Not the kind of plane I would have envisioned a pro athlete buying.
Given the thing could float is it safe to assume that something really went wrong in that he could not glide into the water for a landing?
Different strokes for different folks. The A5 is a cool machine although I believe it has not yet proven itself with few examples flying and relatively low cycle hours in the hands of owners. Several airframes have already been lost or heavily damaged.
Such sad news. A giant in the history of the Blue Jays. I wish Doc had won the World Series. When Halladay signed with the Phillies, Blue Jays fans did not begrudge him one bit because we all wanted him to win a championship. And at the time, the Phillies was still one of the better teams in the league but unfortunately, by the time Doc joined, the Phillies' offensive core (Utley, Howard, Rollins) were also on the downsides of their careers. That 2011 Phillies rotation though -- Doc, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt -- will go down in history as one of the best rotations of all time, certainly in the top 20 if not the top 10.
Both Halladay and Oswalt will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2019. It will be a crowded field (Lance Berkman, Andy Pettitte and Mo Rivera will also become eligible) so I don't think he will get in on the first ballot but certainly does deserve to be in the Hall of Fame eventually.
In 2011, I raced from San Diego to LA. Dropped my wife and kids off at the hotel. Told my wife "Have fun, I gotta go. Doc's pitching at Dodger stadium."
Drove off and got a scalper ticket. Watched him beat the Dodgers that day. The one and only time I got to see him live. My all time favourite Blue Jay. So sad to hear this yesterday.
The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to habernac For This Useful Post:
read this morning that his wife was not initially supportive of him getting that rig, and then two of the companies engineers die in a crash in may.
sad part is that the company may be forced to make design changes/stop selling the plane over these incidents; however, it is unlikely any gun manufactures will be forced to make any changes as a result of things that have happened over the past month.
__________________
If I do not come back avenge my death
Looking at the Wikipedia page for the A5 it says that all American registered aircraft were going to be equipped with a Ballistic Recovery System Parachute. So I'd assume that Halladay's aircraft had it.
"I keep telling my dad flying the Icon A5 low over the water is like flying a fighter jet!"
Not saying this is part of what happened yesterday, but the fact that he put it out there that he had been flying low isn't the greatest. Things can happen really fast when you are low to the water/ground, and with no altitude to deal with it things don't usually turn out well.
The Following User Says Thank You to Bigtime For This Useful Post:
Jim Rome was talking about this today and apparently his wife was totally against him flying but he over time convinced her to be okay with it. It must be crushing that her worst fears were realized.
Videos posted online show he was doing dangerous maneuvers just before crashing.
Ugh. Yeah just watched (doesn't show the crash or anything - just what he was doing before). Pretty depressing to realize that this tragedy was totally avoidable. He was basically performing some pretty reckless moves.
Yeah, I just saw the videos on TMZ too. Its crazy what is captured on video these days. Those guys basically pulled up to the crash site moments after it happened.
What struck me most was what the Sherriff had to say during that press conference. Ive never seen a person of authority speak about someone in that type of manner before in that type of situation.
Goes to show what a class guy Roy was within the community.
Videos posted online show he was doing dangerous maneuvers just before crashing.
Ok just found the video, looks like he's doing steep turns (but hard to tell if he's losing altitude from that video), of course a properly done steep turn one doesn't lose any altitude. You also don't/shouldn't do steep turns that low...
Looks like those guys filming (and one other small boat) got to the crash site pretty quick.
Obviously easy to say when not in the heat of the moment, and certainly not anyone's responsibility to danger themselves, but it looks like there was some time before first responders arrived where someone with a reasonable level of swimming skills could have made an effort. Unless I'm missing something which I probably am.
The Following User Says Thank You to Jiggy_12 For This Useful Post:
Jim Rome was talking about this today and apparently his wife was totally against him flying but he over time convinced her to be okay with it. It must be crushing that her worst fears were realized.
Here's a promotion video from last month where she talks about it and then starts flying with him.
The Following User Says Thank You to Snuffleupagus For This Useful Post:
