Pilot Crashes Into Ex-In-Law's House

[warpedskydiver 0]

Pilot Crashes Into Ex-In-Law's House
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 11:35 AM EST
The Associated Press
By TOM DAVIES

BEDFORD, Ind. (AP) — Federal and state investigators were trying to determine Tuesday why a man took his 8-year-old daughter up in a small plane and then crashed it into his former mother-in-law's home, killing the little girl and himself.

Eric Johnson strapped daughter Emily into the passenger seat of a leased, single-engine Cessna on Monday and took off from Virgil I. Grissom Municipal Airport, police said. Moments later, the aircraft slammed into the side of Vivian Pace's house in this southern Indiana city.

Bedford police were treating the criminal investigation as a suicide and homicide, State Police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten said. No note of explanation had yet been found, Bursten said.

"It is just gut-wrenching to think about what was happening to that child just prior to the crash," he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigation could take up to a year.

Emily didn't go to school Monday, and her mother, Beth Johnson, arrived at Bedford police headquarters about 11:30 a.m. to say she believed her ex-husband had abducted the girl, Bursten said.

By then, investigators already were examining the wreckage of the plane crash at Pace's home in Bedford, about 20 miles south of Bloomington.

Bursten said Tuesday that police understood the father and daughter had been on a trip. He said Beth Johnson gave specific information about an alleged abduction, but he declined to release details.

"All of those things together lead us in the direction that this was done intentionally," he said Tuesday.

Before the pilot was identified, Pace told The Times-Mail newspaper that she was in the living room when the plane struck the side of her one-story home. She said everything fell off the walls. Pace wasn't injured, and the crash into a side wall did not start a fire.

Bursten said eyewitness accounts of the plane's movements just before the crash led police to suspect the crash was deliberate, as did the relationships involved.

"I thought he would do something to get back at Beth," Pace said. "He was a very possessive person. He got what he wanted."

At Parkview Primary School in Bedford, where Emily was a first-grader, counselors were called in to help the students, Principal Sari Wood said Tuesday.

"We're all grieving over this," Wood said. She described Emily as a "dear little girl" who "got a kick out of things and enjoyed life."

"She just was one of those really friendly, really open little kids," Wood said.

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I am speechless

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[StreetScooby 5]

May the bastard burn in hell.

We are all engines of karma

[quade 4]

I'm not convinced simply by the coincidence that this was intentional, in fact, simply based on the facts provided, I tend to think otherwise.

Lemme explain.

This sort of thing happens far more frequently than most people realize.

There is a tendancy for pilots to demonstrate their flying to both passengers and people on the ground by overflying relative's houses or farms or whatever. Pilots doing this can easily lose a sense of what they're really supposed to be doing which is flying the damn airplane.

So lemme give you a scenario of how this all too frequently happens.

Pilot decides to take passenger sight seeing.
Passenger asks to fly over house.
Pilot wants to give a "good show", so flys a little lower and turns maybe a little tighter than he probably should.
G forces in turn cause stall speed to go up.
Pilot spins into ground near object or possibly even crashes into object.

This -does- happen.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[willard 0]

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I'm not convinced simply by the coincidence that this was intentional, in fact, simply based on the facts provided, I tend to think otherwise.

Lemme explain.

This sort of thing happens far more frequently than most people realize.

There is a tendancy for pilots to demonstrate their flying to both passengers and people on the ground by overflying relative's houses or farms or whatever. Pilots doing this can easily lose a sense of what they're really supposed to be doing which is flying the damn airplane.

So lemme give you a scenario of how this all too frequently happens.

Pilot decides to take passenger sight seeing.
Passenger asks to fly over house.
Pilot wants to give a "good show", so flys a little lower and turns maybe a little tighter than he probably should.
G forces in turn cause stall speed to go up.
Pilot spins into ground near object or possibly even crashes into object.

This -does- happen.

The same thought crossed my mind. During my pilot training it was drilled into our heads to look out the FRONT of the aircraft, not the side. By fixating on something out the side windows the pilot does exactly what you described. I'd add that it is normal to reduce airspeed while sight-seeing, making the situation worse. There is a saying that a low-time pilot taking pictures while flying usually gets a real good photo of his crash site.

I think the investigators have their hands full on this one unless something turns up to prove intent, such as a suicide note, etc.

[kallend 2,148]

From AOPA Air Safety Foundation

Flying low over a friend’s house to show off your
outstanding piloting skills is never a good idea.
Momentary lapses in judgment have proven fatal for
many pilots. Buzzing accidents account for one-third of
all maneuvering accidents, and are entirely preventable.
During the last ten years, buzzing accidents accounted
for 914 of 2,865, or 32 percent, of maneuvering
accidents. At altitudes below 1,000 agl, no amount of
skill will allow recovery from a spin, so prevention
means not engaging in such stunts in the first place.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

That thought crossed my mind as well. But the mother didn't know where the child was and she wasn't in school where she is supposed to be. Alot of key details missing here: Why did they seperate/divorce....what were the custody agreements, etc

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[rehmwa 2]

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This -does- happen.

nonsense, you're just trying to protect this Republican, good-ol-boy, network private pilot

there were two of them, it was a conspiracy

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[willard 0]

Quote

Quote

This -does- happen.

nonsense, you're just trying to protect this Republican, good-ol-boy, network private pilot

there were two of them, it was a conspiracy

But everyone knows small single engine airplanes are left-leaning liberals, that is proven by needing right rudder on take-off.

[warpedskydiver 0]

hmmm Mid Air Collision with Al Frankens Flying Saucer?


Where was he the very second this occurred?

I bet he has no alibi.

[Andy9o8 2]

It's confusing.
If the child hadn't been in the plane, his action would have been entirely reasonable.

[vortexring 0]

Regards to everyone who's thoughts considered the factor of pilot thinking, 'Look at me!!!!!.'

That's pretty enlightened taking into regard the assumption the staters aren't pilots.

Or is a bit of knowledge of low hooking motivation coming into it here?

Anyway, as the man said, enough about aviation, lets talk about meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

And sleep.........................................

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[vortexring 0]

Anyway - if it was my mother-in-law I'd at least drop a MOAB on her melon prior to stoofing myself in.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[DaVinci 0]

While I understand your view...These statements make me think something else.

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Emily didn't go to school Monday, and her mother, Beth Johnson, arrived at Bedford police headquarters about 11:30 a.m. to say she believed her ex-husband had abducted the girl, Bursten said.

By then, investigators already were examining the wreckage of the plane crash at Pace's home in Bedford, about 20 miles south of Bloomington.

I agree that many pilots stuff it in trying to show off. But it seems this may not be the case here.

[cloudseeker2001 0]

But everyone knows small single engine airplanes are left-leaning liberals, that is proven by needing right rudder on take-off.

[willard 0]

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But everyone knows small single engine airplanes are left-leaning liberals, that is proven by needing right rudder on take-off.

OMG this is the funniest thing I have read in recent memory!!!!!!!!! I am about to start pilot school and this really cracks me up!

It is terrible what this person did to his child, himself and family.........

[Misternatural 0]

>But everyone knows small single engine airplanes are left-leaning liberals, that is proven by needing right rudder on take-off.
yes, and;
I agree with Rem. its a conspiracy,

Microsofts flight 2000 sim is to blame (Bill Gates AND Warren Buffet AND Bill O' Reilly are in on it)
Every time i try to take off in the Piper cub (a leftist pinko airbuggy for leaf peepers) it gets all squirrely with the left turning tendency and i can hardly keep it on the centerline - BUT when I fly the Corsair (a real stars and stripes make your momma proud warbird) and push the throttle- you betcha that baby flies true! by th' Jeeezus.

Seriously, I have friends buzz my house all the time as I live near an airport...they do get damn close sometimes AND I have been in the plane with them when they do crazy shit SO it is possible he was showboating- or scaring the shit out of his inlaws....it only takes one small fuckup, and Bang!..yer an FAA statistic.

Beware of the collateralizing and monetization of your desires.
D S #3.1415