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

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

#211

Post by jrootabega »

dh-g wrote: post #170
AmVess wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't believe the wing was in a stall in this situation. There would have been an abundance of airspeed over the wings. While performing a Split S the issue is that you are pulling too many G's and you and the sooner you level out the more you are pulling.

Over the wings in which direction, though?

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

#212

Post by filleduchaos »

mannykannot wrote: post #165
filleduchaos wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a pilot, but I have a bit of a morbid fascination with aviation incidents, and I think I agree with both of you somewhat? The average flight deck is a hell of a lot more complicated than the average driver's seat in terms of things the operator needs to pay attention to, so I'd definitely say that flying requires more sustained focus. However, during routine flight (not counting taking off and landing, becaus…

Aviation contains a number of scenarios where pilots can (and do, not all that infrequently) slip from being in a safe situation to being in immediate danger without noticing the transition. Things like spatial disorientation and losing situational awareness (particularly in IMC), not taking into account a changing weather situation, not tracking fuel consumption, navigational errors... Technology is increasingly mit…

> Aviation contains a number of scenarios where pilots can (and do, not all that infrequently) slip from being in a safe situation to being in immediate danger without noticing the transition.

I am aware of this (and as I already said this is why piloting requires greater focus), but I don't see how that changes the fact that there actually is a transition that takes a heck of a lot longer than going from a completely safe (given all available information and proper operation) to a completely unsafe situation takes on the road.

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

#213

Post by Wistar »

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.

He was flying a vintage T-34 Mentor, a pretty bad-ass craft.

https://wingsmuseum.org/exhibits/beechcraft-t-34-mentor/

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

#214

Post by lambdasquirrel »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #118

An absolute legend going out like a total badass. I know people will disagree but there is much to be said for living your life on your own terms and accepting the potential consequences without reservation. He was clearly one of those guys. He probably did not expect to die that day, but he knew he would die some day and he wasn’t going to nerf his life to buy a few more years.

I wonder if something happened and he knew he wasn’t going to make it, and so crashed intentionally to avoid the possibility of hitting something when the fuel ran out. There are so many little islands in that area, and he could have plausibly ditched in the water, however cold it would be. Badass yes.

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

#215

Post by PKop »

tzfld wrote: post #110
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.

I hate this reasoning. Why is this a fitting way to die? What would be a fitting way to go for a cook or an athlete then?

Different lifestyles, and different deaths, have different glory and honor attached to them, whether you like it or not.

Being an astronaut that went to the moon and a pilot that dies flying at 90 will always and forever be cooler and more impressive than a cook, and most athletes too. I love this reasoning.

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

#216

Post by BenFranklin100 »

hiddencost wrote: post #96
BenFranklin100 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developers are such on-the-spectrum nitpickers. I guess that is what makes them good at their jobs and such unenjoyable cocktail party companions.

Says the one who managed to insult autistic people and engineers at the same time? Many of the best partiers I know are on the spectrum.

You guys dress poorly too.

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

#217

Post by BenFranklin100 »

meat_machine wrote: post #154
BenFranklin100 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developers are such on-the-spectrum nitpickers. I guess that is what makes them good at their jobs and such unenjoyable cocktail party companions.

so many fails in such a short response. Assuming someone's profession based on almost nothing, general stereotyping, armchair mental diagnosis, insult based on 'diagnosis' that's needless and honestly irrelevant. Reminds me of the common backhanded insult on reddit, "you must be a blast at parties" What kind of pilot would be taken seriously if they mix up such a basic aspect of professional knowledge? Jets and prop…

You must be a blast at parties.

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

#218

Post by weebull »

lukan wrote: post #151
krisoft wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What would be a fitting way to go for a cook or an athlete then? Whatever they liked doing? Being an astronaut at that time implied that he was an aviator. Keeping his licence to fly into the old age of 90 means he most likely loved flying. That is why it is a “fitting way to die”. I don’t know the cook you mention. Maybe they loved cooking for loved ones. In that case a fitting way to die would be while they are d…

"Dying in an accident doing something you always hated is worse than dying in an accident doing something you loved." Dead is dead, though. I do not think the final moments matter as much as all the years before them. So even if I will one day die on the toilet being old, that would be way better, than me dying soon in an climbing accident, even though that sounds more dramatic and I am way more into climbing than to…

> Dead is dead, though. I do not think the final moments matter as much as all the years before them.

Well indeed. How many people give up what they love because of the fear that it will kill them? This man kept his love for aviation alive until the end.

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

#219

Post by Simon_ORourke »

That photograph is a mere footnote to the sheer audacity of Apollo 8

- first crewed flight of the Saturn V.

- first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit.

- first crewed spacecraft to enter Lunar orbit.

- first humans to see the far side of the moon.

- most watched (at the time) live TV broadcast.

Those guys had balls of steel, and I'll be pouring one out on the stoop for Bill Anders and the crew later today in memory.

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

#220

Post by bilater »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #118

An absolute legend going out like a total badass. I know people will disagree but there is much to be said for living your life on your own terms and accepting the potential consequences without reservation. He was clearly one of those guys. He probably did not expect to die that day, but he knew he would die some day and he wasn’t going to nerf his life to buy a few more years.

Reminded me of the film Secondhand Lions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondhand_Lions
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