”John Stephen Busby was taking a flight in the vintage World War II plane to celebrate his anniversary when it crashed into the sea off Texas, killing him and the pilot.
A father of two on a twenty-minute ride in a Second World War fighter plane was killed in a high-speed crash just moments after he took control of the wheel.
John Stephen Busby, 66, was on holiday in Texas when he was allowed to take control of the P-51 shortly before smashing into the sea, an inquest heard this week.
Mr Busby had paid more than £1,000 for the flight in the plane at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston.”
More here.
By: Consul - 7th November 2015 at 15:58
The NTSB findings which take account of audio and video recordings from within the aircraft can be found here:
http://www.ntsb.gov/about/employment/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20131024X85621&key=1
See also:
By: David Burke - 7th November 2015 at 14:10
All of which gets back to the point that the pilot had lost awareness of his height. I doubt the pilot would risk low level flight in the hands of the passenger .
By: Canopener Al - 7th November 2015 at 13:55
Two people had the ability to see how low they were both visually and with the use of instruments .
The passenger had the option of saying no – there is no indication that he was forced to fly it .The captain made an error of judgement – however taking control of the aircraft even as a passenger has a degree of responsibility .
I would word it a bit stronger that an error, however no doubts some lawyer somewhere will get rich out of it. The voice recordings stated the pilot, Keith Hibbert, 51, asked John if he wanted to fly the plane. Geophysicist John, from Woldingham, Surrey, said: “Yes I do, if you guide me through it. I’m not a pilot.” Would any competent pilot hand control of an aircraft at low level to someone that has little clue what they are doing. I have flown in fast jets and Tucanos. the low level bit was defo hands off as far as I was concerned, even though I have flown solo before. GH for me at the controls was always at a height if I mucked up, the captain would have time to sort out the mess.
By: David Burke - 7th November 2015 at 13:42
Two people had the ability to see how low they were both visually and with the use of instruments .
The passenger had the option of saying no – there is no indication that he was forced to fly it .
The captain made an error of judgement – however taking control of the aircraft even as a passenger has a degree of responsibility .
By: Canopener Al - 7th November 2015 at 13:35
Sure the wife of the passenger would totally agree with some of the comments on here. I think not.
By: David Burke - 7th November 2015 at 12:58
Two people died doing what they enjoyed – very sad but they took nobody else with them.
By: Sopwith - 7th November 2015 at 12:43
In-cockpit video and audio were running throughout the flight, and were recovered from the crash site, so the NTSB had a pretty clear idea of exactly what went on in the cockpit.
My point exactly, if it was a loss of situational awareness the pilot would have crashed regardless even if he hadn’t let his passenger have a go
By: Mike J - 7th November 2015 at 12:38
In-cockpit video and audio were running throughout the flight, and were recovered from the crash site, so the NTSB had a pretty clear idea of exactly what went on in the cockpit.
By: Sopwith - 7th November 2015 at 12:29
None of us were there, so we don’t know what exactly happened in the cockpit so who’s to say if the pilot was right or wrong. Neither are here to give their side of the story. Sad old job no matter what.
By: David Burke - 7th November 2015 at 12:21
Hardly worth condemning the pilot – he made a mistake in exactly the same way that many others have.
By: trumper - 7th November 2015 at 11:02
” took control of the wheel ” *sigh*
Yes,i’m surprised they didn’t say clutch and gear lever as well.But who in their right mind allows someone with no flying experience to take control of a warbird at low level.
By: Moggy C - 7th November 2015 at 10:57
” took control of the wheel ” *sigh*
By: Canopener Al - 6th November 2015 at 23:11
Why was a person with no flying training of any sort given control of a high performance aircraft at low level? Only one guilty person in that scenario. Argue as much as you like, the Yank had duty of care that he broke.
By: trumper - 6th November 2015 at 22:25
🙁 Not good reading.Pilot had just handed control to a passenger when the crash happened 🙁 “Mr Wickens said the “glass-like” quality of the water beneath them may have fooled the pilot into not realising just how low they were flying.
Concluding the death of Mr Busby was accidental, he added: “Neither the pilot or Mr Busby seemed to acknowledge the impending collision.
“It was probably due to the pilot’s loss of situational awareness while he was instructing his passenger.”
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November 6, 2015 at 8:29 pm