DoNoHarm

He was projected to be the #1 pilot on the list for the last few years of his career. He had a great career in front of him, including being the senior pilot for a long time. The title is just pointing that out.

Sympathies to his family and friends.

01pewterz28

Sounds about right if I recall Ramin Pourteymour was the youngest pilot we had he was 23 as a FO on the 737 in 89.

Still taking nothing from the tragic loss of these United Airlines family members prayers to the family of both just tragic.

Monkeyfly

Sad to hear this. Sympathy to family and friends.
We lost a another UA pilot in Telluride 5 years ago.

SoFloFlyer

My heart goes out to the families affected. Seemed like a real nice guy.

Anyone know what might have happened?

Airhoss

From the pictures of the accident site, it looks like they impacted at a steep nose down angle. The left wing appears to show rotational damage along with some rotational force damage on the left elevon. There was no post impact fire.

The airplane came to rest in a high altitude draw above tree line. It appears that they were in a spin when they hit the ground. For what reason I don’t know.

Maybe an engine failure and attempted turn around, possibly a steep turn to look at something? The crash site is at very high altitude and performance on their Bonanza would have been extremely limited.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.woo...ane-crash/amp/

LifeNtheFstLne

Your assessment is quite good. I know their plan was to overfly their friend’s house that they had been visiting. Whether that had occurred at that point (steep turn?) or not remains to be determined. He was a good friend, and I’ll miss him and his tireless efforts to make this a better place to be.

EWRflyr

You took a lot of the words right out of my mouth. Costas was a close friend of mine and I was devastated getting the call on Monday night. He was a beacon of light and positivity in this world that is now extinguished. We did ALPA work together and I spoke many times at Embry-Riddle's ACE Club because he got me involved in the Education Committee while he was the Riddle coordinator for ALPA. The ease at which Costas could speak on a variety of subjects, from flying to educational-airline pathways to the threat of ME3, in front of large groups of people was impressive to see.

Beyond our work in ALPA, he and I became very close friends. The first to congratulate me on my captain bid award to supporting me during a couple of difficult times a few years ago. This was a man who I never saw in a bad mood or even a neutral mood; he was always that positive about life. We spent a few times riding around Spruce Creek Fly-In in his many year old golf cart (Costas you have to replace this thing. It's like an early Model-T or something. "But, it came with the house when the lady sold it to me and it still runs!") and going to the Downwind Restaurant for some beverages and hang out.

I, too, hadn't seen him in person since an ALPA National meeting last October, but we stayed in touch through this pandemic. I know he was in danger of furlough and hadn't flown since February, but he and Lindsey lived their lives to the fullest over the past few months and pictures he sent showed the love between these two. I was happy to hear he had proposed and intended to marry. We had talked of getting together either later this year or sometime in the spring when life seemed to get back to more normalcy. Costas said I'll take you up in the plane to remember your roots.

I was able to talk with his mother on the phone the other day. She was holding up surprisingly well and said she was sustained by all his friends and colleagues calling to share stories. I reminded her we had met in the EWR airport one evening when Costas was bringing her along on one of his trips in Europe. She was so proud and he was so excited for that chance. She said United and ALPA have been wonderful in their support.

Costas was a valued ALPA volunteer having been twice appointed the ALPA National Education Committee Chairman coordinating university outreach and overseeing 600+ pilot volunteers who visited aviation colleges to engage students on behalf of ALPA and the profession.

I don't think words can truly capture the impact Costas had on so many and me personally. He was the most accepting, warm, caring and generous individual I think I have ever met in my life. This loss hurts especially because he and Lindsay are so young. United, ALPA and the world as a whole have truly lost a remarkable human being.

cadetdrivr

FWIW, I know of at least one pilot hired at mainline in '90 at age 21.

Seneca Pilot

Sad accident. 9000 ft. airport 1pm and temps in the mid seventies. Turbo would be required equipment for me.

CousinEddie

It looks like he had approach flaps selected. An attempt to tighten the turn radius to avoid terrain impact possibly?