I've been a professional pilot all my life operating in the most dangerous
area of aviation; experimental, prototype, and demonstration flying. I've
seen enough death to fill volumes. I've attended funerals of friend and foe
alike, and I know something about this issue.
The sentiments you hear and see spoken and written after the death of a
pilot such as the ones you are referring to here are sentiments usually
expressed by those outside the inner circle of the pilot gone south.
Those of us who live in these professions seldom feel our mortality. The
thought of dying is something most of us just don't get into all that much.
When one of us cashes it in, we feel remorse just like anyone else, but if
the absolute truth be known and expressed, what many of us are really
thinking about are what caused it to happen, and what we can do to avoid it
happening to us.
It's a very practical world in the venues we live and die in, and there
isn't much room or time for expressions like, "he died doing what he
believed in", and "at least he died doing what he loved".
These are sentiments that help those who make them feel better, for whatever
reasons they have for making them. This doesn't mean that these sentiments
are phony. Some are, but for the most part, they are expressed by sincere
people. They just don't know that much about how many of us in the flight
test and demonstration communities feel about these things.
Let me tell you something about our world.
If I had a catastrophic structural failure in my airplane while doing a
demonstration and ended up at the bottom of a ten foot hole in front of
twenty thousand people, my last conscious thought before impact would be the
same involuntary "Oh ****" that everybody else makes in that last second of
life. (Trust me, most of my friends are test pilots and race car drivers,
and we all feel the same way about these things.)
Then after I was gone, the fans would all go home and express the kind of
sentiment you're talking about, but my peers would express their sadness in
another way. They usually just shut up and keep the touchy feely stuff to
themselves. Instead, each would immediately start analyzing what went wrong
or what I might have done wrong and adjust to protect themselves from the
same fate.
It might not be as "warm" as most would like, but that's the way it is in
our community. It's also the best way. If I went in, I'd damn sure want my
death to mean something, and helping the next pilot down the line avoid what
happened to me would be sentiment enough.
My good friend Dick Schram is a good example. Dick died doing his world
famous comedy act in a borrowed J3 at Reading many years ago. His son was
with the Blue Angels as their PA officer and was narrating his
demonstration. I was standing next to him on the podium.
The stick came out in Dick's hand on the back side of a loop and he went
straight in. The Cub had been used for a photo shoot the day before and the
stick cotter pin hadn't been replaced in the back seat mount. Dick
apparently missed it in his preflight.
Dick Schram lives on in the many flight safety lectures I and others in our
community who lecture on the importance of preflight inspections have made
since he died.
I'm here to tell you that Dick Schram would have wanted to be remembered in
this manner and not as someone who "died doing what he loved to do".
I've just given you a look into my world. I hope it helps you understand
these things a bit better.
Dudley Henriques


"Brad" wrote in message
oups.com...
I saw a similar sentiment posted in relation to Scott Crossfield's
fatel accident. I'm not sure I really get it...we're all going to die,
but do you really want to die doing something you love?

I see this often. Perhaps it's a way for grieving families to come to
term with their loss. But really, of all the ways to die, doing
something I loved would be the last way I'd want go go. old age,
disease and cancer are bad, but dying from a blunt force trauma, third
degree burns, etc. is certainly no picnic.

I've seen posts alluding to a preference to meet their maker via
aircraft. I for one certainly would not want to have my death
associated with a loss of additional life or property, a black mark on
aviation, legal battles regarding liability, and questions regarding my
piloting abilities.

So for those of you who'd prefer to start your ascension to the gates
of heaven with a bit a head start, why break an airplane in the
process?