You made me curious, Mike, so I looked up the crash. The pilot was 62, a former chief pilot for Alaska Airlines, and very experienced. The NTSB speculated that he might have become unresponsive due to a health condition. He had had a stroke two years before and managed to get his medical back, perhaps with too little oversight from the FAA. I didn't dig long enough to find out whether there was an autopsy.
Regarding the rest of what you wrote, I'm in agreement. *laugh* Dave Klingler On Thu, Jan 26, 2023 at 3:16 AM MS <propbala...@att.net> wrote: > Knowing what a daredevil you are when it comes to flying Larry, I hesitate > to comment on your posting, but will anyway. > > Ted Stevens wasn't flying the plane that killed him and those that were > with him. Instead, it was more than likely piloted by one of the many > low-time pilots who have heard Alaska is an easy place to get a > time-building job than it is in many easier places to fly. It's had that > reputation for years - a place for low-paying time-building flying jobs. > When things go right it can serve this purpose but Alaska is a place where > the unpredictable reigns. Adapting (or not) to the unpredictable either > makes a good pilot out of you, or kills you. I vaguely recall that the > aircraft charter service used by Stevens and crew were using a high quality > turbine for their trip out of King Salmon so their crash wasn't the > aircraft's fault but rather the fault of an inexperienced low-timer flying > a plane beyond his skill levels in an environment that was also apparently > beyond his skillset. > > Stevens, like so many politicians, was a crook and is missed only by those > who were taking advantage of his ill gotten gains. > > They renamed Anchorage International in his name . . . in the same way and > for the same reason they renamed Jan Smuts in Johannesburg to "Oliver > Tambo" International. > > Yes, the accident rate is high in Alaska but that isn't from stretching > the limitations in the operation manuals. Many moose and bears have been > successfully brought home strapped to the struts of an old taildragger > Cessna or Piper. Rather, the high accident rate is primarily due to the > sometimes vicious temperatures, cloud levels, (ice, in other words) very > high obstructions otherwise known as mountains, and often unexpected events > like finding a moose family on the runway when you're still going too fast > to go around or over, etc. Alaska is full of this kind of stuff and you > either listen to others and learn from their wisdom and from your own > narrow escapes . . . or you wind up like the Stevens party who, if I recall > correctly, only had some low ceilings to deal with (an extremely common > occurrence in Alaska) and generally sine quite benign topography of the > King Salmon area that exceeded the situational skill (despite having GPS . > . . something we never had in the 60's) of whatever poorly qualified > youngster who was trying to fly the plane that day. Stevens was no great > loss. The others I don't know about although if they were sidekicks of > Stevens were probably no great loss either. > > Anyone who takes pleasure in killing animals is not worth the air they > breathe, to my mind. I met plenty of them in Africa (I refused to let them > in my aircraft). Running into them always prompted an urge in me to use > one of their $5000 - $10,0000 custom rifles on them so I could ask them how > it felt. > > Mike Stirewalt > KSEE > -- > KRnet mailing list > KRnet@list.krnet.org > https://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet >
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