pilotjww
New Member
3 news links at
http://makeashorterlink.com/?U116252E7
this one has this most info....
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March 30, 2004
EL CAJON – An 88-year-old man ended a half-hour rental ride in a biplane
yesterday by jumping to his death and landing in an apartment patio in
view of horrified witnesses, authorities said.
"It was too low for a stunt," said Cynthia Lankford, 33, who watched the
fall from poolside at Graystone Village Apartments on East Bradley Avenue.
"I saw him hit the power lines, heard trees breaking. I really thought
it wasn't real."
The man reportedly had started to climb out of his passenger seat and
fought off the pilot who struggled to hold him in place while keeping
the plane aloft.
Joseph Harold Frost of Carlsbad, who recently was diagnosed with a tumor
that was causing him to go blind, jumped deliberately, said his son,
Robert Frost.
"I think that was dad's idea, to go out in a flash of glory," Robert
Frost said by phone last night. "No one knew it was his plan to do this.
I think he just thought of it today. He handed me his wallet before he
took off.
"My condolences to the pilot. He said my dad was having an amazing time;
he even turned over the controls to my dad."
The pilot was identified by officials as Willis Allen, owner of Allen
Airways Flying Museum. He landed safely at Gillespie Field about 4:45
p.m. and reported his passenger's actions to a sheriff's helicopter
pilot based at the airfield.
Robert Frost had helped his father arrange the flight to celebrate his
88th birthday, which was Saturday.
He chartered the half-hour ride over East County in a two-seater
Steerman PT 17 biplane like the ones he had flown in World War II in the
Army Air Forces, his son said. "It was exactly the type of plane he'd
learned to fly in, and that he trained others in."
After the war, Joseph Frost, born in Iowa, became a land developer and
eventually retired in Carlsbad. He is survived by his wife, Margaret,
and their four sons.
Officials said the plane was on final approach to land, at an estimated
300 to 400 feet in the air, when Joseph Frost took off his safety belt
and stood up in front of the pilot.
"The pilot tried to wrestle him back into the plane and tragically
couldn't do it," Revel said.
The pilot even pitched the plane nose upward to try to get Frost back in
his seat, sheriff's officials said. He jumped out about half a mile
southeast of the airport.
He struck two power lines over the Graystone apartments and a
neighboring mobile-home park. The impact severed his body and knocked
out power for several hours to the area's 4,000 residents and businesses.
The body glanced off the apartment building and landed in the patio back
yard of a ground-floor unit, where a woman was inside. No one was injured.
A tenant at the complex, Dennis Reaves, 34, said his 8-year-old son came
running indoors to tell him a man had fallen from a plane. Reaves, a
hospital emergency room worker, said he ran to help but found that the
man had been killed instantly.
"I see a lot in the ER, but this was very strange," Reaves said.
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http://makeashorterlink.com/?U116252E7
this one has this most info....
============================================
March 30, 2004
EL CAJON – An 88-year-old man ended a half-hour rental ride in a biplane
yesterday by jumping to his death and landing in an apartment patio in
view of horrified witnesses, authorities said.
"It was too low for a stunt," said Cynthia Lankford, 33, who watched the
fall from poolside at Graystone Village Apartments on East Bradley Avenue.
"I saw him hit the power lines, heard trees breaking. I really thought
it wasn't real."
The man reportedly had started to climb out of his passenger seat and
fought off the pilot who struggled to hold him in place while keeping
the plane aloft.
Joseph Harold Frost of Carlsbad, who recently was diagnosed with a tumor
that was causing him to go blind, jumped deliberately, said his son,
Robert Frost.
"I think that was dad's idea, to go out in a flash of glory," Robert
Frost said by phone last night. "No one knew it was his plan to do this.
I think he just thought of it today. He handed me his wallet before he
took off.
"My condolences to the pilot. He said my dad was having an amazing time;
he even turned over the controls to my dad."
The pilot was identified by officials as Willis Allen, owner of Allen
Airways Flying Museum. He landed safely at Gillespie Field about 4:45
p.m. and reported his passenger's actions to a sheriff's helicopter
pilot based at the airfield.
Robert Frost had helped his father arrange the flight to celebrate his
88th birthday, which was Saturday.
He chartered the half-hour ride over East County in a two-seater
Steerman PT 17 biplane like the ones he had flown in World War II in the
Army Air Forces, his son said. "It was exactly the type of plane he'd
learned to fly in, and that he trained others in."
After the war, Joseph Frost, born in Iowa, became a land developer and
eventually retired in Carlsbad. He is survived by his wife, Margaret,
and their four sons.
Officials said the plane was on final approach to land, at an estimated
300 to 400 feet in the air, when Joseph Frost took off his safety belt
and stood up in front of the pilot.
"The pilot tried to wrestle him back into the plane and tragically
couldn't do it," Revel said.
The pilot even pitched the plane nose upward to try to get Frost back in
his seat, sheriff's officials said. He jumped out about half a mile
southeast of the airport.
He struck two power lines over the Graystone apartments and a
neighboring mobile-home park. The impact severed his body and knocked
out power for several hours to the area's 4,000 residents and businesses.
The body glanced off the apartment building and landed in the patio back
yard of a ground-floor unit, where a woman was inside. No one was injured.
A tenant at the complex, Dennis Reaves, 34, said his 8-year-old son came
running indoors to tell him a man had fallen from a plane. Reaves, a
hospital emergency room worker, said he ran to help but found that the
man had been killed instantly.
"I see a lot in the ER, but this was very strange," Reaves said.
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