R.I.P. Bill Anders

[Sal Ammoniac]

William "Bill" Anders, the lunar module pilot on Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the moon in 1968, died yesterday when the A45 plane he was piloting crashed into the ocean off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.

https://youtu.be/sP6ioGvg4as

Bill captured one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century: "Earthrise".

R.I.P. Bill

[tom66]

Sounds like he had a very active life to be flying at 90.  RIP - he died well.

[Sal Ammoniac]

If you watch the linked video it looks like he was trying to do a loop and started it too low and couldn't pull out before hitting the water.

[MT]

[brucehoult]

At my gliding club we had an instructor, Ian Barber, who was still flying (and instructing) when he was 92.

I think he was 88 or so when he conducted the test flight for my rating in the high performance "Janus" two seat fiberglass glider -- a model that was winning World Championships and setting records all through the 70s and that still today is a very attractive aircraft as it performs similarly to modern Duo Discus and DG1000 gliders which are simpler (no flaps) and in general a lot easier to fly than the Janus, but will cost you about five times more to buy (at least new).

There were a lot of pilots in the club (including instructors) who took one or two flights in the Janus and then refused to go near it, generally describing it as a "pig". But a small group of us didn't even bother to get our DG1000 ratings (well, at least I didn't) until the club eventually sold the Janus because 1) we loved it; 2) in skilled hands it performed better, especially at high speed, but also in very tight thermals; and 3) it was always free.

And Ian was still instructing in the Pig at around age 90.

Ian stopped fly solo (in his early 70s Cirrus) and with beginning students several years earlier. But if you were solo-rated (in anything) then you could fly with Ian (in anything).

Ian didn't go around the moon, but in 1960 he set the record for the longest duration model aircraft flight with a time of 9 hours 4 minutes. It stood as a World Record for five years. That was slope soaring (on the same hill we flew the Janus on together 35 years later) a model glider with radio control of just the rudder, via a carrier wave transmitter, a 1-valve (I think) receiver driving a relay to release a rubber band escapement with C - L - C - R - C sequence.  Basically a free-flight model, but you could turn it. And if you got it right, you could make a left and a right pass along a few hundred meter long ridge with just four brief stabs at the transmitter button. And a lot of things are "right". You can fly directly over the ridge, or you can fly up to several hundred meters in front of it.

Ian stopped flying at 92, but kept popping in to the club probably every week until a few weeks before his death in 2007.

[brucehoult]

Oh ... one day in early 1994 in was in the USA, just arrived at a gliding field in Arizona I hadn't been to before, and was walking from my car to the office when an older gentleman passed me in the other direction. I said "Good afternoon" and he replied in a VERY plummy accent. I took a couple more steps before something clicked in my brain and I stopped, turned, and fumbled "Errrr ... Mr Piggott?"  "Yes?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Piggott

After a short conversation I asked if he would be free to fly with me the next day. He would be. We had a very pleasant 1 hour or so run along the ridges of the nearby mountain chain, with me flying the Grob Twin II (my first time in one [1], so my type rating in that is from Derek). Derek was in the back seat playing with my Cambridge Model 10 GPS-NAV system, which was very new at the time as they had just been publicly launched a couple of months earlier using all available boxes to supply the fleet at the gliding pre-worlds in NZ. I was lucky to have the company give me one of the boxes used in the competition as thanks for various assistance I'd given during the contest.

Anyway, Derek would have been only 72 at that time, but he continued flying -- including in competitions -- until around 90, before dying at 96.

[1] ok, technically I'd taken a trial flight in an earlier Twin Astir at Omarama when I was an early pre-solo student

[EPAIII]

It may seem tragic to us, but for a pilot, with his background and experiences, it may have been the best of deaths that he could have wished for.

My father was a Marine Corp pilot in the years of WWII. He died at the age of 22 or 23 while training over the Pacific Ocean. I understand they were practicing dive bombing and his plane crashed with another. Both went down into the ocean. Their bodies were not recovered. They died a tragic but noble death.

My mother died a few weeks ago at 104. Among her things my brother found a newspaper article about how she passed the exam for a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) while taking care of her baby (me). She said she studied with one hand and took care of me with the other.

They weren't called the greatest generation without good reason. They don't make them like that anymore.

[SiliconWizard]

Dying of a flight accident at 90 as a pilot with no passenger is not what I'd call tragic.

[pcprogrammer]

Dying of a flight accident at 90 as a pilot with no passenger is not what I'd call tragic.

Who knows, maybe intentional. 

[SiliconWizard]

Dying of a flight accident at 90 as a pilot with no passenger is not what I'd call tragic.

Who knows, maybe intentional. 

When seeing the loop he attempted, that could look like it. Just let the investigation do their job though. And whether this was intentional or not, it's not a bad way to leave.

[brucehoult]

Dying of a flight accident at 90 as a pilot with no passenger is not what I'd call tragic.

Who knows, maybe intentional. 

When seeing the loop he attempted, that could look like it. Just let the investigation do their job though. And whether this was intentional or not, it's not a bad way to leave.

Or he'd done the same thing from the same starting height many times before but either didn't do it quite right, or the weather was hotter and/or more humid this day so the air was thinner than usually.

[jpanhalt]

The videos linked below don't show the entry.  If it was from inverted, as some suggested (i.e., a half roll with pull out while inverted), I'd call it a Split S, which is a high G maneuver unlike a full roll or ordinary loop.  In an ordinary loop, the pull out begins at the top of the loop and with lower airspeed.  I did one accidentally due to inexperience while doing rolls many years ago.  Fortunately, the airplane was structurally rated for aerobatics (B19 Beechcraft Musketeer).  That was the last time I played with such maneuvers.  I continued to fly safely for many years did nothing more daring than chandelles.  That's what crop dusters do when turning for another pass.

As for not being entirely unintentional that can't be ruled out, but there are much easier ways to go.  He was probably just having fun.

[Sal Ammoniac]

Dying of a flight accident at 90 as a pilot with no passenger is not what I'd call tragic.

I can think of far worse ways to check out.

[chickenHeadKnob]

Dying of a flight accident at 90 as a pilot with no passenger is not what I'd call tragic.

I can think of far worse ways to check out.

Unfortunately if this was a solo suicide, it still has other victims. Namely everyone else who has to payout higher insurance.

[pcprogrammer]

Dying of a flight accident at 90 as a pilot with no passenger is not what I'd call tragic.

I can think of far worse ways to check out.

Unfortunately if this was a solo suicide, it still has other victims. Namely everyone else who has to payout higher insurance.

What about the salvage crew, the investigators, family, friends and everyone else involved.

And if indeed suicide, I blame society for the rigid view on death. Euthanasia should be a basic right of everybody, no questions asked. A far more human solution is needed for all the people out there that don't want to live anymore. But with that we enter politics and religion.