JamesNoBrakes

Surprised no one has posted this yet:

Crews continue S.F. Bay search for pilot in mid-air collision

The guy in the Sea Fury went all the way back to Ione (that's nowhere near the Bay Area for those who are not familiar with California).

Aviator89

Where exactly did it go down? Was it actually in the bay? The aritcle says it was the bay, but no specifics as to where in the bay it went down. Because if it was off the shore a little ways its probably 10,000 feet down by now...

Edit: nevermind, it said san pablo bay. My bad.

Yoda2

The story makes it sound like he went a great distance after the accident, continuing to his home field; not really that big a deal considering the Sea Fury. So far this is a strange deal though. We should know more in the next few days. These guys are very experienced aviators and all around good guys, and have grown up with airplanes since they were little kids. This is very sad. I knew their dad, Frank; even helped him do some structural repairs on one of his Sea Furys many years ago... Frank flew those Sea Furys like he was wearing them and he only had one eye...

JamesNoBrakes

I'd think that would be a big deal IF he knew that he had a mid-air. There are countless places equipped for emergencies to land at along the way. Ione is way up in the middle of nowhere relatively, with few services, about 10x farther than any other reasonable option. Concord comes to mind for one, but Oakland, Napa, Rio Vista, and countless others come to mind, again, IF he knew he hit another plane. The least any reasonable pilot would want to do is land as soon as practical to check for damage. I realize it's totally possible for a pilot to not realize there was a collision though.

JamesNoBrakes

Supposedly San Pablo Bay, close to the Richmond bridge. Not super deep, but massive currents.

Yoda2

James, The airport he went to was not only his home base but also where his shop is. The shop has tremendous capability, including major repairs and then some. They can build a brand new Sea Fury, or just about anything else, from a Data Plate... Additionally if he did know he had a midair there could be other factors such as he might have been too rattled to land the plane right away, doubtful but possible. The other pilot might have figured he was a goner and told the Sea Fury to just go home. The Sea Fury is a 400+ MPH airplane and is also made to take a licking and keep on ticking. Most of the remainder of the trip was over sparsely populated area and both occupants were likely wearing parachutes. There are just too many questions right now to give it much brain grease. Obviously somebody screwed up somewhere, though the Sea Fury pilot was quite capable of making a good decision, and knows more about maintaining, repairing, rebuilding and flying airplanes than either of us will likely ever know; so I will side with him, at least for the time being.

RhinoPherret

I agree with you James.

Something does not feel quite right here about the Sea Fury continuing on that distance after a mid-air, regardless of some of the reasons mentioned in this thread. And, I certainly would not be taking sides already in this tragic accident as some others have mentioned.

brianb

Really? The only Pilots who who didn't realize that they had a mid-air collision are dead Pilot's. Capeesh?

wrxpilot

We heard the emergency just seconds after it happened. The Sea Fury pilot knew exactly what happened.

savall

Why the hell didn't he land immediately ?! He was on the radio within seconds ?! He still opted to go to his field. I sure hope someone was there ready to draw blood.