What’s that old quip? A Cub can barely go fast enough to kill you.
Really I’m just testing the new comment ability. I received an email saying that my account had been approved and that I could post. Seems I couldn’t post past my first and only post until I was approved. I wasn’t quite sure why I couldn’t post again after I successfully posted one post. Now I understand. Glad to know there is some oversight of who gets in, and who doesn’t. Should help with SPAM and malcontents.
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Glad to see comments are back.
No, the quip, attributed to C. Maxwell Stanley is: “The J3 Cub is the safest airplane in the world. It
can just barely kill you”.
That was it! Thanks for the clarification.
Coming up on Monday with a fresh fuel blog, too.
“I don’t need to register the plane, do an annual, or get a pilots certificate”
And you crashed and burned. Another example or what not to do. Sorry, but this is so over the top dangerous that it’s hard to believe that this story is real.
I do not see this accident having much to do with whether the plane had been annualed. The man was a long-time stock-car racer, and probably had a pretty good grip on how to keep mechanical things working. J-3 is about as simple as you can get. Thousands of homebuilts are maintained and “annualed” by amateurs, and many of them are far more complex than a J-3.
I see no relationship between this crash and the lack of registration. To quote Ernest K. Gann, “Rule books are PAPER. They will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal.” Being registered (or not) doesn’t affect the plane’s operation.
Same thing on the pilot certificate. We let people fly solo with less than a dozen hours; the possession of a piece of paper in one’s wallet doesn’t affect the safety.
Sure, such “scofflaw” behavior can be an indicator of a risk taker, but it’s too early on this yet.
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It’s proof positive that the 60 year old dude did not want anyone else to look too closely at his health, his current flying abilities, or even the current health of his aircraft. The very foundation of safety is having a second set of eyes look at those 3 things.
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The recent leg/hip injuries could have meant it was hard to work the rudder/brakes and so there was a lost of directional control. Though I think Browne might be on the right track, maybe he did not care one way or another.
“Why is it that driving without a license is punishable and flying without one is not?”
Probably because for the most part, the general public isn’t endangered. If a person doesn’t have a pilot certificate, only those who fly with them are at risk. Sure, the license-less pilot can crash into a school, but it’s not quite as high a possibility as some untrained oaf losing control on the freeway.
Some of the better sticks I have known were not certificated. Some may have “disrespected” authority, but perhaps they shared my view. Individuals earn respect. Organizations, rank, and badges do not.
Without something overt, like a note left behind or friends/family noting such tendencies, I’d be real hesitant about jumping to conclusions.
In the first place, a loss of directional control during landing is a significant factor in aircraft accidents, especially with taildragger aircraft. I don’t have figures for J-3s, but about 9% of all homebuilt accidents involve the pilot losing control on landing. Roughly the same as accidents involving inadvertent stalls.
It doesn’t have to be pilot-induced, either. Loss of a rudder cable, loss of a brake, loss of a tailwheel spring, breaking a horn on the rudder can all lead to the loss of directional control.
Arthur’s suggestion that his leg/hip injuries may have affected his control were spot-on. I had a knee injury earlier this year…was better, then it flared up big time while I was flying a couple of months back. I had trouble keeping my little taildragger tracking straight after a touch-and-go; my left leg was nearly numb. Went back up and let it calm down.
Finally, let’s look at the logic behind deciding to deliberately set up such a crash. Note that as a race driver, he undoubtedly had a good working understanding of physics. He was flying a J-3 Cub…relatively slow speed. I assume he was flying from the rear seat, which means he had plenty of crush space in front of him. But in that crush space was the fuselage-mounted fuel tank.
The odds are, the plane wouldn’t have hit the barn hard enough to instantaneously kill him. He would have understood that. But he probably would also have understood that there was a high probability that the fuel tank would be compromised, spilling fuel on the hot engine and the wooden side of the barn. And, even if not knocked unconscious, he probably would be injured badly enough to make it difficult to extract himself from the wreck before the gas-fueled flames took over.
In short, it was a perfect setup for burning alive. Do folks really think he deliberately chose that? Plenty of other ways to deliberately crash that would provide a more-sure solution.
Actually, it is illegal to fly a plane without a pilot certificate, and there are people in Federal lockup for having done so.
I would guess that 99.99% of all fatal car and aircraft accidents have a licensed person at the controls. Just because a person possesses a piece of government paper does not immunize them of making mistakes or becoming the innocent victim of accidents. See the Part 103 ultralight community, where accidents are rare and fatalities are even more rare. They do a good job of self-policing. The lack of government meddling in their activities allows more innovation. The emergency parachutes seen in Cirrus aircraft and others evolved from the ultralight community. Less government is always a good thing. The world will not end if the government does not license us to pursue our interests.
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Kent, would you feel that way about the two pilots up front of the 777 flying you or your family? No need for a license?
Look, I get the notion that government has gotten bloated, but licensing people to properly pilot airplanes is a means educating them to do so.
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Unfortunate incident, indeed. Me? I’m just testing the new Comments Section to see if it really works. If it does, you will be reading this. Have a great week!
Dunno about that. I watched that video. He wasn’t inverted so I’m doubting the Second Hand Lions scenario. I lost a very good friend who lost directional control in a Challenger II he had just bought. Was doing touch and goes just fine all afternoon until the last one where he veered off the runway, across the median and taxiway and right into his own pickup truck. We never found out why either because he was not suicidal and was in good medical condition.
Sometimes shit happens.
I miss the style of JB
Always hate to hear about accidents and fatalities. Thoughts/prayers to his friends and family.
As long as you are fair, unlike someone many months ago who blocked me.
It’s always sad to read of a crash, even more so when there are fatalities.
In this case as in most the NTSB will do a good job in determination of root cause. There was an article in the past in a major Airplane mag about flying in Alaska. in it the author visited a busy FAA facility where he said a very ratty C150 w a 150 hp conversion and many other mods were incorporated. he asked the FAA official about it. He said what C150. I see nothing! after anonymity was given the FAA rep said at least half the aircraft in the bush were technically illegal to fly but it did not matter as the pilots were in the same boat. Further reading sated the pilot community is full of un certified oil;ots and plane up there. I DO NOT KNOW MYSELF. ii would guess these are all pr nearly all not for hire planes I could not imagine anyone forming a revenue making firm using these resources.
in reality life is such theyou can pretty much do as you wish until you get caught. as for this accident…like all a bit of a tragedy. like all it will take a while to determine cause.
Plausible as one of the possibilities but you do not have a clue that is the case.
Yah, it is you again.- speculating.
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That’s why I said “could have” contributed, I was being nice.
The only CERTAINTY that we have is that the man intentionally operated illegally; including his aircraft, his health, and his lack of certificate/rating. Honestly the guy gave us so many “possibilities” for crashing that everyone that speculates will be at least partially right.
He wasn’t the first to do this and sadly won’t be the last. On the other hand, you have others who have gotten away with flying successfully with zero formal flight training. Who all remembers the “Barefoot Bandit” kid who stole two aircraft, a 182 which he crash landed, and later a Cessna 400 which he stole in Bloomington, IN and flew all the way to the Bahamas.
You said “It’s proof positive…”.
Where did report of health problems come from? (You claimed hip/leg in a later post.)
Even later someone talked about his own experience with a knee injury that ‘flared up’, causing him difficulty during a flight.
Proof positive as in NO medical at 60 years old; he should not have been flying. Period.
YOU can look up his right leg numbness from a motorcycle injury, the prostate cancer and chemotherapy treatments, his hospitalization in June (but you won’t because YOU haven’t).
(Edit) Since the right leg is important for directional control, that certainly “could have” contributed to his veering left into a barn.
All I can say about Scott Bloomquist is that he was a heck of dirt late-model driver. And that many of the technical innovations present in the sport today areat leat in part. attributable to his innovation. I never met the man, but his “rebel” persona endeared him to legions of dirt racing fans, And in contrast to his rebellious public persona, his reputation with actual race fans who interacted with him was that he was a nice guy that was fun to be around.
I wouldn’t have a clue if Blancolario (JB) knows something we don’t, but a hall of fame dirt racer has left the building and his contributions to dirt racing will be missed by many for a long time to come. That’s more than will said of most of us.
Fair winds number zero.
Sure, I’m glad the comment section is Is back and we’re all learning how to use it. I look forward to learning from the rest of the group.
“No Medical at 60 years old?” I’m 70, an active pilot, and haven’t had a medical in 20 years. Not required for my airplane, which qualifies for Sport Pilot. Like Bloomquist’s J-3, for that matter.
Now, even when flying under Sport Pilot, we’re supposed to ground ourselves if medical conditions affect safety. Flying solo, and out of his own airport, I can see someone taking it closer to the line.
Mind you, he didn’t have a pilot certificate either…
In addition, let me share this snippet from an NTSB report on another J-3 crash: "…during the landing roll in a tailwheel equipped airplane, it veered suddenly to the right. Despite his control inputs, the airplane continued to veer to the right, exited the runway, and impacted a hangar located adjacent to the runway. " This is from WPR09CA002, in 2008, and is nearly identical to those of Bloomquist’s crash.
Probable cause, “The separation of the tailwheel spring retaining clip for unknown reasons, which resulted in the loss of directional control during the landing roll.”
So let’s not leap to conclusions. Nobody accused this pilot of deliberately crashing the airplane.
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The irony here is (unlike the rest of his career) Bloomquist needed to turn right.
Brown is a constant source of not very factual information based on his personal feelings rather than fact.
Well, It is clear from : no license, no annual, etc, that Mr. Bloomquist -whatever his “credentials” as a dirt track man- was not a respecter of law and order. I remember hearing years ago; ‘The [regulations, etc] exist to protect other innocents from US [the piloting community, professional and amateur]’. And, maybe, just maybe, IF he had had an annual done, the [supposed] tailwheel retaining spring or whatever, might have been caught, especially since, if, auto mechanics/race drivers translated to aircraft mechanics - we wouldn’t need A & P mechanics !! What, is he better than the rest of us, who, disliking some of the regulations and the bureaucracy, still endeavor to do the right thing, hopefully without hubris, arrogance- maybe even a little humility for the privilege of flying, that most other humans don’t have.