Scott Crossfield

Jack wrote:
Shawn wrote:

Has Pete Rose gotten into the Baseball Hall of Fame? News to me.
Like I said in the portion of my post you deleted, the sky is not
merciful of anyone's mistakes. Are you saying that this great pilot
was above all criticism....


So now you are competent to criticize Rose's ball playing, as well as
Crossfield's flying? Gee, I sure hope my spell-checker is working: I
feel so vulnerable.

We're all competent to criticize the clear errors of any pilot.
Problems can arise when those criticisms aren't made because the pilot
who saw the mistake "Isn't worthy to pull his chocks" or the criticism
goes unheeded due to the said unworthiness of the messenger.

Pete Rose, I meant that Pete Rose was a great player but because of
the gambling BS his reputation and chance at Cooperstown has been hurt.
That last mistake can be what you're remembered by if for no other
reason than it gets used as an example.
E.g. "Don't bet on games or you'll end up like Rose." or "Even
Crossfield augured in in a Cessna so it can certainly happen to you."

Any soaring in your area?

Some of the best.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChaffeeSoaring/
Yesterday looked like the best day so far this spring.

Shawn

Shawn wrote:

We're all competent to criticize the clear errors of any pilot.

When you put "clear" and "competent" in the same sentence you are
stacking the deck. Accident results are usually pretty clear: causes are
rarely clear, despite the bureaucratic necessity of assigning "probable"
cause.

"Black and white" views of the world have a way of changing with years
and experience, if you're lucky. I wish you many years and thousands of
flight hours of good fortune.


Jack

Generally speaking in these situations it is pilot error to fly into an
area of known thunderstorms. And they will blame him, appropriately,
even if he didn't know, but it was forecast (you're supposed to get a
briefing before you go). There is a *small* possibility that the
thunderstorms were not forecast from weather that built up very
suddenly.

The NTSB is chock full of accident findings whose cause is pilots
venturing into to bad or deteriorating weather conditions. But you
would like to think that a pilot of this stature would not make such a
foolish mistake. The rest of the facts will become known soon enough.

Tom