Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The first airplane fatality

amusingplanet.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–35 of 35 posts

Re: The first airplane fatality

#31

Post by satiated_grue »

mandevil wrote: post #5

After the crash, the Wright's built a new plane, the 1909 Military Flyer. It came back the next year to Ft. Myer and became the first plane, anywhere in the world, to be bought by a government (1). Orville Wright taught three Army officers to fly on that plane, and then, the Army being what it is, a fourth guy got a letter from Wright explaining how to fly and told "take this plane to San Antonio and teach yourself t…

And a flying field was established at College Park, MD where Orville Wright began teaching Army officers to fly in 1909.

That airport is still operating and is the oldest continuously operating airport in the world.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/college-park-airport.htm

FWIW, I think there are 5 surviving original Wright bicycles, so they are outnumbered by the airplanes.

Re: The first airplane fatality

#32

Post by satiated_grue »

Waterluvian wrote: post #9

> The crash had fractured his skull. At the time, neither man wore head protection, as aviation helmets were not yet standard equipment. It’s kinda wild to me how reliable we are at having to learn the hard way to wear a helmet for each new sport or endeavour.

You'd be surprised to learn how many people fell out of airplanes because of lack of seat belts.

Re: The first airplane fatality

#33

Post by WalterBright »

throwawaytea wrote: post #22
WalterBright wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read that it is statistically more dangerous to fly on a private jet than a commercial one.

100 Americans can drive a car their whole life, and statistically one will die. There is zero chance 100 people could fly private airplanes everyday for their whole life and only one dies. I suppose if you look at 100 skilled pilots flying private aircraft for 50 years daily.. still would be a lot worse

My dad was an AF pilot for a couple decades. There were four non-combat incidents that nearly killed him. And he was a very, very careful man.

1. P-51 engine swallowed a valve and failed completely (the P-51 flies like a rock when the engine isn't turning) but fortunately he was over the airfield at the time

2. a total failure of an F-86 engine (F-86 is a decent glider and he was able to glide in on the airfield)

3. his P-51 rear fuselage crumpled after a turn. The mechanic told him he was amazed it didn't come off completely

4. flew into clear air turbulence that was so violent the wings were bent and were scrapped

Re: The first airplane fatality

#34

Post by throwawaytea »

WalterBright wrote: post #33
throwawaytea wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100 Americans can drive a car their whole life, and statistically one will die. There is zero chance 100 people could fly private airplanes everyday for their whole life and only one dies. I suppose if you look at 100 skilled pilots flying private aircraft for 50 years daily.. still would be a lot worse

My dad was an AF pilot for a couple decades. There were four non-combat incidents that nearly killed him. And he was a very, very careful man. 1. P-51 engine swallowed a valve and failed completely (the P-51 flies like a rock when the engine isn't turning) but fortunately he was over the airfield at the time 2. a total failure of an F-86 engine (F-86 is a decent glider and he was able to glide in on the airfield) 3.…

Cool stuff. Im actually a decent mechanic and it's what makes me dislike airplanes even more, especially the smaller private stuff. I had a friend invite me over and over into his ultralight running a rotax motor. I never agreed to go because all I think about when I hear Rotax are all the jetskiis I knew in the 90s and early 2000s that would give you problems at least once every few lake outings. No thanks for that in the sky.

Re: The first airplane fatality

#35

Post by WalterBright »

throwawaytea wrote: post #34
WalterBright wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad was an AF pilot for a couple decades. There were four non-combat incidents that nearly killed him. And he was a very, very careful man. 1. P-51 engine swallowed a valve and failed completely (the P-51 flies like a rock when the engine isn't turning) but fortunately he was over the airfield at the time 2. a total failure of an F-86 engine (F-86 is a decent glider and he was able to glide in on the airfield) 3.…

Cool stuff. Im actually a decent mechanic and it's what makes me dislike airplanes even more, especially the smaller private stuff. I had a friend invite me over and over into his ultralight running a rotax motor. I never agreed to go because all I think about when I hear Rotax are all the jetskiis I knew in the 90s and early 2000s that would give you problems at least once every few lake outings. No thanks for that…

An acquaintance of mine was a private pilot. Took off one day, flew into a storm, crashed and died. Another friend took a chance and flew into icing conditions, and nearly crashed. He said he'd never make that mistake again.

My dad flew F-180s in the Korean War. It was the first operational US jet fighter. It had straight wings (not swept) and had a powerful engine.

He related to me that if you exceeded a certain speed, the airplane would suddenly "pitch up" and fold the wings back. You had to be very careful not to overspeed, which (of course) was very difficult to do in a diving attack. (He said he kept one eye on the target, one eye on the altitude, and one eye on the airspeed.) Anyhow, mission one of his buddies had a Mig on his tail and could not shake it. He decided that he'd deliberately induce the pitch up, and hope that would get him out of the jam. He did, pitched up, the Mig couldn't follow it, and miraculously the wings stayed on.

He carefully flew it back to base. The wings were bent up, and the airplane was scrapped.

Post reply on HN