Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Harrison Ford's Plane Crashes On Golf Course

Posted by samzenpus on from the kessel-run-practice dept.

First time accepted submitter dark.nebulae writes Harrison Ford's PT-22 crash landed on a golf course in Los Angeles. From the article: "Actor Harrison Ford was hospitalized Thursday afternoon after a single-engine plane he was piloting crashed onto a Venice golf course shortly after takeoff. Just before 4:30 p.m. a family member confirmed to NBC4 that the actor is 'fine' and suffered a few gashes. Aerial footage of the minutes after the crash showed the small single-engine vintage World War II trainer plane crashed on the ground at Penmar Golf Club, and one person being treated by paramedics and being transported to a hospital. Firefighters described his injuries were described as 'moderate.'"

77 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Let me be the first to say. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That plane was no Air Force One.

    1. Re:Let me be the first to say. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I didn't have to be. Harrison is such a badass that he survived the crash and was awake and alert when he was taken to hospital.

    2. Re:Let me be the first to say. by QRDeNameland · · Score: 1

      Nor the Millennium Falcon.

      --
      Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
    3. Re:Let me be the first to say. by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

      Rumor has it that shortly before the crash, his chinese copilot jumped out of the plane with only a parachute after saying "goodbye dr jones, muahahaha."

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    4. Re:Let me be the first to say. by rwa2 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Did he have a ticket?

    5. Re:Let me be the first to say. by aaron4801 · · Score: 2

      I bet he had a bad feeling about this, right before he hit the ground.

    6. Re:Let me be the first to say. by sabri · · Score: 4, Informative

      Harrison is such a badass that he survived the crash and was awake and alert when he was taken to hospital.

      Looking at the pictures, he glided the aircraft to an open field and landed without the landing gear. This picture shows the cockpit intact, as well as the skidmarks from the belly-first landing.

      Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. If the aircraft is still serviceable afterwards, it was an excellent landing.

      This was definitely a good landing :)

      --
      I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
    7. Re:Let me be the first to say. by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      It might have been a typical Han Solo landing, though.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    8. Re:Let me be the first to say. by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 1

      Absolutely. I'm glad it was a good enough landing that we can now joke about it using Star Wars and Indiana Jones references. I think most of the best jokes have been taken, so I'll just wish him a speedy recovery!

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    9. Re:Let me be the first to say. by crankyspice · · Score: 5, Informative

      Looking at the pictures, he glided the aircraft to an open field and landed without the landing gear.

      The PT-22 doesn't have retractable landing gear. They were there. They probably broke off in the crash. What he did is pretty much all you can do if you lose an engine at that phase of departure (all fixed wing aircraft departing KSMO on 21 turn to climb out over Penmar - a municipal, public 9-hole golf course - for noise abatement). Here's me departing that same runway over that same golf course, a little bit ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fv0_gLG3C4 He was probably 2-300' AGL, not high enough to return to land on 3.

      --
      geek. lawyer.
    10. Re:Let me be the first to say. by ptudor · · Score: 2

      Totally pleasant to hear from other people that have flown from KSMO. Anyway, it's my understanding without seeing video myself that he had altitude before the engine completely malfunctioned and he had u-turned to bring it back. I bet if he'd had another 100' he could've cleared the VOR and set it down on the runway, but witnesses report it basically clipped a tree and came right down.

      (Unrelated, having worked underneath the flight paths for both MCAS Miramar in Sorrento Valley and KSMO on Rose Ave and as a resident of Venice who supports general aviation, one word: Surfridge.)

    11. Re:Let me be the first to say. by Mr.+Protocol · · Score: 4, Informative

      I saw the incident from my back yard. I was out there working on a Mr. Protocol column when I heard a particularly loud single-engine plane take off. What caught my attention was a sound I've only ever heard in the movies: the engine stuttered once, then stopped dead. I got up and looked to see if what I'd heard was really true, and saw the plane, with prop not moving, bank sharply in a 180 degree turn and start gliding back to the airport. I listened for a crash, since he was rather low, but didn't hear one. I'm glad he made the golf course and missed the neighborhood. (Look at a map: it's pretty obvious that the sole purpose of the Penmar Golf Course is to catch planes that don't make it. It happens often enough that I've wondered if they have course rules for playing around temporary obstacles with wings.)

    12. Re:Let me be the first to say. by angst_ridden_hipster · · Score: 1

      When I first saw the pictures (and didn't know who was piloting) I was not surprised. A lot of weekends that (or another similar) yellow PT-22 has been hotdogging over Mar Vista - flying too low and being overly exuberant with wing waggles.

      I'm in the Mar Vista "return path" area south of KSMO, and about a year ago, I tried phoning the FAA when he (or a similar PT-22) flew at about half the altitude that the normal traffic uses. Engine was backfiring and really making a hell of a noise. Not surprisingly, FAA wasn't interested. After all, I'm just estimating elevation (true), I'm not a professional pilot (true), and there are a lot of spurious complaints (not true in this case).

      Apropos Surfridge ... good luck clearing West Los Angeles. I don't have major objections to the air traffic, but when someone flies low enough to shake my house on the turn-around, it makes me want to join one of the anti groups.

      --
      Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?
      www.fogbound.net
  2. Well, at least he's honest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    He said he could fly a plane but not land one.

  3. Possible cause: by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did they check for snakes in the cockpit?

    1. Re:Possible cause: by mrbester · · Score: 2

      There was no way that bucket of bolts would make it past the clubhouse.

      --
      "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
    2. Re:Possible cause: by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1

      Nah, that was when Samuel L. Jackson crashed his plane.

      --
      That is all.
  4. We almost lost two! by itwasgreektome · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thank God it looks like he'll be alright. Imagine how horrible it would be to have lost a main Star Trek and main Star Wars actor in the same week. Geekdom wouldn't have survived.

    1. Re:We almost lost two! by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We did lose a PT-22, though. Real geeks care about stuff like that more than Hollywood actors. Or should I say nerds.

        'Geek' is more the 'script kiddie' version of a nerd. Nerds know what a wire-wrap gun is, even if they're more into grinding lenses for homemade telescopes. Geeks know what's cool right now on websites like Boing Boing.

    2. Re:We almost lost two! by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      'Geek' is more the 'script kiddie' version of a nerd. Nerds know what a wire-wrap gun is, even if they're more into grinding lenses for homemade telescopes.

      This is fairly well-trodden territory. Nerds are hard-core specialists, fascinated with particular topics. Math nerds, bio nerds, telescope lens nerds (sure, why not?), etc. It's possible to be a multiple-nerd, but Geeks are more obligatorily generalists and tend to be makers.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    3. Re:We almost lost two! by dbIII · · Score: 1

      We did lose a PT-22, though

      From the photos there is a lot of plane left - crash landing instead of crash.

    4. Re:We almost lost two! by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

      whether you call yourself a nerd or a geek, if it's important to you to feel superior to others for arbitrary reasons, you're more accurately described as an asshole

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    5. Re:We almost lost two! by Richard_at_work · · Score: 2

      Nah, that aircraft is eminently re-storable to flight worthy condition - aircraft have been restored to flight status after spending 50 years buried on the Dunkirk beach (see Spitfire MkI N3200, crashed in Dunkirk in 1940, buried in sand, recovered in 1986 and restored to flight in 2014), so a crash like that would be much easier to restore from.

    6. Re:We almost lost two! by jeremyp · · Score: 1

      Care to guess how much of N3200 as it is today was actually dug out of that beach?

      It's practically a new aeroplane.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    7. Re:We almost lost two! by Talderas · · Score: 2

      No wonder I feel like I'm surrounded by assholes.

      --
      "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
    8. Re:We almost lost two! by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Sigh. Nerds are the technological autists. The geek, in a circus, was the guy who bit off the head of a chicken and other gross stuff. In Revenge of the nerds, Booger was the only geek.

      And the gay guy was just the gay guy.

      Of course, the meaning of geek has wandered until it is used as a synonym for nerd, as words often do, but only a nerd could tell you that.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    9. Re:We almost lost two! by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      They did actually reuse a lot of the fuselage and wing structure in the new substructures that they showed on screen during the documentary.

    10. Re:We almost lost two! by Fortran+IV · · Score: 1

      I think nerd vs. geek is more useful for judging someone's age than anything else these days. I'm old enough to consider geek an out-and-out insult, because I remember when even among circus freaks the geek was unpopular. (Hearing Fred Blassie's "Pencil Neck Geek" on Dr. Demento two or three times a month all through college certainly didn't help.)

      --
      I figure by 2030 or so my 6-digit UID will be something to brag about.
    11. Re:We almost lost two! by smellsofbikes · · Score: 1

      We did lose a PT-22, though. Real geeks care about stuff like that more than Hollywood actors. Or should I say nerds.

        'Geek' is more the 'script kiddie' version of a nerd. Nerds know what a wire-wrap gun is, even if they're more into grinding lenses for homemade telescopes. Geeks know what's cool right now on websites like Boing Boing.

      Geeks make robots. Nerds role-play robots. Dorks dance like robots.

      It's entirely possible that plane could be fixed. I've seen much worse aircraft restored, and the PT22 is a particularly simple aircraft. It's an interesting choice for a very, very rich high-time pilot to be flying, in fact: originally without any electrical system at all, implying hand-propping to start it, mechanical flaps, gravity fuel system. Main wingspar made of spruce. It's like someone who can afford a Ferrari choosing to drive a Nash.

      --
      Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
    12. Re:We almost lost two! by eric_harris_76 · · Score: 1

      Reminds me of what Sam Walton (or one of the Wal-Mart heirs) said, when told he didn't need to drive that old beat-up red pickup truck because he could drive anything he wanted.

      Yes, I can. And I do.

      --
      There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
  5. was cause of crash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    due to any of the special modifications he made himself?
    !Badum-tish!

  6. Make your calculations flyboy by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 5, Funny

    Flying a PT-22 ain't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through the walk of fame, or bounce off a golf club and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it.

    1. Re:Make your calculations flyboy by kencurry · · Score: 1

      > Mighty post, sir.

      --
      sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
  7. 3720:1 by Guy+From+V · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Never tell him the odds.

    1. Re:3720:1 by TheViffer · · Score: 1

      This has great meaning here. Lets be truthful. He survived and that is what counts. Reading the posts here I can truly see there is a sigh of relief from many people that he did live in the humor present. I can only imagine the sorrow and grief that we as other would have felts if he would have perished and none of this would have been funny.

      "Han crashed first!"

      --
      -- Knowing too much can get you killed, but knowing who knows too much can make you rich.
  8. Overheard at the scene... by meglon · · Score: 2

    I swear, ossifer, that tie-fighter came out of nowhere!

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  9. I just read a quote someplece by richardoz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently he was flying solo...

    --
    All the worlds indeed a .sig, and we are mearly players..
    1. Re:I just read a quote someplece by sexconker · · Score: 2

      Not just solo, but apparently too low.

    2. Re:I just read a quote someplece by antdude · · Score: 1

      He didn't have Chewie with him since he crashed it. They have never crashed their Millienium Falcon together AFAIK.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  10. obligitory by dlb · · Score: 4, Funny

    "It's not my fault!"

    1. Re:obligitory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Most golfers chase their little balls with little sticks over the greens of a Golf Course, but Harrison Ford had the balls to make a hole in one.

  11. The Last Crusade by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just before the crash, Sean Connory popped up in the back seat and tapped Ford on the shoulder, pointing to the tail and saying "Sorry, they got us".

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    1. Re:The Last Crusade by binarylarry · · Score: 2

      Why would Harrison Ford be flying with a porn star?

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    2. Re:The Last Crusade by Moof123 · · Score: 1

      Must have been that flock of seagulls.

    3. Re:The Last Crusade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I know Zardoz was rather minimalistic in the clothing department, but it was not porn.

  12. USA Today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Harrison Ford was injured Thursday afternoon when his vintage single-engine airplane crashed on a golf course shortly after taking off from Santa Monica Airport, according to news reports and the 72-year-old actor's son.
     

    Ford was conscious and alert when paramedics arrived, and he taken to a nearby hospital, according to KNX-AM, NBC and TMZ.com. Officials said he suffered "moderate trauma."
     

    "Dad is ok. Battered, but ok!" Ford's son, Ben, a chef in Los Angeles, tweeted from the hospital. "He is every bit the man you would think he is. He is an incredibly strong man."
     

    The Los Angeles Fire Department initially reported that Ford was in "critical" condition, but that was later upgraded to "serious" and then "moderate."
     

    The FAA confirmed the plane crashed at about 2:25 p.m. PT. It came down at the Penmar Golf Course in the Venice section of Los Angeles, just past the runway of the small airport.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/05/harrison-ford-crash/24467457/

  13. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom by nickmalthus · · Score: 2

    The only reason he was in the plane when it crashed was because someone removed the inflatable life boat that he would have used to bail out with.

    --
    If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be-T J
    1. Re:Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom by dasunt · · Score: 4, Funny

      I believe the new tool to survive all disasters is a fridge.

    2. Re:Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom by Moof123 · · Score: 2

      Looked like a dead engine, so he likely had to dead stick it in. The prop was intact, indicating it had stopped before he landed.

    3. Re:Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom by gweilo8888 · · Score: 2

      He did, indeed, report to ATC that he'd lost his engine. They cleared a runway for him as requested, but it seems he realized he wasn't going to make it, and chose the golf course as the next best thing.

  14. Mainstream click-bait calls the injuries "serious" by msobkow · · Score: 1

    Main stream click bait calls the injuries "serious".

    Sadly, up here in Canada, that includes some pretty big media outlets.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
  15. Re:/. gone to the dogs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Harrison Ford is a great action film actor but his contribution to geekiness does not warrant this reaction by /. editors.

    Lead roles in Star wars, Blade runner - I think it does.

  16. It seems he's okay... by BitterOak · · Score: 1

    Latest news from CNN as I write this is that his son Ben Ford tweeted: "At the hospital. Dad is ok. Battered, but ok!"

    --
    If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
  17. Re: News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Dude STFU! He was Han freakin Solo! Definitely news for nerds.

  18. The Force... by DeathElk · · Score: 1

    was not with him :(

    1. Re:The Force... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Deadstick landing on a golf course? I'd say the force WAS with him.

    2. Re:The Force... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      I'm sure gravity would like a word with you.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:The Force... by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      He was piloting a WW2-era plane, implying that all references have to be related to Indiana Jones.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  19. A dazed and confused Harrison Ford... by tlambert · · Score: 3, Funny

    A dazed and confused Harrison Ford staggered from the wreckage, grabbed a golf bag, and started walking away with it.

    When challeneged by the golf bag's owner, he repeatedly yelled "It belongs in a museum!", until paramedics arrived.

  20. You insensitive clod! by tlambert · · Score: 1

    But in all seriousness, I'm relieved that Mr. Ford has come out alive from the wreck and wish him a speed recovery.

    Why do you want him to get trapped on a bus with Sandra Bullock, and be unable to slow down below 50 MPH?!?!?

  21. He's got chops by slimjim8094 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Glad he's apparently (basically) alright. I fly small planes and they're incredibly awesome, and very liberating and fun, but... yeah, they have only one engine and if it quits you have a problem ("it's a fan to keep the pilot cool - turn it off and watch him sweat!"). Every pilot is constantly keeping an eye out for landing sites, and unlike non-pilots we love heights because it means gliding distance to make it to one. Takeoff is obviously the worst time to lose an engine, and in some ways the most likely - you're really demanding 100% of the performance of the engine, propeller, etc, at a low airspeed (=less cooling) and you're doing it for the first time since you got in the plane. You might think you can make it back to the airport - but that's such a bad idea it's called "the impossible turn" since you'll waste some of your precious lift making the turn. This is why we check our engines thoroughly - regularly with maintenance, and in particular with a "run-up" to high power immediately before takeoff to check the gauges and systems at that high throttle position. But stuff still goes wrong every once in a while, and then you have to do what you can. A bunch of pilot coworkers are in the area and one swung by to check it out. He said that the (wood) prop was intact, which suggests that it wasn't even turning ("windmilling") at impact time, and that he did a bang-up job landing that thing with no engine - golf courses aren't great compared to say an empty field, but if those are in short supply they do quite well. A golf course near my airport is my contingency plan as well - let's hope I never need it.

    And lest anybody think otherwise, Harrison Ford is quite an experienced airplane and helicopter pilot, with thousands of hours. He even did his own flying in a movie where he played a pilot (apparently this gave the insurance company a heart attack and he had to fight them on it). So he probably handled it better than most pilots would.

    --
    I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
    1. Re:He's got chops by conoviator · · Score: 1

      Sorry to see a great old plane get bent up. Looks like it will probably fly again. Very glad that Mr. Ford executed his emergency landing well enough to fly again soon. I don't fly in the LA metro area (based up in the Pacific Northwest); but, I know that there are many sections of the metroplex that would offer few good options.

    2. Re:He's got chops by fnj · · Score: 1

      One wing is smashed. I'd be surprised to see it fly again.

    3. Re:He's got chops by TGZubby · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The other benefit of a golf course is doctors!

    4. Re:He's got chops by jdavidb · · Score: 1

      lest anybody think otherwise, Harrison Ford is quite an experienced airplane and helicopter pilot, with thousands of hours

      My sister worked at a helicopter company where Ford trained or certified or something like that. Unfortunately that didn't result in me getting to meet him, though she did.

      --
      Secession is the right of all sentient beings.
    5. Re:He's got chops by conoviator · · Score: 1

      Restoration professionals won't have any trouble fixing / replacing the wing.

  22. He won't be ... by PPH · · Score: 2

    ... making the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs anytime soon.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  23. What? Not one comment about the Kessel Run? by JackCorbae · · Score: 1

    I read through all of the comments too ... I think the Indianna Jones references were actually the winners although I did chuckle at the One Armed Man comment ... edit: Oh drat ... someone posted one while I was typing this! :) Well played!

  24. Wait.. by Tifer · · Score: 1

    Why is this tagged under "Sci-Fi"?

  25. Re: /. gone to the dogs by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    More like gone to the wolves.

    That was Gerald Ford.

    Apparently he was delicious.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  26. Re:/. gone to the dogs by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

    Harrison Ford is a great action film actor but his contribution to geekiness does not warrant this reaction by /. editors.

    Lead roles in Star wars, Blade runner - I think it does.

    Good point. Didn't take that into account.

    --

    I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
  27. Re:Headline is wrong by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    Harrison Ford's plane didn't crash. HE crashed it!

    The two are not mutually exclusive. His plane did crash. He crashed it.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  28. What a hunk of junk! by Drewdad · · Score: 1

    He's braver than we thought.

  29. Too Valuable by XB-70 · · Score: 1

    Fossils shouldn't fly fossils.

    --
    *** Don't be dull.***
  30. There's your problem by Bitbeard · · Score: 1

    Clearly Chewbacca was not at the helm.

  31. Re:looked more like a rough off airport landing by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

    Here we go again... some one makes an off airport landing and all you hear is CRASH CRASH CRASH! I've seen a picture of the airplane on the golf course and it looks like a rough landing but it was a landing he walked away from!

    This is the exact definition of a crash landing.

  32. Doctor Jones get up now by twosat · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...