Message-ID: <310361C043D2D2118EA00008C74C376306423F@BACKOFFICE1>
From: John Petersen <JohnP@arlingtoninstitute.org>
To: "Fred Moreno (E-mail)" <fredmoreno@aol.com>, 
	"'lancair.list@olsusa.com'" <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Subject:  Substance AND style
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 09:34:24 -0400
Mime-Version: 1.0

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John L. Petersen, President
The Arlington Institute
1501 Lee Highway, Suite 204
Arlington, VA  22209
703-812-7900	Fax 703-812-0900
www.arlingtoninstitute.org   johnp@arlingtoninstitute.org

Want to learn more about Y2K:  Check out
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/rhomer/social.html

	> ARROGANCE AND AIRPLANES
	 > by JD Wetterling.
	 >
	 > He was handsome, seemed pleasantly modest on TV and was
considered a
	 > nice guy by mutual friends, yet young John Kennedy's ego led
to the
	 > needless death of him and his family.  Arrogance plus
airplane minus
	 > caution equals foregone conclusion.  In spite of advances in
safety
and
	 > avionics, the machine is still mercilessly unforgiving of
foolhardy
	 > pilots who venture outside the envelope of their own
limitations.
	 > Shakespeare's dictum, to know thyself, is still literally a
matter of
	 > life and death in an airplane.
	 >
	 > I think I am qualified to speak on this issue.  I was a
single seat
jet
	 > fighter pilot in the USAF and I flew in combat on some of the
inkiest
	 > nights in Southeast Asia, not knowing up from down aside from
the
visual
	 > information provided by some dimly glowing instruments.  I
have
	 > hyperventilated with fear and vertigo and multicolored
tracers in my
	 > face.  And I suspect that some of my friends died for the
same reason
	 > Kennedy did.  By the grace of God I did not.  But a flight to
Martha's
	 > Vineyard is not combat and the mission was unessential and
for a
rookie
	 > pilot the decision should have been a no-brainer.
	 >
	 > In my civilian life I have lost count of the wealthy people
I've known
	 > who bought expensive airplanes because they could and flew
off into
	 > weather conditions beyond their capabilities, only to crash
and die.
	 > The same personality that makes a successful businessman can
lead to
	 > death in an airplane.  Or, perhaps more relevant to the
current case,
	 > people who are treated like gods start believing they are,
throwing
the
	 > caution of mere mortals to the winds.  As we used to say in
my fighter
	 > squadron, an elite culture not ordinarily given to
humility,"There are
	 > old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old,
bold
pilots."
	 >
	 > It is far from uncommon, when flying in conditions with no
external
	 > visual references to three dimensions, as on a dark hazy
night, to
have
	 > the eyes reading the instruments, telling you that the plane
is right
	 > side up and every other sense telling you the opposite.  It's
called
	 > vertigo.  I have flown final approach to land in a fighter in
nasty
	 > weather conditions feeling like I was hanging upside down in
the
	 > harness.  Only clenched teeth and a cast-iron
self-discipline, born of
	 > intense training, assured a landing with the wheels on the
bottom
side.
	 >
	 > Even civilian student pilots are taught how to recover the
airplane
from
	 > "unusual attitudes" strictly by use of the airplane
instruments.  It's
	 > training for just such an occurrence as Kennedy probably
experienced.
	 > As such it's a critical item on the final check ride for a
private
pilot
	 > license, but there you know it's coming, the senses are
prepared to be
	 > fooled and you have the instructor to save you from yourself.
Flying
in
	 > the real, dark night world it sneaks up on you.  You can
tumble the
	 > gyros in your inner ear by simply turning your head abruptly
to talk
to
	 > someone else in the cockpit, or by looking down in your lap
to read a
	 > map.  With no backup beyond your own capabilities, the stress
factor
can
	 > overpower the mind.
	 >
	 > I knew a prosperous doctor who experienced what John probably
did, but
	 > he survived a wiser, humbled, truly blessed man.  He parked
the plane,
	 > walked into the airport operations office, threw the keys on
the
counter
	 > and said with a quavering voice, "Sell it" I suspect that if
John had
	 > survived he would have done something similar. The terror of
the last
	 > several seconds of life for the three souls in that cockpit
had to be
	 > too horrible to contemplate.
	 >
	 > My heart bleeds for the families.  Untimely death is always
the most
	 > tragic of catastrophes. Untimely, senseless death,
self-inflicted by a
	 > foolish decision, is an enormous lifetime burden for friends
and
family
	 >who survive.  To take innocent loved ones with you borders on
	 > unforgivable.
	 >
	 > A nice guy made a ghastly mistake in judgment and paid for it
with his
	 > life and the lives of his family.  Now Kennedy's
beatification by a
	 > celebrity-crazed press is winding down, but the legal battles
have
most
	 > likely only begun.  Look for lawsuits against the instructor,
the
	 >airplane manufacturer and maybe even between in-laws.  That's
the
	 > American way of dealing with blame in this Golden Age of
Exoneration.
	 > And win, lose or draw, one man's failure becomes another
man's
fortune.
	 > May God have mercy on us all.>>
		 > >>
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