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Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

fox13seattle.com

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Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#31

Post by rmason »

ls612 wrote: post #28

Man flys to the moon and back, and then 55 years later as a 91 year old dies flying a jet aircraft. Some are just built different.

In my opinion Chuck Yeager was the best pilot ever. A World War 2 ace who shot down 13 German planes. First to break the sound barrier. But Yeager took his last flight in a jet at 79 (with a copilot) and surrendered his pilots license at age 80.

I am not taking anything away from William Anders but 91 might have been just too old to be responsibly flying a jet.

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#33

Post by WhackyIdeas »

nvy wrote: post #14
BSOhealth wrote: post #4

All respect, this guy is was ~91. I’m uncomfortable driving with my mom. As a total layperson, what sort of tests does a person have to pass annually(?) to maintain a pilot’s license? Or is this dude just so O.G. that he was bound to go out living his dream?

It's an open secret in the aviation community that large numbers of aging boomers are medically unfit to fly but are able to maintain their medicals, for a variety of reasons.

I personally don’t think that people that age should be driving even a car in public. Any time I am stuck behind a car driving slow, eg. doing 30 on a 60, it’s an old person. It’s dangerous, nearly seen so many accidents with people overtaking.

But then again, if it’s someone’s own plane and there’s little risk to anyone but themself, then maybe fire in. But wow should the insurance be through the roof.

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#35

Post by tom_ »

WorkerBee28474 wrote: post #19
colechristensen wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a brief guide https://www.faa.gov/ame_guide/standards "Old guy crashes airplane" is a somewhat common occurrence that leads to obvious question if they really should have passed their medical. There's a tendency to not want to be the one to say no, especially if you've known the doctor signing the forms for decades... or if you were a fricken astronaut.

The aircraft is unfortunately known for crashing without pilot error https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_T-34_Mentor#Civilia...

And 91 year olds are unfortunately known for dying simply because they fell asleep.

I hope to be 91 myself one day - nevertheless, I remain suspicious.

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#37

Post by fargle »

darby_nine wrote: post #27
andrewinardeer wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sarcasm doesn't translate well via text.

This wasn't sarcastic at all—any driver of a car is far more dangerous than one in a plane. 9/11 is essentially meaningless in the shadow of auto deaths (to provide a direct comparison). I can't get a firm number on number of plane fatalities in the US (or auto fatalities worldwide), but 9/11 alone would amount to about only 0.04% of total vehicle fatalities in the US since 2000.

if i live to be 90, i'd wish to die quietly in my sleep like my grandpa.

not screaming in terror like his passengers.

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#38

Post by AmVess »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #11

Was he doing loops/flips intentionally, or did he lose control of the plane? Either way, what an absolute legend to be flying solo at his age.

Intentional loop. He entered it too fast and too low. On the descent, he was going too fast for his aircraft to have any type of control authority and he was a passenger at that point.

The aircraft basically stalled out in a dive, and with no cohesive airflow over the control surfaces, the aircraft continued to stall to the point of impact.

Re: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders ID'd in WA plane crash

#39

Post by sillysaurusx »

jrootabega wrote: post #32
bicx wrote: post #5

I saw the headline earlier, and my first thought was "I hope he was the pilot, because that would be a fitting way to go for a legend." Not only was he the pilot, but he was flying solo at 90 years old.

[flagged]

Does a solo plane crash have a statistically smaller chance of hurting anybody else?
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