safely stored in its
hangar over at Evergreen, but nobody had a timeline on this thing. The Air National
Guard at Portland airport had two F-15s off the deck inside of 15 minutes. I have that
from the Colonel who commanded the squadron at the time. They went to 1500 feet in
afterburner and called their control, which had just been informed that a plane was
headed for downtown Portland to do damage. One sweep of the radar, and they had a
target. “230 degrees, angels one, BUSTER!” Still in burner the two 15s turned for
downtown at a thousand feet.
Now comes the part that is simply incomprehensible. A movie company had obtained
permission from the city fathers in Portland to torch off a tanker truck full of gasoline in
the railroad yards just north of town, and did so just as it got good and dark, and dark was
just what day had become as the two air force jets passed over Portland. BOOM! Great
pictures. But nobody told the pilots. Lead says “Did you see that?” Wingman says,
“We’re too late!” They swung south still in burner at 1000 feet, emptying houses full of
frightened citizens into the streets at suppertime. Below Lake Oswego they reversed
course and came roaring back up to Portland. By then there was nothing more to see and
Control told them to secure and go home, which they did. It all came out the next day, but
nobody could be sure what Guy had said. Did he make a threat or not? Cooler heads
eventually prevailed, but he was sent to psych evaluation to be sure. He’s still shook up
from what happened to him in all his innocence. I think you can be assured he has no
mental illness. And I was amazed at how his deafness has been overcome in 2008 with
new implants since I had last met him in 2003. He still has to watch you speak to “hear”
what you are saying, but his own speech is clearly articulated now.
Doug Pratt (Deceased) (Guy’s father) (Mortician who did a lot of practical jokes on his
friends over many years—they were laying for him) Failed to clear customs coming back
from Canada at Boeing field. Follow-up story: the guys had a lawyer call him up next
week and grill him for an hour pretending to be a treasury agent. At the end, thanked him
for his cooperation, and said, “As you know the penalty for failing to clear is $10,000
fine, confiscation of the aircraft and a year in jail. In view of your cooperative attitude we
will not ask for the year in jail. You’ll be hearing from us.” And rang off. They played
the tape of that call two weeks later when he next came to club dinner. “It was you
sonsabitches all the time!” said a relieved Doug.
Renny Price’s incident. June 2015 He volunteered to fly a friend’s taildragger airplane
which had been laid up and not flown for a long period of time. It was the first flight
since annual. It failed to start on the first try and responded on the second try while the
throttle was in idle with a full 260 horsepower since the carburetor was open to 60%
position in idle. The aircraft rotated about its wheel base and the prop struck the ground
though the brakes held. Wooden prop disintegrated but none of the 10 idlers standing
watching was injured by the flying debris. Very lucky there. Asked for a takeaway
thought, Renny could only say nobody takes a carburetor apart on preflight check.
Bottom line: mechanical failure in an airplane unused over a protracted period of time.
HAFAS graciously accepted with a smile.
Mike Reese (deceased) & Walt Swan didn’t secure the props on King Air at Napa and
they windmilled.
Vasily Reshetnikov (Russian cosmonaut) Landed at German-held airfield, (from which
he had departed earlier when it was in Russian hands); Took off again -- under fire
Sam Richardson flew into a cow 8/13/01 landing in a pasture a Lake Amphibian that
was losing power.
Don Riddle (Deceased) Landed a Queen Air in the river departing from Portland
Bob Rullman (Deceased)
Dick Rutan Deadstick landed air force flying club Cessna 152 in tomato field and hit
irrigation ditch and tipped over while instructing the squadron flight surgeon. “I have
never made a mistake flying an airplane—and you can take that to the bank.”
Back in the 1990s when Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan flew nonstop around the world in
an ultra light we had them up to talk about it. (Actually we filled a basketball stadium for
them and cleared $17,000. of which we paid them $10,000.) During cocktails and before
dinner at the club afterwards our president of that year asked Dick if he had ever screwed
up flying a plane? Now Dick is a VERY arrogant man, and indeed considers himself the
best pilot who ever lived. And he has no sense of humor about that at all. Moreover, he
was being mad and insulting at his former girlfriend who he openly accused of not
keeping up her end of the flying duties on their flight. While he was scorning her, she
manifested her heartache by clearly adoring him. So his reply was in character, “Hey,
I’ve heard about your goddam propeller and you ain’t hanging that sombitch on me. I
have never made a mistake flying an airplane and you can take that to the bank!” The
subject was abruptly changed.
But not forever. After supper he was reintroduced, and his own words were quoted back
to us all, which raised a murmur of undertone remarks. Our president laughingly inquired
if there was anyone here who knew anything to the contrary, and a hand shot up in the
back of the room.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Dr Somebodyorother from Sacramento.”
“Are you a pilot?” (A member or prospective member must hold a pilot’s license)
“No, I’m a pediatrician. I set out to be a pilot once, but I never became a pilot. I’m a
member’s guest.”
(Well, it was a set up job prepared weeks in advance, and Dick stepped into the
minefield.)
“Better you come up front here and take the microphone and tell us your story.”
He told us he had gone to Medical School at government expense and the payback was to
be two years at Beale AFB as a flight surgeon. When he got there he bethought himself to
become a pilot and joined the base flying club. They owned a Cessna 150. When he had
paid his dues he went down to the hangar and inquired for a pilot to teach him to fly it.
He was told “LT Rutan is our best pilot” (He had people saying that even then.)
Rutan peered at him and expostulated, “I remember you!” That brought down the house
with anticipation.
He told us it was on the second flight. He was showing me that you push forward and it
goes down and you pull back and it goes up, when, BANG, the engine quit and the prop
wind milled ineffectively. The crankshaft had broken. The engine had doubtless been
sorely abused in the recent past. The lieutenant said, “I’ve got it.” and turned for the field.
But it was too far to glide and he had to pick a cultivated field. He picked a tomato field.
“Do you fellows know about tomato fields? They irrigate them in California. The
lieutenant put that plane right down a row of tomatoes and didn’t touch one. He had the
nose wheel in the center between plants and the main gear straddling two other rows. All
went well till we came to the irrigation ditch and we broke off the nose wheel and went
right over on our back. This Japanese farmer came running out of the house with his
Polaroid camera, and took our picture, and yelled about all the damage we would have to
pay for, but we assured him he would be compensated by the government and to put in a
big bill. So he took us up to the house and gave us coffee and they came and got us from
the base.”
“Well, wouldn’t you give just anything to have a copy of the photo he took with you here
tonight?” And, indeed, they did. Two sheepish looking guys climbing out of the wreck of
the overturned Cessna. It was pulled out from behind a screen, blown up big as the
second coming of Christ, and all the guys set up a howl to “hang it on the half-assed son
of a bitch!” –which is the cry that has always accompanied the award. He protested that
he had done an excellent job, but the lads were having none of that, and he was draped
with it, and photographed again. Years later I met a friend of his who told me he was still
aggrieved over the occasion. “I’m never going back to Portland again; those guys hung
their dirty propeller on me!”
Bryan Sanderson Supercub blown into a tree on landing
Frank Schmidt Jr. He says he can’t remember.
Frank Schmidt III Took off with aileron locks on Sept 04. Put it back on the runway just
out of ground effect. Refused the prop award; quit the club.
Roger Smith Night Ditching North Atlantic due to fuel starvation 8/25/1957 in AD5W
Angered the RADM CARDIV by making fun of the air boss whose drunken behavior
was the cause of the foul up
Gordon Snow
Phil Spencer landed wheels up at Aurora 1/2011
Bill Stanyer Busted Camp David Prohibited Area VFR in Malibu
(He avoided the restricted area above 5000 feet by going below it at 4500. And when he
heard them calling him on the radio, went silent, descended below radar coverage,
changed heading, Flew to uncontrolled fields all the way home to Portland and paid cash
for gas.) (They knew he did it but could never prove it.)
Climbed to 20,000 feet in Malibu with pressurization out; Passed out; Fred Koch, copilot,
descended back down. Then presented FAA examiner with an altered medical
Emily Stark Wiprud student landed her nose wheel first and bent the prop; prop (first
woman member-awarded 7/15/2010)
Roger Stenbock 1. Taxied into a student pilot’s plane (on the same day we got him back
his medical); 2. Nosed up a Pacer.
Tom Stevenson dinged wing on camper while taxiing to hangar 7/2012
After turning into pad across from my hanger to park and setting brakes I found plane at an
adverse angle. I noted a pickup with canopy parked as usual beside pad. With the newly planted
forest next to the hangers, and in front of it, I was cautious in not getting too close. When
adjusting the RPM's for shut down, the pickup canopy was instantly moved rearward by the
propwash forces and impacted next to the right wing tip. This action resulted in a very small, yet
now most embarrassing, dent in the wing - but not even a scratch on the canopy.
Dan Streimer Landed gear up
Ken Sunderland Cessna tail bitten by his dog chasing take off at his own field.
Hawaiian airlines pilot. Died 9/2013
Stan Swan 1.Wheel collapse. 2. Bent wing on a hangar door.
Walt Swan Autorotation accident
Jim Theda Low pass at Troutdale
Al Timberman Took off without calling PDX tower at Vancouver-Pearson. Cited by
FAA
George Wallace (2) Inverted his Float plane at Tscha Lake; Ran out of gas in SeaBee
taking off fm McMinnville. He dip sticked it with engine running & thought there was
moré in the tank.
John Wallace
Roger Watson gear up Aurora in 421 1/03
Steve Welter, gear collapse on Archer
Tom Whitney Got out of the airplane with engines running. No incident
Dave Wiley (Deceased) Flew glider into Power lines at Eagle airport. Blacked out 2000
homes.
Rick Williams 1. Taxiied into the picnic area with his Bellanca and blew everybody’s
picnic off the tables with is propwash at TJ Beck’s 6/28/2012;
2. Clipped the VASI landing at HIO 7/2012
John Williford Gear up at John Wayne Airport. Too close to plane ahead, retracted gear,
changed mind, put handles for gear & flaps down together. Only flaps deployed.
Norm Willis took off with canopy unlocked and lost canopy
Jim Yoes got lost in BC
Bill Zurcher 1. (Jake Jacobson co-pilot) landed float plane wheels up at Lenhart’s
during the CAA short field landing contest, thus winning same (Aceing out Scott
Gustafson who really did win it) though he was not an official competitor and didn’t
know the contest was in progress.)
2. 2/15/02 Flipped his plane in snow bank landing on ice
Need to add
Rick Williams
Tom Stevenson