Fatality - Non-Skydiving - Scott Tezak killed in plane accident in Spring Hill Fl 5/7/11

[crwslut 0]

Although I don't know him, the picture of him in the article shows him in a Wings rig, so I assume that he was a skydiver.
http://www2.tbo.com/news/news/2011/may/07/6/pilot-killed-in-plane-crash-near-spring-hill-ar-205691/

"BROOKSVILLE --
Someone outside the bar heard a sputtering sound followed by a crash.
He ran inside to tell everyone. A group of them stood in the parking lot and watched the black smoke rise higher into the sky.
Bob Villari immediately hopped into his vehicle and drove north along Anderson Snow Road. He parked as close as he could to the crash site.
A Hernando County Sheriff's deputy arrived almost simultaneously. Both he and Villari walked into the woods about 50 feet. The grass was on fire, he said.
The smell of fuel was palpable. Both men could see the red and white fuselage. An explosion followed.
"I felt the heat," said Villari. "It was a big pop … The flames shot up in the air."
Both men walked backward. Moments later they heard a second explosion.
Deputies eventually sealed off the area and told the arriving spectators to go somewhere else, Villari said.
The pilot, Scott T. Tezak, of Minooka, Ill., was killed, deputies said.
His 2010 Czech, Piper Sport single-engine aircraft crashed within a mile of the Suncoast Parkway north of County Line Road, according to the sheriff's office. The plane went down shortly before 11:30 p.m. Friday.
Villari was with his girlfriend, singer Rusty Vitagliano, who had just finished her set at the nearby Spring Hill VFW Post 10209.
Vitagliano's performing partner was outside loading equipment into a van when he heard the aircraft falling from the sky, Vitagliano said. Based on the sounds and the way the aircraft was falling, he assumed it was a helicopter.
"We all went outside, looked up at the sky and saw the black smoke," she said.
The sky was dark, but they could see the smoke because of the reflection from the lights along the highway and nearby park.
Someone later noticed piles of debris along the front lawn of the VFW building. Vitagliano said she saw a large plastic bag filled with the pilot's personal belongings – a change of clothes, a pillow, a pair of shoes, etc.
A flight pattern booklet also was found near the bag, she said.
Villari, who by that time had driven to the scene of the accident, called his girlfriend on his cell phone. She told him what she found.
More deputies arrived and put up a strip of yellow tape around the area of the VFW building. They collected the bag and all of its contents.
"We kind of figured he had jumped out," Vitagliano said of the pilot. "It looked like he had tossed out all of his things before he jumped."
Hernando County Commissioner Dave Russell, who flies planes in and out of the nearby Hernando County Airport, said he drove as close to the scene as he could Saturday morning.
He said he spoke to at least one deputy, who told him the body of the pilot was discovered roughly three quarters of a mile from where the plane crashed.
Sgt. Donna Black, a sheriff's spokeswoman, sent a media release Saturday afternoon confirming Tezak's body was discovered in the road in the 2200 block of nearby Fairview Road.
"The pilot actually landed on his feet," said Russell. "It's obvious it was an intentional bail-out."
Other clues at or near the accident site also indicated the aircraft had malfunctioned.
There was a strip of debris leading up to where the plane had crashed, said Russell.
"It almost looked like it came apart in flight," he said.
Black said the 24-year-old pilot had flown Friday night to Fort Myers. A couple hours later, he took flight again so he could return home.
The plane was in a "flat spin" and apparently had lost a wing before it went down, said Russell.
Deputies and Hernando County firefighters had most of Anderson Snow Road blocked Saturday morning and afternoon.
Traffic was redirected north along Spring Hill Drive and south near Edward Noll Drive.
Deputies were driving to and from the crash site using all-terrain vehicles throughout the morning. None agreed to speak to the media.
Black said her agency was maintaining the scene and referred all additional questions to the National Transportation Safety Board. She also said the Federal Aviation Administration also was assisting in the investigation.
A message left with an NTSB spokesman in Washington D.C. was not immediately returned Saturday."

What could possibly go wrong?

[mjosparky 4]

http://www2.tbo.com/news/news/2011/may/07/6/pilot-killed-in-plane-crash-near-spring-hill-ar-205691/

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[hcsvader 1]

Wonder if he was wearing a bailout rig.

Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

[r.panfil 0]

Scott wasn't wearing a bailout rig.

If its called free fall then why the hell is it so expensive?

[hcsvader 1]

Any idea's on how he ended up 3/4 of a mile from the wreckage? Was the structural failure of the plane in flight that bad that he was ejected or (ya I guess only he knows) did he opt to bail out knowing he was done anyway.

Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

[tkhayes 348]

from the local news and articles, it sounds like the plane came apart in flight. That's probably all you are going to find out until NTSB finished the investigation, probably a year or more. He was apparently ferrying the plane from FL to IL

[smartalecc5 0]

Omg, a flat spin. That would be a nightmare. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvbS-oHi9ro is a video of one. You can see how incredible disorienting and dangerous a flat spin is.

[mjosparky 4]

Quote

Omg, a flat spin. That would be a nightmare. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvbS-oHi9ro is a video of one. You can see how incredible disorienting and dangerous a flat spin is.

I am sure you are right. Art Scholl died doning a flat spin for the movie Top Gun and he was about the best their was.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[pchapman 279]

A maneuver looking like a flat spin is more likely to have been a consequence of a breakup than the initiator of a breakup. Such a spin has relatively low stresses on the aircraft.