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Small Plane Buzzes Boaters in CO Before Crashing

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Bad ideas just keep getting worse. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a small plane that buzzed low over boats on a Northern Colorado reservoir before crashing, the board said Wednesday. (www.washingtonpost.com) More...

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ghstark
Greg S 16
I'm old enough to remember when newspaper stories were actually edited, and a passage like this one from the story would never have made it through: "...swinging low over the craft as one of the boat riders through up their arm...".

I through up a little in my mouth when I read that.
pulseins
Scott Haas 5
Eye donut sea the problem with that state meant. Go back two bed now. Thank ewe!
blackstock
Michael Blackstock 0
Which part or parts, based on your memories, would you edit in the passage you quoted?
ghstark
Greg S 4
umm..., "through" should be "threw". I thought the pun made that clear.

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

ghstark
Greg S 4
Have appointed yourself as the forum policeman now?
blackstock
Michael Blackstock -7
That is, aside from your pun.
Perozneck
Paul Rozneck 3
I, too, was dismayed by the improper word choice, and was amused by Greg's post. You, on the other hand, chose to push back with a rather pompous comment. You had no problem with the comments that called the pilot a moron and an idiot. He/she may well be both, but we don't know that. The pilot may have been having a medical problem, heart attack, stroke, wasp bite, etc. Here's a teachable point: don't assume you know all the facts, and don't assume everyone accepts poor grammar and word usage from media outlets, trivial matter that it may be. Fly safe.
blackstock
Michael Blackstock -7
In the case of the issue with grammar, the sentence that was quoted had wording that could come across to some as more hyperbole than facts, thus I wanted to make sure we were on the same page in the partial incident description of that moment. My presentation and readback of that was my choice and anyone is free to form their own interpretation of that; rightfully or wrongfully.

As for the rest, just because I don't address someone does not mean I did not take issue with their comments. Addressing someone with a demonstrated lack of reasoning is usually fruitless. Since the word 'you' was given in a reply to me, I must be direct in addressing this: I suggest you and readers do not mind read me regarding my assumptions or motivations. You are free to form the thoughts in your mind, but don't directly assign them to me without just cause.

Related, I have not once speculated on the cause of this incident or the events that led up to it. Using OSINT skills, I offered what was clearly my opinion was that the aircraft was within 500 feet of the vessel pictured. This is the distance addressed via FAR 91.119 (c). I did not offer an opinion if the aircraft had a valid reason or not to be within those 500 feet. I did not offer an opinion on the cause of the crash.

Safe flight.
jbsimms
James Simms 4
Settle down, Francis… And don’t call me Shirley……..
sparkie624
sparkie624 4
...and its a bad day to quick Drinking... :)
jbsimms
James Simms 3
I suppose the ‘Autopilot’ wasn’t engaged
sparkie624
sparkie624 2
I think you meant the "AutomaticPilot" :)
williampickett75
Maybe he deflated
wiregold
wiregold 3
"Addressing someone with a demonstrated lack of reasoning is usually fruitless."

Your word-salad post is as you say; fruitless. No mind-reading required.
Perozneck
Paul Rozneck 3
Wow! You win, Push Back Champion! You, as in You, crack me up!
blackstock
Michael Blackstock 5
This video report has a sequence of photos:

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/pilot-seen-flying-boats-horsetooth-reservoir-before-crash/
sparkie624
sparkie624 4
One of the Better Aviation Reporting that I have seen in a while. Idiots like that gives all a Black Eye so to speak.
ojamesmay
Orson May 4
To quote Forrest "you can't cure stupid"!!
sparkie624
sparkie624 3
That much is for sure.... and another one from him: "Stupid is as stupid does,"
outward
Jimmy Robinson 8
What a moron. The link worked fine for me and I could not believe how close that aircraft was to the boat, the wheels almost brushing the top of the boat. Such a darn shame that guy crashed, a waste of a good airplane. That is one pilot that will not be buzzing anybody or anything again for a very, very long time.
flyingj481
flyingj481 5
Non-paywall article link https://sentinelcolorado.com/news/state-and-region/colorado-news/small-plane-buzzes-boaters-in-horsetooth-reservoir-before-crashing/
flyingj481
flyingj481 2
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N9049H
blackstock
Michael Blackstock 3
Looking at the egress path they took out of the reservoir, the charts show rising terrain at about 1,500 feet of rise for 1.5nm of ground to clear a ridge. Or a climb from 5,500 feet to 7,000 feet in that distance. There was plenty of reasonable paths toward the south and east. Unknown if this was related.

It will be interesting to see the results of the investigation. At least no one was seriously hurt.
blackstock
Michael Blackstock 2
https://cdn.aviation-safety.net/photodata/282784_63213836a9e83069650AF-1E89-4EEA-90EE-024141B9110A.jpeg

Crash site.
GreggB57
Gregg Bender 1
It's a really bad idea that just tempts some people. Buzzing people, especially over water, is a really bad idea. Water can make it hard for the pilot to judge altitude.
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Interesting... Sounds like he was in trouble and knew... May have never seen that boat. Will be interesting to see what the Ultimate cause was.
Sorak
Sorak 1
Anyone having problems with a website payroll like the Washington Post just simply needs to go into their cookies and delete all of the Washington Post cookies and then reload the page. Sometimes they
Sorak
Sorak 1
Sometimes they have 5-10 different cookies involved so just periodically go through and delete the cookies for tracking sites and anything else you don't recognize.
Searcher06
John Kiger 1
From this pic it looks like the plane is well clear of the boat. Definitely not over it.
blackstock
Michael Blackstock 3
Well clear? 500 feet is all that matters, and I would hazard to say, that's not 500 feet considering the reservoir is only 2,500 feet wide at that point.

If you have additional evidence, you may submit it here:
https://larimercso.evidence.com/axon/citizen/public/horsetoothreservoircrash
blackstock
Michael Blackstock 2
Here is the highest resolution I found of the one photo:
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/27/36/11/22930045/3/rawImage.jpg

sparkie624
sparkie624 2
Thanks... Excellent image.. thanks for sharing! I am sure the FAA will love it... I would like to wonder exactly how he crashed... I would be willing to bet that the Feds are going to free him from his license to fly!
Sorak
Sorak 1
I agreed this is a telephoto image and likely a digital crop as well. Telephoto images have a compressed depth of field. The plane is low but is lateraly separated from the boat, and not directly overflying it.

Technically because the plane landed he did not violate minimums. The 500 foot minimum only applies if not landing.
mbrews
mbrews -3
Paywalled, unless you pay subscription to Jeff Bezos -owned Washington Post
flyingj481
flyingj481 2
Oh dang. FA fought me in the link I could use. This one worked.
SeanAwning
Sean Awning 6
Sometimes all one needs to do is change https to http -- that's a common problem.

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