What would your conclusion have been if her gender or age weren't mentioned? The same, I would hope. The pilot screwed up.
As I was telling Ed, it will be interesting to see what the NTSB says in their final report about the Blue Angel pilot that crashed and died last weekend at an airshow. I suspect that was pilot error but I don't want to judge him without knowing all the facts. Just out of curiousity, how do you define elderly? By age, physical condition, mental condition, attitude? Spook --- Larry Snyder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I saw an example of "reverse discrimination" in > local reporting on a > Grumman that landed in a field near the Foristell > VOR west of St. > Louis. The pilot was a 78-year-old woman. According > to the newspaper, > she thought she was getting low on fuel so she > decided to put down in > a field (!) instead of trying to make it to > Washington, MO, which is > only about 10 minutes or so from that VOR. The TV > reporting didn't > mention that it was a "preemptive" emergency > landing, but the > newspaper did, so we'll have to wait for the NTSB > report (it's not in > the DB yet). > > The local media made her out to be a hero, landing > her plane in > distress without getting seriously injured. The nose > gear on her > plane DID hit a ditch and folded back, and the prop > hit the dirt. She > suffered a bloody nose from the sudden stop, which > means she probably > was wearing a lap belt but not a shoulder harness. > > My reaction was that she screwed up. First, she > obviously did not > manage her fuel correctly, and second, if she really > did make an > emergency landing while the engine was still > running, she showed > extremely poor judgment. > > I understand that it's unusual to find an elderly > lady flying an > airplane, but this simply makes me concerned, and a > bit angry because > every time someone gets on the news because of > something stupid like > running out of gas, we all look worse to the > non-flying public. > > Larry Snyder > N99340
