John Lewis, Calif Parachute Club jump pilot 1973

[377 22]

Still think about that accident and wonder if the NTSB might have it wrong. John was a great guy and seemingly too good a pilot to have tried a snap roll at less than 30 feet of altitude without a seatbelt. I jumped from his plane, landed and saw it happen just a few hundred feet away after he buzzed us. RIP and blue skies forever John.


NTSB Identification: OAK73AP029
14 CFR Part 91 General Aviation
Event occurred Friday, March 23, 1973 in LIVERMORE, CA
Aircraft: CESSNA 180A, registration: N7869A

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FILE DATE LOCATION AIRCRAFT DATA INJURIES FLIGHT PILOT DATA
F S M/N PURPOSE
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3-0452 73/3/23 LIVERMORE,CALIF CESSNA 180A CR- 1 0 0 MISCELLANEOUS COMMERCIAL, AGE 50, 4803
TIME - 1747 N7869A PX- 0 0 0 PARAJUMP-SPORT TOTAL HOURS, 4 IN TYPE,
DAMAGE-DESTROYED OT- 0 0 0 NOT INSTRUMENT RATED.
NAME OF AIRPORT - LIVERMORE
DEPARTURE POINT INTENDED DESTINATION
LIVERMORE,CALIF NAPA,CALIF
TYPE OF ACCIDENT PHASE OF OPERATION
COLLISION WITH GROUND/WATER: UNCONTROLLED IN FLIGHT: ACROBATICS
PROBABLE CAUSE(S)
PILOT IN COMMAND - EXERCISED POOR JUDGMENT
PILOT IN COMMAND - IMPROPER OPERATION OF FLIGHT CONTROLS
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS - UNWARRANTED LOW FLYING
FACTOR(S)
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS - SEAT BELT NOT FASTENED
REMARKS- FOLLOWED PARACHUTISTS TO GRND,BUZZED DROP ZONE,THEN LOST CTL IN LOW ALT AEROBATIC MANEUVER.

Index for Mar1973 | Index of months

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[zoobrothertom 5]

Hey Mark,

Do you think the FAA too quick to assign pilot error because they found no other evidence? ~30 ft. snap roll without a haress/belt is a little odd.

Tom

____________________________________
I'm back in the USA!!

[diverdriver 5]

Quote

Hey Mark,

Do you think the FAA too quick to assign pilot error because they found no other evidence? ~30 ft. snap roll without a haress/belt is a little odd.

Tom

Did he normally not wear a seat belt?

Chris Schindler
www.diverdriver.com
ATP/D-19012
FB #4125

[377 22]

I don't know whether he normally wore a belt. What seemed odd is how incredibly fast the roll rate was. He buzzed us at a speed far higher than I have ever seen a Cessna 180 fly, really low, and then snap rolled into the ground. The wingtip just barely cleared the ground in the first 90 degrees of roll. Seemed too crazy to be intentional. The roll rate looked more appropriate for a fighter than a Cessna. Could something have broken that would have caused what I saw?

2018 marks half a century as a skydiver. Trained by the late Perry Stevens D-51 in 1968.

[diverdriver 5]

Quote

I don't know whether he normally wore a belt. What seemed odd is how incredibly fast the roll rate was. He buzzed us at a speed far higher than I have ever seen a Cessna 180 fly, really low, and then snap rolled into the ground. The wingtip just barely cleared the ground in the first 90 degrees of roll. Seemed too crazy to be intentional. The roll rate looked more appropriate for a fighter than a Cessna. Could something have broken that would have caused what I saw?

Sure, a wing seperation in flight is one thing. All the plane has for lift is the other wing so it rolls rapidly because there is nothing opposing it on the other side of CG. But it sounds like there were plenty of eyewitnesses so a wing seperation is unlikely.

Flew through a dust devil? I dunno. You guys were there. Hard rudder input?

I feel like I'm in incidents forum so maybe not the best for this thread. Sad that this pilot died even if many years ago.

Chris Schindler
www.diverdriver.com
ATP/D-19012
FB #4125

[jimp 1]

I was thinking about Johnny Lewis just a while ago. A great guy, glad to know that he's still remembered fondly after all these years.

Jim P.

[Lucky... 0]

Quote

I don't know whether he normally wore a belt. What seemed odd is how incredibly fast the roll rate was. He buzzed us at a speed far higher than I have ever seen a Cessna 180 fly, really low, and then snap rolled into the ground. The wingtip just barely cleared the ground in the first 90 degrees of roll. Seemed too crazy to be intentional. The roll rate looked more appropriate for a fighter than a Cessna. Could something have broken that would have caused what I saw?

Remember, with high rate sof speed, the controls are etremely sensitive and reasctive. Not saying I have clue as to what happened here, but he may have over-inputted the aileron. How many really awesome skydivers make mistakes?

[leewilcox 0]

I made a number of jumps with John Lewis between 1970 and 1973 at the California Parachute Club DZ
in Livermore, CA, USA. We did some RW jumps over those years and I logged one jump with the comment that John was jumping a Parasled. I made one jump on a Parasled a year or so after John died, it was not my favorite canopy.

One night at the Straw Hat Pizza Parlor in Livermore, California, circa 1972, John Lewis told me of
his first skydive while we had pizza and beer:

John Lewis first skydive was from a B-29 Superfortress above 25,000 feet, side blister failed and he was sucked out of the aircraft. He had been asleep, he awakened in freefall, looking back at the
plane between his boots. He had the thought that he probably should not pull the ripcord for a
while, since he was at such a high altitude. He did a freefall for more than a minute, then pulled
the ripcord on the emergency chute. Don't remember what he said about the landing or where it occurred. I have this vague recollection that it was in the US.

I have never met anyone with a better first skydive story. I really loved jumping with John Lewis. He was such a great guy. I still miss him...

"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion" - Democritus