Ian Groom

[Pat]

I'm a bit suprised nobody has mentioned the accident that took the
life of Ian Groom this past weekend. If you have not heard, Ian was
killed during Friday's practice for the Fort Lauderdale Air and Sea
show. It appeared (from video footage) that Ian failed to recover
from a flat spin, and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. By all
accounts, Ian was a tremendous air show performer and an even better
person. He will be missed...

[Jay Honeck]

> I'm a bit suprised nobody has mentioned the accident that took the
> life of Ian Groom this past weekend. If you have not heard, Ian was
> killed during Friday's practice

Sorry to hear it. Do you have any web links with the story?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Mike O'Malley]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:skzlc.24384$kh4.1299734@attbi_s52...
> > I'm a bit suprised nobody has mentioned the accident that took the
> > life of Ian Groom this past weekend. If you have not heard, Ian was
> > killed during Friday's practice
>
> Sorry to hear it. Do you have any web links with the story?


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-430planecrash,0,6671282.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

http://cbs4.com/newslocal/topstoriesmia_story_121150454.html

[Aardvark]

Pat wrote:
> I'm a bit suprised nobody has mentioned the accident that took the
> life of Ian Groom this past weekend. If you have not heard, Ian was
> killed during Friday's practice for the Fort Lauderdale Air and Sea
> show. It appeared (from video footage) that Ian failed to recover
> from a flat spin, and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. By all
> accounts, Ian was a tremendous air show performer and an even better
> person. He will be missed...

Tributes are pouring in for a respected aerobatic pilot who died in a
crash in Florida on Friday. Ian Groom, 58, was practicing a flat spin,
which he'd earlier said was his signature maneuver, but for unknown
reasons his Su-31 didn't recover and crashed into the Atlantic about
2,000 feet offshore from Ft. Lauderdale. Groom was quickly recovered
from the crash site but rescue workers couldn't save him. Groom was
preparing to perform in the annual Air and Sea Show, which went ahead as
scheduled. Saturday's air show was dedicated to Groom, and the Canadian
Armed Forces Snowbirds flew a missing-man formation in tribute. Although
Groom was best-known for his aerobatics career (in 2002 he set a world
record flying 57 snap rolls in 26 seconds), he also helped others avoid
accidents. Groom, who was originally from South Africa, became a U.S.
citizen in 1995. After 9/11 he volunteered to provide upset training to
pilots with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He trained more than
100 pilots in methods to recover from aircraft that had gone out of
control. Groom was also a certified flight instructor, an FAA accident
prevention counselor, a quality evaluation pilot of the U.S. Naval Test
Pilot School, the holder of an FAA level-one waiver, and an aerobatics
competency evaluator (ACE). He is survived by his wife, Mimi, and son,
Daniel.

[Aardvark]

"Experts say pilot may have blacked out before crash"
Full story.........
http://makeashorterlink.com/?I26014438

[Jay Honeck]

http://cbs4.com/newslocal/topstoriesmia_story_121150454.html

Thanks for the video link -- it really is worth a thousand words.

Very sad.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"