ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Authorities were searching early Thursday for a small plane registered to a famed test pilot that vanished from radar on Wednesday on a flight from Prattville, Alabama, to Manassas, Virginia.
At 84 years old, I suspect that he wanted to go out the way he lived, perhaps intentionally.
Could be. We had an old gent drown at the lake the other day. He was seen removing his life vest moments before hitting the water. Could be coincidental or the movement of tussling with the vest may have even caused him to spill over.
Who knows. I know I have some ideas on how I want to go out and none of them involve a retirement home.
WmB
Haven't heard anything recent--the wires are clogged with news of TomKat's baby. It's getting to the point that a news story is the final indignity to an otherwise useful, well-lived life. Far more dignity in a simple announcement than the bathos which surrounds the passing of anyone deemed a celebrity.
Crossfield's death has been confirmed.
WmB
May he soar with the angels and touch the face of God....
He did that years ago : ) Now he just doesn't need to stop.
I know a LOT of test pilots, and this is about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard said about one.
It's a good his last 60 years have been "velvet", as they used to say--or playing with the casino's money.
I don't think anyone seriously thinks he intended to go out and do an auger job in the GA countryside - just that he might have accepted the increased risks in flying at his advanced age and said the heck with it, this is what I love to do and if the ground does rise up and bite me some day there are worse ways to go.
Idle speculation of course, but not unreasonably so.
WmB
Actually, from what I know of test pilots it's VERY unreasonable. Their whole lives are about the evaluation of risk, coupled with a pretty strong love of the machine. They may risk their lives, but I've very seldom (if ever) seen one risk an aircraft if they were aware there was any alternative to doing so.
Not to mention their tendancy to rise to a challenge. Someone of Mr. Crossfield's stripe would most certainly have met any health problem as just one more challenge to be overcome. Any speculation to the contrary is an insult not only to his accomplishments, but to his memory.
--snippage--
I find the insinuation/speculation that he may have committed suicide (more or less) to be mildly offensive. If I were a family member of his who read this, I'd be extremely offended. How 'bout celebrating his accomplishments instead...
Think about this stuff huh?
--- Tontoni
Whatever.
WmB
If he had any serious health problems, it would be surprising that he still had a pilot's license. My father-in-law lost his solo pilot's license for a medical problem when he was 75 years old. He could never fly alone without a licensed co-pilot with him. It was devastating for him.
Good point.
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