"Out of fuel, out of hope: 'Help, I'm in the water'"

Matt Barrow wrote:

Has anyone ever seen a small inflatable raft (2-4 person) that would be
small enough to carry onboard an aircraft?

Yep. There are lots of them on the market. In a situation such as this, even the
cheapest stuff sold at the local Sports Authority would've been a life saver.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

wrote in news:1114695386.459515.53160
@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Out of fuel, out of hope: 'Help, I'm in the water'
A 20-year-old from Springfield who had hoped to swim in the Olympics
was flying a single-engine plane to his college in Wisconsin late
Monday night when he ran out of fuel over Lake Michigan.
at http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20050...5912-7691r.htm

Did anyone else notice this line in the story?

"The Coast Guard called off a search for Mr. Leber on
Tuesday afternoon after scouring 1,300 square feet with
one plane, two helicopters and six boats over 16 hours..."

WOW!!! 1300 square foot search area!!! hehehe

Reporters are soooooooooooooo stupid.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism

Home of the Seismic FAQ
http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html

Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"Skywise" wrote in message

Reporters are soooooooooooooo stupid.

Careful with the generalizations. Many people say the same thing about
people who fly small airplanes or "jump from perfectly good aircraft."

-c
"If aircraft were perfect, there wouldn't be parachutes."

"gatt" wrote in
:


"Skywise" wrote in message

Reporters are soooooooooooooo stupid.

Careful with the generalizations. Many people say the same thing about
people who fly small airplanes or "jump from perfectly good aircraft."

-c
"If aircraft were perfect, there wouldn't be parachutes."

I can count on one hand the number of reporters I see regularly
that actually seem to know what they are reporting about. If
I think real hard I might need my second hand.

But I won't get into a debate over it here, so this is my final
say on the subject.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism

Home of the Seismic FAQ
http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html

Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

Reporters are soooooooooooooo stupid.

Careful with the generalizations. Many people say the same thing about
people who fly small airplanes or "jump from perfectly good aircraft."

I can count on one hand the number of reporters I see regularly
that actually seem to know what they are reporting about.

Let me elaborate:

One guy mistook miles for feet, prompting the generalization: "Reporters
are so stupid."

The other guy vectored himself over hostile terrain and ran out of fuel,
prompting search and rescue crews to risk their own lives trying to fish him
out of the drink. Would it be fair to make the generalization "Pilots are
sooooo stupid?"

The reporter made a typo. The pilot made a compounded series of poor
decisions and died.
Hope that the insurance industry doesn't make the same sorts of
generalizations about general aviation.

-c

The one day search made me think of JFK Jr. An Admiral said at the time
the search and recovery efforts for JFK Jr. where what would be done
for anyone.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Out of fuel, out of hope: 'Help, I'm in the water'
A 20-year-old from Springfield who had hoped to swim in the Olympics
was flying a single-engine plane to his college in Wisconsin late
Monday night when he ran out of fuel over Lake Michigan.
at http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20050...5912-7691r.htm

Bad day. Assuming bad planning, idiotic, of course. I often take the risk
of needing to rely on the plane to keep flying for about 5 minutes when
crossing cold water if I've already been in cruise for awhile. The odds of
the engine quitting in that five minutes of an hour plus long flight are
pretty slim and I'm OK with them. On trips across Lake Ontario in the cold
season, I take the extra time to stay within glide distance of shore.
Knowing you are almost 100% dead five or ten minutes before you lose
consciousness, and while you still have a few minutes to talk to people, is
*such* a lousy way to go. Barring ditching next to a ship (a real
possibility) there is little hope if you're more than a hundred metres from
shore. And, for many, even that's pushing it. I used to go to a private
school where we'd run a few miles and then swim about a hundred feet in a
Northern Ontario lake right up until Xmas break. In +4 degree water, even a
hundred feet wears you right down. I really feel for his survivors
(although their religious reasoning on the affair escapes me).

m

I'm sure his family will now sue Piper Aircraft.... and the owner
of the FBO he rented it from, etc. etc. Same old story.