Saw this the other day and was reminded today as I was glancing down towards Lake Lanier Islands. Not sure if it was engine trouble or a medical emergency but the poor fellow clipped some trees right before an attempted emergency landing and it ended badly. Condolences to the family for their loss.
pics from the NTSB
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These idiots coming out of Gilmer with there little go cart airplanes are all a crash waiting to happen. No rules or regulations about flying over the lake and all the surrounding houses. I believer these guys are looking for a place to crash. Call me paranoid but I think they target houses.
It is so senseless to fly 1000 feet above lake and houses. It reminds me of a bunch of dirt bike riders riding in a parking lot in every direction but up.
As you can see, I have no use for these loud go cart planes up there constantly. These planes don't have mufflers so they feel they must compete with all the Harleys and Camaros on the ground. Enough said!
PeelSkid
I, too, have seen planes over the lake uncomfortably low e.g. below tree top level. However, I don't think this is one of those cases. Witnesses state the engine was off and before the plane began its descent, had flown a level course since leaving PKD. Probably wise to wait for the complete NTSB report on what happened (which takes a long while).
https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N23VS
I, for one, am a fan of low flying planes. Over the years I've seen lots of people showing off over the lake in their Pitts Specials and other more or less aerobatic planes but none have ever topped one Fall Classic weekend, many years ago...
Stop me if you've heard this story. Ginny, my ex, worked with a guy that flew in a Marine Reserve unit out of Dobbins. She was telling him about the upcoming regatta and he said "I'm flying that weekend, show me where you will be and I'll fly by..." They got it figured out and she said "How will I know it's you?" He said, "Oh, you'll know".
Well. It was incredible. He was flying an OV 10 Bronco, I think it's a Vietnam era plane that I'd never seen much but oh man is it bad ass. It's a beefy, clipped wing, twin-tail boom, massively overpowered thing that seems to be made for maneuverability. (I think they were used for observation in hot areas where being fast and nimble made it harder to get shot down).
Anyway, his timing was perfect. We were between races in the bay near LLSC and just sitting on our boards, resting up for the next race. He came in low, really low, from the direction of Lanier Islands and we sort of heard him before we saw him– a low rumble from those monster engines. He did a high G pull up right in the middle of where we were, then a rolling vertical climb. In a couple of seconds he was a speck, then kicked it over into a rolling vertical dive straight back at us... another high G pull up into a very low, tight circuit around the bay followed by a series of loops, Immelmans, more low passes, snap rolls and on and on for easily 5 minutes (a long run in airshow time). We could hear applause from the houseboat dock at Aqualand as he departed in a slow rolling climbout to the west.
A few years ago we had a miserably light wind forecast for the regatta. Recalling how cool the OV 10 thing was, I asked my friend who's a member at the PDK Old Tower group and a real airshow pilot if he would "do a fly-by" and entertain us for a bit. His plane is a big deal Russian something or other and I'm sure not cheap to operate but I suggested "You know, if you're just out practicing anyway..." He asked how much money we had. I offered "Maybe a couple hundred toward gas??" He gently 'splained how the smoke alone for a few minutes of airshow is in the thousands of dollars... nevermind.
The OV 10 show was on the taxpayers' dimes but hey, they were just out practicing anyway.
This is now our equivalent to the SR-71 "speed check" copy pasta that shows up on social media sites at the first mention of it. Here's the video version. Even my lovely wife who usually rolls her eyes at the stuff I show her on youtube almost stood up and saluted Brian Shul. Watch the whole video if you ever get the chance. The man was amazing.
Easter egg at 49:04
@55:56
There's a SR71, among many other cool things, at the free museum at Robbins AFB. It's worth the trip.
Langdon
https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-main-public/query-builder?month=11&year=2023
This is a list of small plane crashes for ONLY the month of November 2023. Total = 50 crashes for the month of Nov. 2023.
This goes on every month like this.
PeelSkid
Those aren't all "crashes". Just about everything that isn't a vanilla landing gets listed included landing gear failures, skidding off runways into the mud, etc.
- source Long time reader of Kathryn's Report (rip) and aviation-safety.net
Of course, general aviation has its risks. Not trying to minimize them. But so does motorcycle riding (which is as risky/riskier than GA) and a lot of other things we do for fun.
Found the foiler.
Of the 15 fatalities, only 9 were in the U.S. and the helicopter accident was a fairly dangerous commercial operation. So it averages out to about 100 fatalities per year in the U.S. for General Aviation. When you figure fatalities per occupant mile, GA is probably still more dangerous than driving, but not horrible. Last I heard, a scheduled airline flight is by far the safest way to travel.
Langdon