Orlando Crash Video

"Cockpit Colin" wrote in
:

"BTIZ" wrote in message
news:fuxGd.1367$ry.1317@fed1read05...
what I fail to understand, is while he was still above tree top
height..
he
did not do a 90 right into that golf course.. trees are more
forgiving
than
concrete power poles..

I wondered the same thing - the other thing I found surprising is that
this was a fatal accident - from the point at which the aircraft hits
the wire it appears to come to a halt quickly and then drops
vertically. Sure, nothing I'd like to try in practice, but I didn't
see anything that I would have thought would have killed anyone,
assuming they were belted in good and tight.



That last bit when the left side of the cockpit took ALL the brunt of
the electric poll would have done it. Unfortuatly, my bet is, the
pilot's cranium took a good bit of light pole as well.

BeaglePig

I would guess that the root of the wing killed the right seater as it
sheared off - a strong chance that the root entered the cockpit.

Tony

--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE


In article ,
"Cockpit Colin" wrote:

"BTIZ" wrote in message
news:fuxGd.1367$ry.1317@fed1read05...
what I fail to understand, is while he was still above tree top height..
he
did not do a 90 right into that golf course.. trees are more forgiving
than
concrete power poles..

I wondered the same thing - the other thing I found surprising is that this
was a fatal accident - from the point at which the aircraft hits the wire it
appears to come to a halt quickly and then drops vertically. Sure, nothing
I'd like to try in practice, but I didn't see anything that I would have
thought would have killed anyone, assuming they were belted in good and
tight.

Cockpit Colin wrote:
I wondered the same thing - the other thing I found surprising is that
this
was a fatal accident - from the point at which the aircraft hits the wire
it
appears to come to a halt quickly and then drops vertically. Sure, nothing
I'd like to try in practice, but I didn't see anything that I would have
thought would have killed anyone, assuming they were belted in good and
tight.

The same could be said of the fatal Aryton Senna accident (for you Formula
One fans). OK, he was going substantially faster and hit a concrete wall,
but I don't think anyone was expecting anything bad at all - I still
remember watching the accident on TV - bummer he hit the wall, I guess he's
outa the race, that wasn't too bad, he'll just hop out once he's undone his
steering wheel, any minute now, anytime now, soon, gees I hope he's OK. I
think the conscensus afterwards was that his front-right wheel sheered off
and impacted his helmet (please correct me if I'm wrong). I guess sometimes
you get lucky, and sometimes you get unlucky.

A friend of mine once went to see his car after leaving the hospital. The
scrap metal owner refused to believe that anyone in the car had survived.

Y'all be careful out there.

Hilton
P.S.: I don't fly planes without a shoulder harness

Fatal plane crash sparks heroic acts
Witnesses rush to a downed Cessna at a College Park golf course; 1 of 2
aboard dies.





The plane was going down -- fast -- and the pilot seemed to be trying to
wrestle it onto the smooth grass of the 18th fairway.

Brandon "Bosco" Cashen could see the Cessna in his rearview mirror as he
was driving past Orlando's Dubsdread Golf Course late Tuesday afternoon.
Its wings were wobbling back and forth as it skimmed the treetops,
barely missing golfers and leaving College Park residents speechless.

Witnesses said the pilot seemed as though he might be able to land
safely, but at the last instant the right wing dipped too low, clipped
the ground and sent the plane flipping into a concrete electrical pole
by the 18th green.

Cashen barely had time to pull over. Everything was moving fast, but
then seemed to slow down. The broken power lines were arcing with
electricity, but Cashen didn't stop to think: He ran to the plane as
fast as he could.

Before the night was over, one person aboard the plane was dead, and
Cashen was being called a hero.

A solid 26-year-old general contractor, Cashen had hoisted himself onto
the wing of the plane's twisted wreckage.

Other witnesses said there were screams from inside the Cessna, someone
calling for help. Cashen doesn't remember.

"I just didn't think," he would say later. "I wanted to make sure
everybody was OK."

Cashen could see two men inside. Steve Schieber, a 26-year-old with a
commercial-pilot rating, was sitting in the left seat. Dan Lawlor, 33,
was in the right seat, unconscious. The two men were co-workers at
Showalter Flying Service in Orlando, friends who had rented the plane
for the day.

Cashen struggled desperately with Schieber's safety harness but couldn't
free him.

Should he wait for firefighters? But what was that smell?

Fuel.

Fuel was leaking from the plane, and the power lines still were sputtering.

People were pouring out of the Dubsdread restaurant. A crowd of 30 or
more onlookers stood back.

Cashen screamed for a knife, maybe a steak knife from inside the
restaurant, anything to cut the harness.

"Someone threw me a pocketknife, and I just started cutting through his
belt," he said.

He grabbed Schieber by the waist of his trousers, lifted him out and
lowered him into the uplifted arms of others on the ground.

Firefighters arrived and yelled for everyone to get back. The fuel could
go up at any second, or someone could get electrocuted.

"Smoke started coming out, so everyone backed away," said Magda I.
Torres, a reporter at nearby 1440 AM (WPRD) radio who saw the crash.

Cashen stayed atop the wreckage.

He tried to reach Lawlor, but Schieber's empty seat was in the way. He
kicked it, over and over, he doesn't remember how many times, until it
broke free. He tossed the seat out and reached for the other man.

The harness, again. The pocketknife, again.

Firefighters were there now, a group of them, holding a rescue basket
above their heads. Cashen lowered Lawlor into the basket as gently as he
could.

The crash site quickly took on a circuslike air, with more than 100
onlookers gathered around yellow crime-scene tape. Mothers pushed
strollers by as a medical helicopter landed on the fairway.

Lawlor died in surgery at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Schieber
remained in critical condition late Tuesday.

From his home in Phoenix, Dennis Lawlor choked back tears as he talked
about his son's love of flying, scuba diving and in-line skating.

"He was very active, very outgoing," Lawlor said. "He is going to be
missed."

Lawlor said his son grew up in Ohio and was in the Air Force from 1990
to 1994. He later attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in
Daytona Beach, graduating in 1997. Lawlor also said his son flew charter
planes for Showalter and passed the Air Force Reserve officer test with
flying colors. He planned to join the Reserve and dreamed of becoming a
commercial-airline pilot.

The Cessna was registered to James Grady, the owner of another small
plane that crashed into Lake Barton with a student pilot at the helm in
May. Grady is director of CAP Flying group, a private flying club based
at Orlando Executive Airport.

Grady wasn't aboard the plane Tuesday. Orlando Fire Department
administrators say the Cessna radioed the airport tower at 4:43 p.m. to
report a loss of oil pressure. It is a potentially fatal problem that
can cause an engine to seize, Assistant Fire Chief Greg Hoggatt said.
Witnesses reported the plane came in silently, with no engine noise.

Firefighters anticipated a crash and rushed to the airport.

"The pilot was stating that he did not feel he could make the field,"
Hoggatt said. "He was, in turn, looking for a field, looking for
someplace where he could attempt to land the plane away from buildings,
away from structures, away from citizens."

"He knew he was going down," Hoggatt said. "He's trying to bring in an
aircraft that's on bad oil pressure, the engine is failing, and he's
doing everything to keep it up."

At 4:47 p.m., the plane crashed near the 18th green, its last seconds
captured on video from a WKMG-Channel 6 news helicopter. The plane
temporarily knocked out power to about 900 homes and businesses.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation
Safety Board are investigating the crash.

"From what we can speculate, it looks like he was attempting to use the
18th fairway of the country club to try and land this plane in a short
distance," Hoggatt said. "He did an excellent job. This could have been
a catastrophe."

Tina Seller of Maitland was on the driving range when she saw the plane
flying low and floundering.

"It started to kind of circle and tried to come around. What it was
trying to do was land on the fairway, but it ended up on the . . .
pole," she said. "Those people who got him out, they were heroic."

The same could be said of the fatal Aryton Senna accident (for you Formula
One fans). OK, he was going substantially faster and hit a concrete wall,
but I don't think anyone was expecting anything bad at all - I still
remember watching the accident on TV - bummer he hit the wall, I guess
he's
outa the race, that wasn't too bad, he'll just hop out once he's undone
his
steering wheel, any minute now, anytime now, soon, gees I hope he's OK. I
think the conscensus afterwards was that his front-right wheel sheered off
and impacted his helmet (please correct me if I'm wrong). I guess
sometimes
you get lucky, and sometimes you get unlucky.

F1 is a religion to me - I'm a MS Fan (who incidentally was behind Aryton
at the time).

I'm reminded of a motorist who wears a crash helmet whilst driving -
everyone thinks it's "over the top" - interesting that his occupation is
Neurosurgeon - the guy who gets to deal with all the head trauma from the
MVA.

I've read somewhere of a plan (by some manufacturer) to put an airbag in an
aircraft - don't know any more details.

"Cockpit Colin" wrote

I'm reminded of a motorist who wears a crash helmet whilst driving -
everyone thinks it's "over the top" - interesting that his occupation is
Neurosurgeon - the guy who gets to deal with all the head trauma from the
MVA.

I've read somewhere of a plan (by some manufacturer) to put an airbag in
an
aircraft - don't know any more details.

+++++++++++++++++++++++
I'm thinking now of Dale Earnhart. Suppose we all should wear a Hans
Device in the plane?

Tough part is knowing where to stop. Odds of a bad impact are pretty great
in a race car. I wonder how much less in a single engine plane?
--
Jim in NC

Jay Honeck wrote:
It really shows how little choice the poor Cessna pilot had at the last
moment, when that pickup truck suddenly appeared out of no where. His
choices were either (a) hit the truck, or (b) try to veer to the right
and avoid it.

He chose (b), thus saving everyone in the pickup truck, but gave his
life in exchange. A true hero.

I think "hero" is... well perhaps we all have a different definition of
"hero". I'd like to know more about the entire accident sequence before
judging the CFI on this one. Wasn't he landing right next to a golf couse?
What other options did he have? Is it really that bad to read-end a truck
at (a guestimate) 20 mph in a 172? (Cessna's groundspeed minus truck's
forward speed) This is all Monday morning QB - I may have made the same
decisions, but since I believe decision making is where we as pilots can
really improve the accident rate, it sure is worth thinking about and
understand the events.

I just think "hero" is too stronge of a word when in some accidents (not
specifically this one), the pilot run of of gas thereby endangering himself
and his passengers, and then lands in a field in a built-up area and is
labeled a "hero".

Hilton

What other options did he have? Is it really that bad to read-end a truck
at (a guestimate) 20 mph in a 172? (Cessna's groundspeed minus truck's

Off memory, isn't VSo in a MAUW 172 something like only 33 knots?

Again off memory I believe they have the numbers for being the safest GA
aeroplane of all time.

He chose (b), thus saving everyone in the pickup truck, but gave his
life in exchange. A true hero.

I think "hero" is... well perhaps we all have a different definition of
"hero". I'd like to know more about the entire accident sequence before
judging the CFI on this one. Wasn't he landing right next to a golf
couse?

Whether his decision to avoid the pickup truck was stupid or not, he gave
his life in missing it.

The pilot may or may not be a hero in the end -- I don't know the whole
story -- but his final action was, indeed, heroic.

I would hope that counts for something.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
He chose (b), thus saving everyone in the pickup truck, but gave his
life in exchange. A true hero.

I think "hero" is... well perhaps we all have a different definition of
"hero". I'd like to know more about the entire accident sequence before
judging the CFI on this one. Wasn't he landing right next to a golf
couse?

Whether his decision to avoid the pickup truck was stupid or not, he gave
his life in missing it.

Jay, I never claimed anything the CFI did was "stupid".

Hilton