Aircraft down.
Today is a very sad day. I just found out that 2 lives have been lost during an approach in Mexico. They were flying an Ameristar Lear 24 into Guadalajara, Mexico. I knew both of the pilots and knew the Captain well. He was one of my favorite Captains to fly with. Both men will be sorely missed by their friends and loved ones left behind. Both men leave behind wives and children who will miss them the most.
This is the first time in my career that I've known someone that has perished on the job. Our profession is not easy. Especially the type of flying we do at our company. We fly poorly equipped, very high performance jets into unknown airports, in mountainous terrain, in bad weather, in the dead of night. It just does not get any tougher than that unless you are being shot at. I take pride in the fact that not all pilots are cut out to do this type of flying. It is hard.
My eyes have opened a little bit to see that it is also dangerous. There is a tremendous amount of risk in doing what we do. People that have office jobs or jobs sitting behind a desk have virtually zero risk in their work environment. Pilots are sitting in the front of heavy tubes of aluminum, screaming through the atmosphere at speeds god never intended our frail human bodies to endure. At 45,000ft above the earth, we are flying at 80% the speed of sound in an environment that would render us unconscious in 8 seconds and dead in less than 60 seconds with out pressurized oxygen being forced into our lungs. And this is just during cruise. During take off and landing we are flying that same heavy tube of aluminum at speeds over 150 m.p.h in very close proximity to terra firma which is unforgiving to say the least. This profession of mine is filled with risk.
With the risk comes reward. I cant think of doing anything else with my life other than flying. Even if I won the lottery and never had to worry about money again, I'd still fly. I'd start my own non-profit air ambulance service and continue to "fly for a living".
Godspeed to Dan Hughes and Terry Patty, I am going to miss both of you. Blue skies and tailwinds fellas.
This is the first time in my career that I've known someone that has perished on the job. Our profession is not easy. Especially the type of flying we do at our company. We fly poorly equipped, very high performance jets into unknown airports, in mountainous terrain, in bad weather, in the dead of night. It just does not get any tougher than that unless you are being shot at. I take pride in the fact that not all pilots are cut out to do this type of flying. It is hard.
My eyes have opened a little bit to see that it is also dangerous. There is a tremendous amount of risk in doing what we do. People that have office jobs or jobs sitting behind a desk have virtually zero risk in their work environment. Pilots are sitting in the front of heavy tubes of aluminum, screaming through the atmosphere at speeds god never intended our frail human bodies to endure. At 45,000ft above the earth, we are flying at 80% the speed of sound in an environment that would render us unconscious in 8 seconds and dead in less than 60 seconds with out pressurized oxygen being forced into our lungs. And this is just during cruise. During take off and landing we are flying that same heavy tube of aluminum at speeds over 150 m.p.h in very close proximity to terra firma which is unforgiving to say the least. This profession of mine is filled with risk.
With the risk comes reward. I cant think of doing anything else with my life other than flying. Even if I won the lottery and never had to worry about money again, I'd still fly. I'd start my own non-profit air ambulance service and continue to "fly for a living".
Godspeed to Dan Hughes and Terry Patty, I am going to miss both of you. Blue skies and tailwinds fellas.
posted by Windsor at 3:01 PM
3 Comments:
Dan was a great friend and an excellent aviator. I've never had so much fun or felt as safe with any other pilot. God Bless.
Terry was my cousin. Thank you for your thoughts and support for him and his family.
A former Ameristar pilot has started a fund for both of the pilots families. I'll post the info from Danny when I get it.
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