Most 'boy racers' tend to buy a fast, powerful car, customise it, and show off their skill at high speed manouvers to any traffic which might be passing. After all, that's the whole point - to show off.

But what if you are flying a small plane, and suddenly get the urge to show off? I mean, you're way too high for anyone to see you unless you're flying a cropduster or something, and I don't know many boy racers who think the flying equivelent of a tractor is cool. Most people don't bother showing off in the air, and those that do get a hell of a lot of training, join the air force for a few years, and then join the Red Arrows or some similar outfit.

So it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that one high-flying (excuse the pun) student pilot felt that logging 31.7 flight hours somehow qualified him as a low altitude stunt pilot. Also, just 17.9 of these were in his chosen aircraft, a Starduster Too, which is a small two-seater biplane. Despite his inexpierience, he chose to fly solo.

Many people saw the plane as he had intended, and several of them reported the incident to the police, not as intended. Even one policeman reported watching the plane perform low altitude loops and barrel rolls. Another witness said he saw the aircraft fly past at 150 feet above the ground, just 100 feet above the treetops. It proceded to perform five tight, high-speed turns, before disapearing again.

But our young hero seemed to have forgotten two basic and well-known laws of physics - one stating what can go wrong usually will, and one stating that what goes up must come down. Mid-flight, the new stunt pilot decided that it was a good idea to try and retune his handheld radio (you can see where this is going). What happened next is best described in the words of the pilot from his hospital bed: "With terrain rising... and [me] trying to change radio stations, before I knew it, I was in the trees. I guess while tuning the radio I must have pushed slightly down on the control stick."

Having succeded in pushing down the control, thus ditching the allready low plane, it was inevitable that he hit the trees below, traveling at about 100 MPH as he did so. What was not inevitable, but sadly true, was that he survived the crash, although he sustained extensive injuries.

The would-be stuntman is, however, grateful to be alive, so we can only hope that he has learned his lesson, and that he will try to avoid the cockpits of 50-seater jets...

Submitted on 05/19/2006

Submitted by: Iain Macdonald
Reference: NTSB Accident Report

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
You've taken it upon yourself to peruse the entirety of the NTSB's records, eh, Iain! :-) Having about 200+_ hours in a plane myself, I can certainly agree that a mere 31 hours is hardly enough to qualify one to barnstorm (it takes 14 hrs MINIMUM just to be able to fly solo)! Changing the radio in straight/level flight is one thing, but what he did was stupid. All in all, I think this can squeak by as an HM!

Jorge said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention

Greg said:
Definitely Keep: Honorable Mention
I wouldn't say "sadly" he didn't die... I'm glad for him and his family he didn't! But this is definitely a HM for me. Adjusting the radio. Love it! ;-)

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