Lt. Col Bud Holland (risk taker) R.I.P.........

Well I was just elaborating on the fact that you have to have some "kahunas" to manuever a B-52 in that fashion obviously. I was amazed by it,(wouldnt have done it - but still amazed)!!!! :D
 
flyguy75252 said:
... you have to have some "kahunas" to manuever a B-52 in that fashion ...
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Never confuse "kahunas" with stupidity, or bravery with being too ignorant to be scared.



Listen to the last remark made on the video before the wingtip hit the ground. "That's fantastic. Look at this. 'Round the tower." That's because he was too stupid to realize that 90 degrees of bank resulted in zero vertical lift, and gravity was still hard at work. The videographer can be excused for such an oversight, but the pilot cannot.



The only "amazing" thing is that he lived that long. :(




.
 
I read the story about this accident. Apparently none of the pilot stationed at the base where the accident occurred would fly with the guy. The commanding officer decided that he wouldn't make any of his men fly with a guy he wouldn't himself fly with - so he was riding in the co-pilot seat the day of the accident. Sad.
 
I agree "kahunas" and stupidity go hand in hand with that guy- thats for sure! (in most cases I've seen that would be the case)! >MURDO I laughed like hell when I saw your avatar!!!!!!!! :laff:
 
Let me elaborate on that statement just a weeeeee bit more. In his case (in my humble opinion) he did have a lot of @uts to do something like that but, it was still a very stupid thing to do thats all. I understand what you were saying; I was only referring to the ol' L.COL in this particular case. :)
 
How is it possible, after all of the times he broke USAF regs (according to the reports at least) that he wasn't pushing papers in staffing? The saddest part is that he killed other people in the plane. That's the tragedy.

Can you imagine that fireball over a crowd? - it would have killed 100's of people had he tried that moronic maneuver over the crowd.
 
flyguy75252 said:
Let me elaborate on that statement just a weeeeee bit more. In his case (in my humble opinion) he did have a lot of @uts to do something like that...
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No, you still don't get it. Not even close. This wasn't nuts, this guy was effing stupid. Thats the long and short of it. Until you "get it" you won't be (nor should you be) turning left when you board anything but a 172.
 
flyguy75252 said:
was this guy was a dare-devil or what?
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Your first statement was the most correct.


There was NOTHING brave about risking other peoples lives by flying an airplane outside of it's performance envelope just so you can prove how great a pilot you are.

No guts, nuts, or anything else required, just a delusion that the rules (and the laws of physics) don't apply to you.


Daredevils have no place in modern aviation.



I hate to slam you so harshly but, any trace of this pilots attitude must be stamped out if you want to be a professional pilot.
 
sdfcvoh said:
How is it possible, after all of the times he broke USAF regs (according to the reports at least) that he wasn't pushing papers in staffing?
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The great irony was that this guy was the wing safety/standardiztion officer.

Several of his superiors got relived/retired.
 
Tony Kern devotes a chapter in his book Flight Discipline to that. The guy had a HUGE issue with authority among other things. It's a really good read for that alone (plus all the other stuff in it).
 
Minuteman said:
I'm with TonyC on this one. Sometimes the only distinction between doing something stupid and something brave is the need. It's all risk-management.
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Yup, exactly.

The guy was an idiot, who didn't think the rules applied to him.

Unfortunately, and fortunately to a certain extent, people died.

Certainly nothing that anyone should be overjoyed or excited about - his demonstration was a deadly one and that's all. The End.
 
Minuteman said:
I'm with TonyC on this one. Sometimes the only distinction between doing something stupid and something brave is the need. It's all risk-management.
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You, more than anyone else, explained his attitude better than anyone else in my humble opinion.

Before I condemn any of his actions relating to his flying prowess, I'd defer opinion of how he was flying to any of those military test pilots who flying skills in test pilot school were being utilized to maximize rounds on target to destroy the enemy and to minimize hostile fire to flying crews and friendlies in the vicinity. I honestly can't speak to what he was doing.

  • If any of his flying maneuvers were designed and performed in training to effectively impact rounds close to FLOT (FEBA for me), I'll not condemn what he did.
  • If the tools he utilized were designed and demonstrated to avoid SA-7 rounds, he'll not receive any arguments from me. (The things I KNOW I can do with a Redeye or Stinger :D)
  • Given the shootdowns of B-52s during the Vietnam War, can a B-52 truly fly NOE and effectively avoid radar and SAMs? (Perhaps in test pilot schools, those maneuvers were demonstrated to protect lives?)
For those who've not flown an airplane/aircraft in an hostile environment with heat rounds directed at one's turbine, I'd not pass judgement until those who are trained to do these types of things to protect American soldiers' lives say that's not part of their training doctrine to improve the flying and survivability skills of military aviators. If those test and combat pilots have a consensus of opinion that he went beyond what a military aviator would do, I'd be inclined to understand their viewpoint with a greater appreciation.
 
MFT, I think you are missing the point. He wasn't flying a combat mission. he was doing training runs for an airshow. Pure public enjoyment. Sure, in a combat situation it may be prudent to exceed aircraft limitations to put rounds on target or avoid enemy fire, but that wasn't what was happening here. This guy had a history of exceeding the limitations in non combat situations, being called on it and ignoring his superior's requests that he stop. More so, if I recall from reading the chapter on him he hadn't ever flown any combat missions or if he had, he hadn't flown any in a long time. Mostly he was on the airshow circuit because he was a good stick and could push the plane to it's limits. He just had a nasty habit of going past those limits and it eventually caught up with him.

EDIT:

OK, I reread the chapter that discusses this guy. He had been flying the BUFF since he started in the Air Force and was an IP and Evaluator on it. By all accounts he was a good pilot. Towards the end multiple people who flew with him complained about his lack of discipline in sticking to the mission and that he routinely broke regs (both AF and FAR) as well exceeded aircraft limitations. There are 6 document cases in the book including airshows and bombing missions (all practice) where he did this stuff. The scary part is that he instilled this attitude into several junior officers who later were grounded because they attempted to do what he had done.
 
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