RIP

[Shyster]

Just awful awful awful news...

Someone on Reddit posted something about this being one of the very first planes in production by this company, and that the original test pilot died too. No idea if that has been substantiated.

The Icon A5 is indeed a new aircraft, and I can confirm the original chief test pilot was killed in an accident. That crash was investigated and ruled pilot error, however.

The A5 is a small two-seat amphibious aircraft that has folding wings so one can trailer it to the water just like a boat. It falls under the "light sport" category and is limited to daytime flying under visual conditions.

[llipgh2]

Initial reports are saying there was no Mayday call from Halliday before the crash. Wonder if he had a medical emergency that led to the crash?

[shafnutz05]

Initial reports are saying there was no Mayday call from Halliday before the crash. Wonder if he had a medical emergency that led to the crash?

Not necessarily. The whole thing could have happened so quickly that he was too preoccupied with trying to keep the plane in the air. If you are going down and headed for a crash in the next 20-30 seconds, a mayday call isn't going to help you.

[CBear3]

He also liked to fly close to the water to begin with judging from some of his twitter posts. If something went wrong either with the plane or himself there would have been very little time to react.

[Freddy Rumsen]

I have a good friend of mine who teaches flying in a commercial setting and he was noting by reading the Twitter feed that he exhibited a lot of qualities that will get a guy washed out of his program. Basically the lack of seriousness / awareness of what he was getting himself into.

[shafnutz05]

Basically the lack of seriousness / awareness of what he was getting himself into.

I hate to say it, but I had the same impression reading back through his social media tweets and whatnot. It just seemed like he rushed into this decision--obviously he got his flying license but I just don't think he appreciated the risk enough.

[tifosi77]

Flying can go from situation normal to a goat screw in the blink of an eye.

[CBear3]

Took a basic intro to aeronautics class during summer semester one year...learning the size of flight envelopes and the basic equations for keeping things aloft. It was an eye opener.

[robbiestoupe]

The pressure differential from the upper wing cross section to the lower is the only reason planes fly. A shift in atmospheric pressure or a transition from laminar to turbulent flow of the air across the airfoil can spell doom.

[dodint]

RIP Higgins.

[blackjack68]

RIP Higgins.

aka Howard Johnson from Blazing Saddles

[CBear3]

The pressure differential from the upper wing cross section to the lower is the only reason planes fly. A shift in atmospheric pressure or a transition from laminar to turbulent flow of the air across the airfoil can spell doom.

Yep, I’ve been a race car guy all my life, so I went into it thinking it’s the same thing we just move the low pressure area above the wing. No big deal.

But that neglects that the altitude of the car isn’t changing, the air is basically all the same density, the attack angle of the wing varies minimally, etc.

[shafnutz05]

While browsing Wiki deaths, I noticed that Karin Dor died in the past week. She is best known to Bond fans as playing Helga Brandt, Blofeld's assassin sent to kill Bond:

[Gaucho]

[Ad@m]

Basically the lack of seriousness / awareness of what he was getting himself into.

I hate to say it, but I had the same impression reading back through his social media tweets and whatnot. It just seemed like he rushed into this decision--obviously he got his flying license but I just don't think he appreciated the risk enough.

Boston radio host says he ‘got what he deserved’

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/boston-rad ... 59847.html

[Gaucho]

Harsh.

[blackjack68]

Deserve's got nothing to do with it.

[tifosi77]

RIP Higgins.

aka Howard Johnson from Blazing Saddles

Blow it out your ass, Howard.

I named my first two immersion circulators Zeus and Apollo, to keep track of duty cycles.

[eddy]

42 years ago. Never forget


The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called 'gitche gumee'
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

[shafnutz05]

42 years ago. Never forget

So close to Whitefish Bay, just never made it. It's insane what the interior of Lake Superior gets like during bad storms. You might as well be in the middle of the North Atlantic.

[Silentom]

Dunno why, but I envision Gordon to be the most Canadian name ever.

[columbia]

Because of Gordon Lightfoot

[Silentom]

Possibly, but I'm barely familiar with any of his music.

[shafnutz05]

Dunno why, but I envision Gordon to be the most Canadian name ever.

It's funny you say that. "Gordon" was the debut album from the musical pride of Canada, the Barenaked Ladies.

[tifosi77]

Wait..... not because of Gordie Howe?