Hotprop -

Before anyone starts jumping on you for your tell-it-like-it is message, let me heartily second your thoughts. Someone early in the thread made a comment that "The FAA [NTSB] will probably blame the pilot." Yes, they probably will because that's where the facts point, and beyond that, sadly, statistically that's where the fault usually lies.

I got into flying marine surveys doing some work for the (late) pilot in the NJ Skymaster fuel exhaustion accident. He was a nice guy and I liked him personally - but his operational pratices were loose at best, and they finally caught up with him.

To the point, they also unfortunately caught his innocent passengers, apparently like in this recent case of hot-dogging. My view is that everyone probably has the right to kill themselves in their airplanes...but they don't have any right to take innocent people with them, and there's nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade when someone does.

Ahab

hharney
There is one more choice that non-flyers ask when they see the handle, "Are you in real estate?". NOOOOOOH! Saw it used in a/c classifieds, thought it would be a cool handle. :cool: Sorry about the redundant pic, thanks for the heads-up on FlightAware.
Even though in this case the blame, IMHO, rests on the shoulders of plane misuse, I can only be concerned about the tip tank winglet ext mod. Wrinkled skins and smoking rivets, never really a good thing, B-52's notwithstanding. You would think someone did the due diligence thing. I believe I'm not alone in thinking STC suggests something other than - Caveat Emptor. Watching the ' Owen Bell - Aviation Enterprises ' thread with interest, as I''m sure you all are.
jchronic
Thanks for your kind words of support. "Loose operational practices", that's a good nut shell. To many in the 'Count the wings, kick the tires, light the fires, thorough pre-flights are for wusses' camp out there. Respectively hope your handle is not implying a medical condition, In case, hope it's jcure real soon. :D

Thanks but, no, 'Chronic' is the family name, anglicized from some now obscure Germanic spelling. Why they picked that version, the family has wondered for years especially those of us who've had to listen to the smart comments from the medical people during physicals every year!

However, on that subject, I did recently have to have a pacemaker put in and for those who may be facing a medical recert process with the FAA, I'll be glad to share my experience, such as it's been so far. But that would be another thread......

Ahab

Update
 

There is an updated SAIB, from the FAA.
Thanks to our left coast contributor for bringing it to my attention
Also, there's an article on Aero News.

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?C...-6c0f5a25b4a8&

Media Report
 

I sure am glad I had that mod. removed from my plane. The upper skins on mine were cracked. My engineer thought it was due to a poor installation job. Now we know it was due to the outboard section of the wing generating so much lift it was bending at station 177. Nice engineering design, not!
I hope the lawsuit is successful!

Update
 

12/27/11 Update:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/27...bout-maneuver/

NTSB Report