Co-pilot plunges from small plane

[TXflyer]

You all are pretty pathetic. Some dude bails out of a Cessna and y'all make jokes. That's sad.

What do you call a PPL student at 9000 feet? Pancake batter!!!

 

[whereamI]

This poor SOB is dead, and all I can do is roll around on the floor laughing. I'm a horrible person!

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (AP) -- A man who plunged 9,000 feet from a small plane as it made a steep bank had apparently jumped, authorities said Monday. Russell Filler, 47, the plane's co-pilot, turned the controls of the single-engine Cessna 152 over to his flight instructor Sunday afternoon, then asked him to turn the plane sharply so he could get a better look at the ground, Waller County Sheriff Randy Smith said.
Smith said Filler then opened the cockpit door and unfastened his seat belt as the plane flew over a rural area about 45 miles northwest of Houston.
"The instructor had looked away for a moment, then heard a noise and looked back to see the guy's feet disappearing out the door," Smith said.
Filler's body had not been found Monday and there was no indication he had a parachute, said Lt. John Kremmer of the county Sheriff's Department.
"There was no accidental exit from the aircraft," Kremmer said. The instructor, who was aboard the aircraft so Filler could update his pilot's license, radioed the Federal Aviation Administration and safely landed the plane, Smith said. Authorities searched Monday for Filler's body by air and ground over a 20 square-mile area.

 

[C3P0]

add it up

I just don't see it happenning like it seems. How the hell do you not notice someone getting ready to jump out. If you are doing a steep turn with the passengers wing low, where are you looking? Besides the scan of the cowling on the horizon, you are also looking at the ground yourself to see what you are flying over.

I wonder if the passenger worked for Enron?

 

[chawbein]

The guy didn't fall, he jumped if indeed he did exit the airplane while in flight. My money is the CFI landed on some private strip (there are a bunch within 10 mile of where he "fell"), the guy got out and headed to Mexico. His wife will collect the life insurance, and meet him there while the CFI enjoys the fruits of his labor. Getting ratings and time at a few hundred bucks a pop from the $20k payout he received for saying the guy just "fell out"...

Conspiracy Theory!!!!!

 

[na265]

I heard he had been accused of stealing a company laptop with sensitive NASA info on it. I don't think anything is worth the solution he chose. On the lighter side, how would you put it in your log book: MCA, steep turns, student jumped out, went home?

 

[Huck]

I worked with a guy in the 80's that tried this. He was in a Cardinal at cruise speed, and couldn't squeeze out the door before the other pilot grabbed him.

Any jump pilot will tell you it would be pretty darn hard to squeeze out of a production door at normal steep turn speeds without some enthusiastic slipping.

By the way, that guy recovered and later became a fanatical skydiver! Life is strange....

 

[TXCAP4228]

Steep turns at 9000 feet

From avbug:

I'm not sure why anybody thinks that 9,000 is a strange place for doing airwork. Much better than 200', I would think. It's quite possible that other things were being performed at that altitude, and the instructor elected to request steep turns there. I've spent plenty of time there, with students.

avbug, the elevtation all around Houston is less than 200 feet. To get to 9000 feet in a 152, first you have to get out of class B and then climb. With 2 people, figure an average climb of 400 feet per minute to 9000 feet plus (22 minutes) plus the time to get out from under class b (estimate another 15 minutes?) That almost 40 minutes just to do steep turns. No way.

Either the media misreported the altitude, the instructor mis stated it, or its some kind of alien abduction.

 

[Stingman]

AP:

RUSSELL EDWARD Filler, a 47-year-old engineer for a NASA contractor, became a suspect when federal authorities traced a NASA laptop computer to his home. The computer disappeared Oct. 25.
He was contacted by federal authorities Thursday. On Sunday, Filler went to Hooks Airport because he needed more hours to renew his pilot’s license.
Filler turned the controls of the single-engine Cessna 152 over to his flight instructor, then asked him to turn the plane sharply so he could get a better look at the ground, Waller County Sheriff Randy Smith said.
Smith said Filler then opened the cockpit door and unfastened his seat belt as the plane flew over a rural area about 45 miles northwest of Houston. The instructor looked away for a moment, and when he looked back he saw Filler’s feet going out the door. Filler’s body has not been found.
Filler told authorities last week that he bought the computer for $500 through an ad posted in a grocery store, said Harris County sheriff’s Capt. Robert Van Pelt.
Van Pelt said Filler turned on the computer and saw that it had some non-sensitive NASA software on it, but he kept the computer. Filler admitted he knew the computer was stolen, Van Pelt said.
Filler worked for United Space Alliance since 1996 in the contractor’s integrated test and verification group, which does ground testing for the international space station.
Waller County Sheriff’s Department Lt. John Kremmer said officials are not officially calling the fall a suicide, but “there was no accidental exit from the aircraft.”
Federal officials inspected the Cessna, but found nothing wrong with its cockpit door latch or with the seat belt, Smith said. The investigation and the search for the body were continuing, authorities said.

 

[Stingman]

My favorite part is how he needed a few more hours to "renew" his pilot's license.

 

[TurboS7]

If OBL can hide from all the powers that be so can he, he must've had one of those fancy glider parathings. Right now he is making his way to OBL or Saddam to sell them some data on missle trajectory.