Ground 2 airplanes 0 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Eight private planes took off from Van Nuys airport to fly in formation up to have lunch near Pismo Beach on California's central coast.
Along the way they were playing follow the leader. Apparently, the leader must have thought he was flying a high performance jet fighter that can pull major G's and fly straight up if need be.
Flying nap of the earth, the lead pilot Mr. Arpad Bottlo lead his three plane flight into a box canyon.
Quoting from the LA Times 7/2
Barry Schiff, a retired Trans World Airlines pilot and air safety consultant, said the lead pilot may have made a fundamental error. "One of the first things you're taught is that you never fly up a canyon if you can't see your way out," Schiff said. "If the walls narrow down or it turns out to be a box canyon, there's no way out of there."
Duh.
Further quote
"The three small planes were flying in tight formation Sunday, with veteran lead pilot Arpad Bottlo heading up a narrow canyon, when a pilot behind them realized they were in trouble.
"Can you make it out?" the trailing pilot radioed Bottlo.
"I don't think so," Bottlo replied. Seconds later, Bottlo's plane crashed into the steep wall at the end of the canyon, killing him and his two passengers, Jesus Lizarraga and Robert Maddux. A moment later, a second plane a few feet behind Bottlo's crashed into the same canyon wall, killing the pilot, Steve Herman, and his two passengers, Les and Gloria Stobbe.
[end quotes from LA Times]
Pictures in the 7/1 article show the almost vertical wall at the end of the canyon that both planes hit. It appears that the impact was not even near the top.
In the ongoing battle between aluminum tubes going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero, the ground has yet to lose. Submitted on 07/03/2002
Submitted by:
Richard Ewald
Reference:
LA Times 7/1 and 7/2
Copyright © 2002 DarwinAwards.com
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