On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 23:30:13 -0800, Richard Riley
wrote:

At least when we screw up, we don't kill them.

Today at Compton airport one of the old timers was landing his T-18,
just past the threshold when a Long Beach PD helo flew directly over
him. The downwash flipped him over. He died on the way to the
hospital.


LA Times January 24, 2004 edition:

Pilot Dies After Plane Crash at Compton Airport
By Eric Malnic, Times Staff Writer

A small, homebuilt plane spun out of control in the wake of a Long
Beach police helicopter and crashed at Compton Airport Friday morning,
fatally injuring the pilot, federal aviation officials said.

The pilot was identified as Rajko Roy Medan, 73, of Carson,, an
experienced flier who worked at the airport as an operations
coordinator. Medan owned the high-performance, single-engine Thorp
T-18, which was based at the airport.

Donn Walker, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said
the helicopter was hovering over the airport at 9:53 a.m., practicing
emergency landing techniques, when the plane attempted to land beneath
it.

Walker said the plane apparently was caught in the downward wash of
air from the helicopters's rotor.

"The Thorp spun around and crashed upside-down on Runway 25 Right,"
Walker said. "The plane was severely damaged."

Walker said bystanders dashed to the fallen plane, righted it and
pulled Medan, the only one on board, from the wreckage.

Walker said the rescuers attempted live-saving procedures until an
ambulance arrived to transport the pilot to a nearby hospital.

Medan died en route to the hospital, according to the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department.

Compton Airport does not have a control tower, and it is up to pilots
to see and avoid one another while utilizing the facility. Pilots are
taught to report their positions and flight intentions by radio while
operating at or near such airports, but radio communications is not
mandatory.

The T-18, like all homebuilt aircraft, is classified as "experimental"
by the FAA, but the design of the 200-mph plane, introduced in the
early 1960s, has been approved by the FAA and each airplane is
thoroughly inspected before it is flown.