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Steve Appleton, Micron CEO, Dies In Plane Crash
CR0WTR0B0T writes "Micron CEO Steve Appleton was killed in a plane crash around 9AM on Friday, February 3rd. He was flying an experimental fixed-wing single engine Lancair, which crashed in between two runways at the Boise airport."
The "Experimental" tag is applied to anything except for vanilla factory builds, even changing engine from factory default usually ends up with an "experimental" sign on the aircraft. The tag does not reflect on it's safety. They do have a higher incidence of accidents then factory, but that seems to be attributed to second owners rather than builders, and very rarely to the aircraft itself.
DEMETRIUS: Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON: Villain, I have done thy mother.
Shakespeare invents 'your mom'
Sounds like he knew he had a major malfunction and was trying to land. Air traffic controllers are heard screaming expletives.
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Appleton has owned more than 20 airplanes and is known for doing aerobatics. He crashed in July of 2004 while performing maneuvers over the Idaho desert.
In an interview with Appleton after that crash, he said he suffered a few scrapes and scratches.
"I was only in the hospital one night and then I went home and showed up for work Monday morning," said Appleton about the crash. "I've been flying since then and everything's back to normal."
That crash left some wondering if the CEO was taking too many risks, considering he is head of a major corporation.
"My description of myself, whether I'm the CEO of a very competitive industry or whether I happen to fly aerobatics in airplanes, it's all one package. I mean, it's the personality that comes through in my business at my personal life."
Carolyn Holly spoke with Appleton in 2004 about his flying, Appleton said he is very fortunate for the things he has been able to do.
"I'm very fortunate, lucky to be able to experience the kinds of things that I do," Appleton said. "If my life were to end tomorrow, I've had a full life."
From Wikipedia:
"Steve Appleton participated in a number of sports, including professional tennis. His hobbies included scuba diving, surfing, wakeboarding, motorcycling and more recently, off-road car racing. His aviation background included multiple ratings and professional performances at air shows in both propeller- and jet-powered aircraft. He also had a black belt in Taekwondo.
On the 43rd edition of the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 on 2010 Appleton finished 1st on a SCORE Class 1 buggy and 7th overall with a time of 20:32.18.[6]"
I feel like such a bum compared to this guy, actually I am a bum compared to this guy.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Guess that Steve was looking for the John Denver Experience.
John Denver, Steve Fossett and too many others.
The spirit to take risks is the spirit of adventure.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Coming from an EAA member with some hands on experience in aircraft construction etc.
Lancairs are light composite home/kit built aircraft with somewhat high wing loading and comparitively powerful engines.
On one hand, you have near-turboprop like speed and performance for a quarter of the price. On the other hand, you end up with some not so agreeable handling characteristics.
I'll just say that amongst the General Aviation and home / kit community that "They have a bit of a reputation."
I guess he went out doing the thing he loved.
He loved to crash his airplane???
They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
He died because he fucked up. Not because the aircraft was "experimental".
His engine quit and he tried to turn back to the airport (the "impossible turn", it's often called) from too low of an altitude and let his airspeed dwindle down too low, and ended up stalling the thing and also entered an incipient spin and augered it into the ground. This is the classic impossible turn + stall/spin that kills so many pilots who lose their shit, panic, and do exactly the most wrongest things possible at the controls of their powerless (now poor glider) aircraft.
I myself fly an experimental aircraft all the time (Vans RV) that I built myself. An experimental aircraft that's built correctly is as safe as a factory-built aircraft, but the pilots who fly them are most definitely NOT as safe as a typical private pilot who only flies factory spamcans. Experimental airplanes are almost always very *high performance* aircraft, which demand advanced piloting skills, sense of judgment and training far beyond the demands of most general aviation pilots get. They are not very forgiving of fuckups at all.
The Lancair is a particularly nasty-behaving airplane to fly when you suddenly lose power. You must push the nose over *a lot* and *immediately* to keep the airspeed up, lest you abruptly cause that thin little super critical wing to stall. You have to dive towards the ground to keep it flying (very counter-intuitive, but that's how it works if you want to live). This pilot didn't do that. An eyewitness I know of (who's also a pilot) on the ground saw this whole wreck happen, the Lancair kept way too level in pitch and it slowed way too quickly... with the usual and very predictable results. :-(
One of my own best friends died the exact same way over ten years ago. Lost engine power, tried to turn back to the runway, stalled/spun and augered the damn thing into the ground. He failed to do what our training was supposed to be drilled into our brains in case of engine loss of power.... push the damn nose over and keep your airspeed up so you don't stall. The ground is going to come up at you very quickly, and there's nothing you can do to avoid that, but as long as you keep the damn thing flying and under control, just keep flying as far into and through the forced landing as your airspeed over the wings lets you, chances are good you will live, but if you panic and keep pulling back, you will surely die as your aircraft plummets out of control in a stall/spin and hits the dirt so hard all your internal organs rip loose from their mountings inside your torso, and your brain busts down thru the base of your skull and thru roof of your mouth as the sudden stop G-forces hit at the end of the ride.
Experimental are all planes that have not been vetted by proper people.
WRONG. Experimental aircraft, when ready for their first flight, go through an inspection from an FAA representative that is extremely thorough. The build log of the plane (which is required to be detailed) is examined, every system on the plane is demonstrated on the ground, and a provisional airworthiness certificate is granted. At that point, a flight test plan is agreed upon (anywhere from 25 to 60 hours, depending upon whether it's an original design or a well-known kit from a major manufacturer). The test flights, which include operating the aircraft on every maneuver it is expected to perform, flight at the extremes of its weight-and-balance profile, performance measurements, and operation of all flight systems (navigation instruments, flight instruments, etc.) is demonstrated under actual flight. Once these tests are performed and signed off, the aircraft is again inspected, just as rigorously. Then, and only then, is it granted an airworthiness certificate.
Experimental planes ARE vetted by the proper people.
I'm building an experimental plane. I'm a pilot. I know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. You're talking out of your ass.
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.