Tennessee Warbird Crash?

[George Patterson]

My brother tells me that an old Navy aircraft went down last night near
Cookeville, TN. He said it looked like a Dauntless, but he's not sure. The
Cookeville paper didn't have any details. Anybody got a link to more?

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

[Gig 601XL Builder]

I found this

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=3955511&nav=menu7_2


October 8, 2005

COOKEVILLE (WATE)-- A single engine plane crashed into the wooded part of
the median on I-40 in Putnam County, just outside of Cookeville, Saturday.

The pilot of the plane was killed. He was the only person on board.

No one on the ground was injured.

The plane was a vintage WWII Hellcat registered in Chico, Calif.

The wreck happened at around 4:45 p.m. when the plane crashed into the side
of the median landing on some trees. The plane clipped a few TVA powerlines
causing power outages to 3,500 Monterey residents.

West and Eastbound lanes of I-40 were closed for several hours.



"George Patterson" > wrote in message
news:2Gx2f.3462$Iq3.2011@trndny01...
> My brother tells me that an old Navy aircraft went down last night near
> Cookeville, TN. He said it looked like a Dauntless, but he's not sure. The
> Cookeville paper didn't have any details. Anybody got a link to more?
>
> George Patterson
> Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your
> neighbor.
> It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

[George Patterson]

Gig 601XL Builder wrote:
> I found this
>
> http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=3955511&nav=menu7_2

Thanks much.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

Gig 601XL Builder wrote:
> October 8, 2005
>
> COOKEVILLE (WATE)-- A single engine plane crashed into the wooded part of
> the median on I-40 in Putnam County, just outside of Cookeville, Saturday.
>
> The pilot of the plane was killed. He was the only person on board.
>
> No one on the ground was injured.
>
> The plane was a vintage WWII Hellcat registered in Chico, Calif.
>
> The wreck happened at around 4:45 p.m. when the plane crashed into the side
> of the median landing on some trees. The plane clipped a few TVA powerlines
> causing power outages to 3,500 Monterey residents.


Anybody have a clue what might have happened? Was the weather bad? We had
crappy weather in the Carolinas but it's another world on the other side of the
mountains.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

[George Patterson]

Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:

> Anybody have a clue what might have happened? Was the weather bad? We had
> crappy weather in the Carolinas but it's another world on the other side of the
> mountains.

According to weather.com, it sounds pretty good. Visibility 10 miles, winds
variable at 3 mph, temp 60, dew point 54, cloudy, no fog. They do not say how
low the clouds were, but they'd be low with that dew point spread. That area is
sort of hilly -- you're getting into the Cumberlands there.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

[comanche driver]

the aircraft was a F6F belonging to planes of fame in chino. the pilot was a
very well know warbird pilot and also raced at Reno. he flew safety cap at
Reno in his mustang after bob Hoover retired from that position.

from secondhand info I have heard, he had mechanical problems of some sort
and was trying to put it down on the freeway and clip some power lines.

my condolences to his family.

there is more info on www.aafo.com

R. Burns



"George Patterson" > wrote in message
news:kUF2f.4373$Iq3.3841@trndny01...
> Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:
>
> > Anybody have a clue what might have happened? Was the weather bad? We
had
> > crappy weather in the Carolinas but it's another world on the other side
of the
> > mountains.
>
> According to weather.com, it sounds pretty good. Visibility 10 miles,
winds
> variable at 3 mph, temp 60, dew point 54, cloudy, no fog. They do not say
how
> low the clouds were, but they'd be low with that dew point spread. That
area is
> sort of hilly -- you're getting into the Cumberlands there.
>
> George Patterson
> Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your
neighbor.
> It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

[Orval Fairbairn]

In article >,
"comanche driver" > wrote:

> the aircraft was a F6F belonging to planes of fame in chino. the pilot was a
> very well know warbird pilot and also raced at Reno. he flew safety cap at
> Reno in his mustang after bob Hoover retired from that position.
>
> from secondhand info I have heard, he had mechanical problems of some sort
> and was trying to put it down on the freeway and clip some power lines.
>
> my condolences to his family.
>
> there is more info on www.aafo.com
>
> R. Burns
>

I just got the news that it was Art Vance, well-known Warbird pilot and
president of the Unlimited Racing Assn.

See:
http://www.aafo.com/hangartalk/showthread.php?p=18165#post18165


> "George Patterson" > wrote in message
> news:kUF2f.4373$Iq3.3841@trndny01...
> > Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote:
> >
> > > Anybody have a clue what might have happened? Was the weather bad? We
> had
> > > crappy weather in the Carolinas but it's another world on the other side
> of the
> > > mountains.
> >
> > According to weather.com, it sounds pretty good. Visibility 10 miles,
> winds
> > variable at 3 mph, temp 60, dew point 54, cloudy, no fog. They do not say
> how
> > low the clouds were, but they'd be low with that dew point spread. That
> area is
> > sort of hilly -- you're getting into the Cumberlands there.
> >
> > George Patterson
> > Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your
> neighbor.
> > It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

Orval Fairbairn wrote:
> In article >,
> "comanche driver" > wrote:
>
>> the aircraft was a F6F belonging to planes of fame in chino. the pilot was a
>> very well know warbird pilot and also raced at Reno. he flew safety cap at
>> Reno in his mustang after bob Hoover retired from that position.
>>
>> from secondhand info I have heard, he had mechanical problems of some sort
>> and was trying to put it down on the freeway and clip some power lines.


That's too bad. I always hate to hear of someone with a long flying career not
dying peacefully in their sleep when their time comes. It's something they've
earned.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

[Dudley Henriques]

The odds are against it when dealing with old warbirds. Some of us, like
myself, make it through somehow and retire to our lawns and shrubs, but the
very nature of the venue many times demands more of both man and machine
than either can deliver on the levels needed to sustain the constant
performance demanded of each.
Old warbirds are a collection of parts, each aging through years of stress.
The demands on those of us who enjoy flying these airplanes are constant.
It's seldom that I ever took off in one of these old airplanes that things
stayed working through the flight as they were working at takeoff. Something
almost ALWAYS changed and had to be dealt with during the flight. It could
be a hung gyro, a bad plug, something not working in the intercooler, God
knows what. You just had to be on top of things ALL the time.
One thing about these crashes is that it seldom turns out to be a single
thing that caused it. It's usually a combination of things going wrong at
just the wrong time and adding up to not enough time or altitude to fix
things.
Lord knows what must have happened to Vance. He was a VERY competent pilot
flying a normally stable and easy to fly F6F. Something must have gone wrong
for him that was unfixable for sure.
I'm very sorry it happened to him. I've seen it happen to 32 of my friends
through the years flying these airplanes.
I've learned long ago that things like this just go with the lifestyle.
Dudley Henriques

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" > wrote in message
. ..
> Orval Fairbairn wrote:
>> In article >,
>> "comanche driver" > wrote:
>>
>>> the aircraft was a F6F belonging to planes of fame in chino. the pilot
>>> was a
>>> very well know warbird pilot and also raced at Reno. he flew safety cap
>>> at
>>> Reno in his mustang after bob Hoover retired from that position.
>>>
>>> from secondhand info I have heard, he had mechanical problems of some
>>> sort
>>> and was trying to put it down on the freeway and clip some power lines.
>
>
> That's too bad. I always hate to hear of someone with a long flying
> career not dying peacefully in their sleep when their time comes. It's
> something they've earned.
>
>
>
> --
> Mortimer Schnerd, RN
>
>
>
>

[BigBadBrad]

I flew into Hopkinsville Christian County (about 55 miles north of
Nashville) on saturday and had to scud run to get there. It was pretty
dicey, and I kick myself now for doing it, as the ceiling was around 12-1300
ft. I didn't want to attempt a low level turn at 350 AGL with all the hills
and cell towers in the area, and have to scud run back the way I came. I
landed and waited for the ceiling to rise up enough for me to leave HVC
after about 2.5 hours...
"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" > wrote in message
. ..
> Gig 601XL Builder wrote:
>> October 8, 2005
>>
>> COOKEVILLE (WATE)-- A single engine plane crashed into the wooded part of
>> the median on I-40 in Putnam County, just outside of Cookeville,
>> Saturday.
>>
>> The pilot of the plane was killed. He was the only person on board.
>>
>> No one on the ground was injured.
>>
>> The plane was a vintage WWII Hellcat registered in Chico, Calif.
>>
>> The wreck happened at around 4:45 p.m. when the plane crashed into the
>> side
>> of the median landing on some trees. The plane clipped a few TVA
>> powerlines
>> causing power outages to 3,500 Monterey residents.
>
>
> Anybody have a clue what might have happened? Was the weather bad? We
> had crappy weather in the Carolinas but it's another world on the other
> side of the mountains.
>
>
>
> --
> Mortimer Schnerd, RN
>
>
>
>