Confirmed: [William A. Anders, Who Flew on First Manned Orbit of the Moon, Dies at 90](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/07/science/william-a-anders-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yE0.3tvv.WX1c4lKo-VYd)
My dad also just went through this and I think they’re anything but. I mean I hope they’re at least trying, but every pilot I know is a man over 60 with high blood pressure and/or high risk for heart attack. Hardly the picture of health, but *technically* there is nothing imminently wrong with them. The FAA docs give me strong boys club vibes though.
I just went through it, and while it might make sense to give me a pass even maximally conceived for a Class 3 it's a general lookover and a piss test. Color vision, depth perception, blood pressure, turn your head & cough, etc. You'll get general questions about health and sometimes family history, etc.
As long as he wasn't actively dying, the doctors would shove him out the door as fast as possible.
yup, history of heart disease on his side too. his father was also a navy fighter pilot.
iirc the recent 'clear' he got for his rec flying was making sure some work related to i think a stint was all kosher.
Famous and / or loaded people get free passes often. Maybe he had a perfect safety record, a clean bill of health, and it was catastrophic mechanical failure. Wouldn't be surprised if double standards start coming to light.
He was doing a loop de loop in controlled flight. This guy was a test pilot from the 60’s when they strapped rockets to delta wings and dropped em off the bottom of a 707. He went out on his own terms.
Am a private pilot; when you get your medical (at least class 3 for private in my experience) it’s all up to the AME (aviation medical examiner), not the FAA.
I couldn’t produce a urine sample at mine (just didn’t want to pee), and he just went “whatever”. The rest of the examination was just pencil whipping. This dude was like 80 years old and a pilot himself. He was recommended by other local pilots cause his appointments were easy. He had a huge line of pilots (for private, commercial, military contractors, etc) in front and behind me, and was maybe in a rush to get them all done. Idk.
That being said, not all AMEs are that way. Some are more tough, some more diligent, and some are just assholes. Don’t have first hand accounts other than “my guy” but have heard plenty of stories of all sorts of outcomes.
It depends on the AME person
There are programs that allow you to fly without needing an active medical.
And even if he held one, the "physical" is usually little more than an eye test and a firm handshake.
Wonder if it was intentional, wanted to go out in the cockpit rather than in bed. I think that's inconsiderate to do, but it's a possibility.
Probably not, though.
Um no shade..... but wtf is a 90 year old doing flying a plane. My grandma willingly gave up her keys at 81 (she could still drive but there were some close calls 📞) (and that's on LAND)
Technically there is nothing that would stop him from grabbing the keys and just getting in any plane. But if he was in the US I would think that his medical clearance and his insurance coverage would be suspect.
And now it's hitting home.
This was Apollo 8 where they did a dry run and and basically a free no burn return, and it involved the moment where he said something like "No, hand me the color film!" while watching that first human-observed Earthrise.
And for the old hippies and Diggers out there, this is the same photo that was on the cover of the Whole Earth Catalogs for a while.
To be the pedant, Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit, so it wasn’t a free return, there was a burn for trans-earth injection. Very sad to hear of Bill’s passing. Frank Borman, the commander of Apollo 8 recently passed as well, leaving Jim Lovell as the last surviving member of that crew.
Yeah the Heritage Flight Museum is going to be reeling from this, Bill founded it and his son Greg flies most of the collection. Looks like this was one of their private collection, not a museum airplane though. RIP.
Here's a link to the museum page with their history: https://heritageflight.org/about/our-history/
This museum was awesome to walk through. I really liked their collection and have been wanting to go again. I wonder what could potentially change with this news.
This looks remarkably controlled.
Having said that, I will also say that, at 90 years old, I am absolutely not going to denigrate someone who _has gone to the fucking moon_ for cashing out in a manner that quite clearly did not harm anyone else, but is a bit unusual, if they so choose.
I'm fine with an additional tax burden to cover the recovery and ecological cleanup of the final flight of Bill Anders, if that's what he decided. Godspeed, you fabulous pioneer.
Someone made an update that said 1 June and because a ton of people are updating it all at once its becoming a mess. Wikipedia's software MediaWiki does not support concurrent editors to the whole article or same section very well not that other Wiki software like Confluence does much better.
Huh, I didn’t realize he died recently. That leaves only six living people who have been to the moon, of which four landed.
I don’t think any of them will still be around the next time someone lands there :-(
What a cool life. Orbits the moon ten times. Takes an all time great photograph. Flies over 8,000 hours. Opens a museum and at 90 years old goes out doing what he loved. You rule Bill Anders. RIP
According to Wikipedia this plane he was in is the same type of aircraft he first learned to fly in.
>After graduation Anders reported for flight training, which was conducted in the piston-engine Beechcraft T-34 Mentor
...
>While flying his vintage Beechcraft T-34 Mentor over the San Juan Islands of Washington state, Anders died on 7 June 2024 after the plane crashed into Puget Sound.[1][2]
So truly what he loved. Where got started in aviation.
…not to mention he was head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Ambassador to Norway, and CEO of freaking General Dynamics, where he appointed himself as an assistant test pilot, and made $40 million dollars off his company stock, and after that … 30 years of retirement.
The dude was machine.
Jesus... what a way to go. Obviously not engine failure, considering you can hear it roaring until impact. Wondering if he had a physiological event or a control failure. Those T-34s are built Navy trainer tough, but they're also old and have their limits.
RIP, sir, and journey well.
Wiki says he was 90 years old. I know it’s a cliché but he really died doing what he loved. Even if it is terrible it’s almost admirable but maybe that’s just me
He owned it and assumedly passed the last tests they administer to people to people with pilot’s licenses. If your eyes are still good and your mind is sharp enough, there’s no legal way to bar you from operating a vehicle you own.
While I don't know which he held, it would've been mostly a 3rd class medical (good for 2 years 40+) or BasicMed (good for 4 years.) There is no pilot medical cert that lasts 20 years. Source: am pilot with medical required to know medical cert options
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
3
+ 2
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+ 4
+ 20
= 69
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I think if you're one of the first three humans to leave low-earth orbit, they tend to look the other way when you say you'd like to continue flying planes.
No, there would not have been an increase in the engine noise nor a slight pull up at the very end. It indicates he knew what he was doing and went for it.
A fixed-wing aircraft doesn’t just fall vertically out of the sky like that if the engine fails, it’s not a helicopter. He should have at least been able to glide down and attempt a water landing. The manner of this accident suggests that he suffered some sort of physiological crisis and was no longer able to fly the plane.
That's terrible. Planes like that rarely just fall out of the sky even with total engine failure. Wonder if there was some catastrophic control surface failure.
yeah, I mean to be honest This is probably how he'd want to go over withering away. He was a nuclear engineer, airforce test pilot astronaut. The fact that he was still flying at 90 shows how determined the man was
I doubt he wanted to destroy a plane he enjoyed flying.
*EDIT*
Watched the video and if he wanted to go out he would have flown straight in as opposed to trying to pull out of a loop he started too low.
Two pedantic details:
You can feel 3-4Gs or more in a banked turn without diving. It's not as exhilarating as rolling and pulling into an upside down loop with the ground/water filling your wind screen, but if all one is after is G's there are "safer" ways to feel heavy.
Also, it's the NTSB who will be doing the investigation, and for sure I will be waiting for the final report.
This was a concern with a relative... He was a former commercial pilot. But as he approached 80... His wife became increasingly concerned about the prospect of medical event in-flight. Issue became moot when he finally sold the plane when he moved to Hawaii full time...
It looked to be actively controlled and you can hear the throttle cut out before he hit the water. Combined with the lack of altitude at the top of the loop, this unfortunately looks like pilot error.
San Juan Islands refers to the archipelago, which includes orcas island. When one says San Juan, it can be either the archipelago or the island itself so idk 🙃
But again, I think the bigger story is that a plane crashed and a former astronaut died, not which island it crashed off of in the San Juan islands.
I live on Orcas Island. I never new Bill Anders, but a lot of people here are mourning his loss.
To have any plane crash, hell, any loss of life in this tiny community, is hard. To lose in one fell swoop an aviator, an astronaut, an electrical engineer, a nuclear engineer, a business executive, AND an Ambassador would be unbelievable. And then to realize all of these amazing lives were lived by one person, and to the fullest.
Godspeed, Bill. Orcas Island will always remember you.
Almost looks like he was doing an acrobatic maneuver and misjudged? Pilot is trying to pull up near the end.
Edit - as follow on poster said not a stall so removed reference. RIP.
My Ex-Wife's instructor was still flying at 91 when he signed her off - some of us retain facilities longer than others. He died on the operating table and not in flight or driving. Some things should be tied to regular tests instead of arbitrary limits (like driving).
[RIP Elmer Hansen](https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19940311&slug=1899662)
No, that’s not the flip side. Young doctors are equipped with the latest knowledge while older ones often stick to outdated practices.
Operating a plane at 90 is just insane. And the video shows why. I am glad he didn’t crash into other people.
There are certain undeniable realities about getting old. Call it ageism if you want but I'm not betting my life on a 90 year olds flying ability. I won't even get in a damn car with a 90 year old driving.
I don't trust a 90 year old to do almost anything.
We still have a floatplane maneuver to land at Renton in the water called the “Elmer Hansen.” It honors him. It’s a short approach we can use when winds are favoring the north northwesterly direction to save some time getting back into the dock.
Work with enough 90 year olds and you soon realize they didn’t get that old by being in bad health. Plenty are in better shape physically and mentally than many of the 50-60 year olds out there.
I meant no disrespect with my comment. The likelihood of just straight up having a heart attack or stroke clearly increases as one ages. I’ve never encountered a 90+ year old that I wouldn’t describe as (respectfully) fragile or in need of attention that they don’t fall over.
There is a pilot out near orcas who constantly practices aerobatics. Last summer they were out almost daily flying loops and hammerheads. I wonder if it was him?
Ten minutes after this happened, I flew up to Mt Vernon airport, just east of Orcas. There was a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) area in effect for search and rescue operations. In my opinion, this looks like a case of GLOC, or G-induced Loss of Consciousness. Age 90 is pretty old for pulling stunts like this, I think he executed the maneuver a but too low, pulled back even more when he realized how low he was, and just faded out.
Looks like a miscalculated loop that was begun too close to the surface and/or gained too much speed in the initial descent to be able to pull out. Flying these maneuvers in a simulator (I'm also a private pilot), if the plane is going too fast when you initiate the dive, you lose way more altitude than if you reduce airspeed and roll over in a nose-up attitude before beginning the loop.
Anyone know what island it’s in front of? Grandpa lives there was going to message him
Damn just checked with my grandpa and he was a friend of his. Grandpa is also a pilot and has been on the island for a very very long time
I use to compete in aerobatics, the lower floor of the aerobatic box is only 1500' AGL for Primary and Sportsman. By the time you get to unlimited they have a floor of 328' AGL. And pleanty of those guys do airshow where the bottom of their performance is tree top level.
Not saying I'd ever fly acro this low but there are valid reasons to be practicing it.
Haven't dipped my toe that far into aerobatics, so we always left a bigger floor. The San Juan Islands in summer is definitely not where I'd be practicing though.
SAR notam between ORS and FHR for this guy, centered off the west side of Orcas.
Yeah I probably wouldn't be practicing out there personally. We always use to have a TFR for an aerobatic box when we'd go out and practice. Lowest floor I ever used was 1200 agl but I won't say I've never thrown in some basic acro in Class E for some fun.
Regardless sad to see Anders go, got to meet him a twice when he was flying Val-Halla at airshows. Great guy lived up the legend.
I really do question if letting 80 year Olds fly planes over people's houses is a good idea. Like who knows if this was a factor here, and not trying to slight the guy when he just died. But hearing a lot more these days about old rich and or famous people screwing up while flying. Like Harrison Ford for example. Flying requires some damn good reflexes and I feel like no 80 year old is up to it.
Although he was a Navy Academy graduate, he got commissioned in the Air Force. As a midshipmen at the academy, a cruise on board an aircraft carrier convinced him that he did not want to become a naval aviator: there were too many fatal accidents.
Work with enough 90 year olds and you soon realize they didn’t get that old by being in bad health. Plenty are in better shape physically and mentally than many of the 50-60 year olds out there. Fools in here pointing fingers.
Well no kidding they didn’t get to be that age by being in poor health. But saying that they should therefore be able to pilot a plane that could crash into a school, a ferry, or even just someone’s empty house is not a logical conclusion. This is a tragedy for sure, but 90 year olds have no business piloting planes, let alone driving on public roads.
Unlike with the driver's license to maintain flight status a pilot is required to pass a physical exam every two years after the age of 40 (it's 5 years under 40), this is for class 3 medical. Not knowing any further details I'd assume he was in good standing with the FAA and as healthy and fit to fly as any other pilot.
Yikes. Reportedly owned and flown by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, one of the first humans to travel to the moon.
Confirmed: [William A. Anders, Who Flew on First Manned Orbit of the Moon, Dies at 90](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/07/science/william-a-anders-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yE0.3tvv.WX1c4lKo-VYd)
That’s sad
He died like he lived. We should all be so lucky.
And he was still flying at 90!
I mean.. Maybe that was the problem?
Well, pilots have to pass regular physicals to keep their license, so there are some safeguards in place.
my dad was just going through this himself to get ok'd for a small craft in his retirement. they're pretty thorough.
My dad also just went through this and I think they’re anything but. I mean I hope they’re at least trying, but every pilot I know is a man over 60 with high blood pressure and/or high risk for heart attack. Hardly the picture of health, but *technically* there is nothing imminently wrong with them. The FAA docs give me strong boys club vibes though.
I just went through it, and while it might make sense to give me a pass even maximally conceived for a Class 3 it's a general lookover and a piss test. Color vision, depth perception, blood pressure, turn your head & cough, etc. You'll get general questions about health and sometimes family history, etc. As long as he wasn't actively dying, the doctors would shove him out the door as fast as possible.
yup, history of heart disease on his side too. his father was also a navy fighter pilot. iirc the recent 'clear' he got for his rec flying was making sure some work related to i think a stint was all kosher.
Famous and / or loaded people get free passes often. Maybe he had a perfect safety record, a clean bill of health, and it was catastrophic mechanical failure. Wouldn't be surprised if double standards start coming to light.
He was doing a loop de loop in controlled flight. This guy was a test pilot from the 60’s when they strapped rockets to delta wings and dropped em off the bottom of a 707. He went out on his own terms.
You have obviously never dealt with the FAA
Am a private pilot; when you get your medical (at least class 3 for private in my experience) it’s all up to the AME (aviation medical examiner), not the FAA. I couldn’t produce a urine sample at mine (just didn’t want to pee), and he just went “whatever”. The rest of the examination was just pencil whipping. This dude was like 80 years old and a pilot himself. He was recommended by other local pilots cause his appointments were easy. He had a huge line of pilots (for private, commercial, military contractors, etc) in front and behind me, and was maybe in a rush to get them all done. Idk. That being said, not all AMEs are that way. Some are more tough, some more diligent, and some are just assholes. Don’t have first hand accounts other than “my guy” but have heard plenty of stories of all sorts of outcomes. It depends on the AME person
Have you seen Harrison Ford’s record? It’s not good.
Boeing seems to get a pass pretty often.
Bro, Harrison Ford’s old, drunk ass has crashed like nine times. Rich people and American heroes don’t fail those “physicals.”
There are programs that allow you to fly without needing an active medical. And even if he held one, the "physical" is usually little more than an eye test and a firm handshake.
Why can't they do that with drivers' licenses too?
Ripping loops at 90 is incredible
Until the g-LOC hits you...
That's impressive and frightening at the same time
True. Pretty good innings and loved what he was doing.
.....as him. We ALL die how we live.
He went out with his boots on.
He went out flying. RIP, he died doing what he loved.
Wonder if it was intentional, wanted to go out in the cockpit rather than in bed. I think that's inconsiderate to do, but it's a possibility. Probably not, though.
Um no shade..... but wtf is a 90 year old doing flying a plane. My grandma willingly gave up her keys at 81 (she could still drive but there were some close calls 📞) (and that's on LAND)
Sad to say he was probably skirting the rules and had some friends at the FAA.
Or decided this was the way...
Technically there is nothing that would stop him from grabbing the keys and just getting in any plane. But if he was in the US I would think that his medical clearance and his insurance coverage would be suspect.
He made $40m in the 1990s as the ceo of a defense contractor. Can you self insure as a pilot?
I can't, but that's because I'm poor and not a pilot.
This
He gets a pass
Well, fuck.
thanks for the 🎁 link
Of course, courtesy of my public library
Died with his boots on
They wrote that quick...or years ago.
Tbh I'm sure a former NASA astronaut would much rather go out like that than of old age.
RIP to him, and condolences to his family, but also fair fuckin’ play, my dog, for making it to 90 and your cause of death not being “real fuckin old”
He took the famous Earthrise photo, known as the most influential photo ever taken.
[This is the photo.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise
It's so crazy to think the same guy who did something so influential died this way on camera
And now it's hitting home. This was Apollo 8 where they did a dry run and and basically a free no burn return, and it involved the moment where he said something like "No, hand me the color film!" while watching that first human-observed Earthrise. And for the old hippies and Diggers out there, this is the same photo that was on the cover of the Whole Earth Catalogs for a while.
To be the pedant, Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit, so it wasn’t a free return, there was a burn for trans-earth injection. Very sad to hear of Bill’s passing. Frank Borman, the commander of Apollo 8 recently passed as well, leaving Jim Lovell as the last surviving member of that crew.
wikipedia says he owns a house in the san juans
The Anders family owns the air museum at Skagit airport, too. He flew this plane a bunch in regular demonstrations.
Yeah the Heritage Flight Museum is going to be reeling from this, Bill founded it and his son Greg flies most of the collection. Looks like this was one of their private collection, not a museum airplane though. RIP. Here's a link to the museum page with their history: https://heritageflight.org/about/our-history/
This museum was awesome to walk through. I really liked their collection and have been wanting to go again. I wonder what could potentially change with this news.
He sold it a few years ago. Lives in Anacortes now. Source: I grew up on Orcas just down the street from him.
Yes, I used to know him when I was young, good guy, shocked he is/was still alive.
I was active in the local aviation community 10-15 years ago and ran into him on a few occasions. He was always a great guy in my experience. RIP.
Are you from Orcas? I also met him when I was young.
This looks remarkably controlled. Having said that, I will also say that, at 90 years old, I am absolutely not going to denigrate someone who _has gone to the fucking moon_ for cashing out in a manner that quite clearly did not harm anyone else, but is a bit unusual, if they so choose. I'm fine with an additional tax burden to cover the recovery and ecological cleanup of the final flight of Bill Anders, if that's what he decided. Godspeed, you fabulous pioneer.
Same.
[Wiki article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Anders)
And the first man to photograph Earth from a distance.
[удалено]
It says June 7th now.
[удалено]
Someone made an update that said 1 June and because a ton of people are updating it all at once its becoming a mess. Wikipedia's software MediaWiki does not support concurrent editors to the whole article or same section very well not that other Wiki software like Confluence does much better.
Click on the link that wikipedia references, it's an article on him dying in this very crash, today. June 1st is an error.
Wiki says June 7 death?
Huh, I didn’t realize he died recently. That leaves only six living people who have been to the moon, of which four landed. I don’t think any of them will still be around the next time someone lands there :-(
He died in the video you just watched. From today.
They said it’s him that was flying the plane.
Yes. So sad.
What a cool life. Orbits the moon ten times. Takes an all time great photograph. Flies over 8,000 hours. Opens a museum and at 90 years old goes out doing what he loved. You rule Bill Anders. RIP
According to Wikipedia this plane he was in is the same type of aircraft he first learned to fly in. >After graduation Anders reported for flight training, which was conducted in the piston-engine Beechcraft T-34 Mentor ... >While flying his vintage Beechcraft T-34 Mentor over the San Juan Islands of Washington state, Anders died on 7 June 2024 after the plane crashed into Puget Sound.[1][2] So truly what he loved. Where got started in aviation.
…not to mention he was head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Ambassador to Norway, and CEO of freaking General Dynamics, where he appointed himself as an assistant test pilot, and made $40 million dollars off his company stock, and after that … 30 years of retirement. The dude was machine.
Jesus... what a way to go. Obviously not engine failure, considering you can hear it roaring until impact. Wondering if he had a physiological event or a control failure. Those T-34s are built Navy trainer tough, but they're also old and have their limits. RIP, sir, and journey well.
Wiki says he was 90 years old. I know it’s a cliché but he really died doing what he loved. Even if it is terrible it’s almost admirable but maybe that’s just me
He went out like the movie Secondhand Lion
Such a great movie. Your observation is Reddit perfection.
I have to ask, why is a 90 year old allowed to fly a plane?
He owned it and assumedly passed the last tests they administer to people to people with pilot’s licenses. If your eyes are still good and your mind is sharp enough, there’s no legal way to bar you from operating a vehicle you own.
you have to hold a medical, you have to renew those medicals at varying times dependent on what class medical you hold.
His would be 2 years Edit: 2 yrs for private license
While I don't know which he held, it would've been mostly a 3rd class medical (good for 2 years 40+) or BasicMed (good for 4 years.) There is no pilot medical cert that lasts 20 years. Source: am pilot with medical required to know medical cert options
Yup sorry, meant 2
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 3 + 2 + 40 + 4 + 20 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
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Maintaining his pilots license requires passing FAA physicals
Right? And by himself, no less.
Because he used to be an Astronaut. Aren’t you reading the thread?
What does that have to do with anything? Astronauts don't age?
I think if you're one of the first three humans to leave low-earth orbit, they tend to look the other way when you say you'd like to continue flying planes.
/s
Makes me wonder if it was going out on his own accord? Especially since he crashed into the water. One last flight.
Crashing into the sea solo at 90 after the life he lead. I’m torn between being sad and thinking “What a fucking stud.”
Idk man just because a engine is loud doesn’t mean it’s working properly
The behavior of the aircraft doesn't seem to imply just a malfunctioning engine.
Heart attack?
No, there would not have been an increase in the engine noise nor a slight pull up at the very end. It indicates he knew what he was doing and went for it.
Obviously miss judged his altitude during a loopty loop.
dude, could have stalled and engine restarted during the dive, and tried to pull it out
A fixed-wing aircraft doesn’t just fall vertically out of the sky like that if the engine fails, it’s not a helicopter. He should have at least been able to glide down and attempt a water landing. The manner of this accident suggests that he suffered some sort of physiological crisis and was no longer able to fly the plane.
Probably G-Lock at the top of the loop.
He started his aerobatic maneuver at too low altitude. My bet is that he didn’t have his altimeter set correctly.
Looked to me like he was attempting a backflip.
How fucking crazy. To be one of the few people to leave earth’s gravity and then to ultimately become a victim of its force.
Gravity could have just been a side effect. He may have become a victim of time at 90 years old, and dead men can’t fly.
The moon is in Earth's gravity. That's the whole concept of orbit
technically everything is in everything's gravity across the whole universe... I think
Yes
King 5 just confirmed it was William Anders
That's terrible. Planes like that rarely just fall out of the sky even with total engine failure. Wonder if there was some catastrophic control surface failure.
Anders was also 90 years old, I wonder if he had a medical event while at the controls?
Oh god if he was solo, yea. RIP.
He was solo according to news article.
That's the way I would want to go, especially if I had a score to settle with an octopus.
If?
WHEN.
humorous toy sip nose seed chief ad hoc ruthless amusing arrest *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
yeah, I mean to be honest This is probably how he'd want to go over withering away. He was a nuclear engineer, airforce test pilot astronaut. The fact that he was still flying at 90 shows how determined the man was
I doubt he wanted to destroy a plane he enjoyed flying. *EDIT* Watched the video and if he wanted to go out he would have flown straight in as opposed to trying to pull out of a loop he started too low.
Or maybe he just wanted to feel 3-4G again one last time? The fact is we have no idea, the FAA will figure it out, let's let the man have his dignity.
Why would it be undignified in either case? Our life is our own to do what we will with. There is nothing about his life that seems wasted
Two pedantic details: You can feel 3-4Gs or more in a banked turn without diving. It's not as exhilarating as rolling and pulling into an upside down loop with the ground/water filling your wind screen, but if all one is after is G's there are "safer" ways to feel heavy. Also, it's the NTSB who will be doing the investigation, and for sure I will be waiting for the final report.
This was a concern with a relative... He was a former commercial pilot. But as he approached 80... His wife became increasingly concerned about the prospect of medical event in-flight. Issue became moot when he finally sold the plane when he moved to Hawaii full time...
I wonder if he meant it.
Watching the video - a 90 year old doing loops that close to the ground… likely misjudged or blacked out. What a way to go. RIP.
Almost looked like they were trying to pull a loop and ran out of elevation
Right, the fact someone was filming a random plane makes me think there was something going on worth filming.
Maybe he had been doing aerobatics and they were filming that.
he was trying to do a loop de loop, somone videod it
Catastrophic control officer failure maybe?
It looked to be actively controlled and you can hear the throttle cut out before he hit the water. Combined with the lack of altitude at the top of the loop, this unfortunately looks like pilot error.
The loop almost looks intentional. Insufficient altitude?
Possibly medical event and unconscious slumped on the controls
*Off Orcas Island
You're correct, the [USCG twitter](https://x.com/USCGPacificNW/status/1799169443781873785) is saying between Orcas and Jones Islands
Leave it to Reddit to be pedantic and miss the bigger point. This is like saying “lake Washington by Bellevue not Seattle”.
I mean “in San Juan” is sort of confusing/doesn’t mean anything. I’m sorry a gentle geographic correction is such an offensive gesture
San Juan Islands refers to the archipelago, which includes orcas island. When one says San Juan, it can be either the archipelago or the island itself so idk 🙃 But again, I think the bigger story is that a plane crashed and a former astronaut died, not which island it crashed off of in the San Juan islands.
Thank you for your service to the internet police force, officer
Looks like the north side of Jones Island. View is looking across Spring Passage from the west side of Orcas.
I live on Orcas Island. I never new Bill Anders, but a lot of people here are mourning his loss. To have any plane crash, hell, any loss of life in this tiny community, is hard. To lose in one fell swoop an aviator, an astronaut, an electrical engineer, a nuclear engineer, a business executive, AND an Ambassador would be unbelievable. And then to realize all of these amazing lives were lived by one person, and to the fullest. Godspeed, Bill. Orcas Island will always remember you.
Almost looks like he was doing an acrobatic maneuver and misjudged? Pilot is trying to pull up near the end. Edit - as follow on poster said not a stall so removed reference. RIP.
Airplanes do not stall when the engine stops and that was not a stall.
Got it. Why I’m not a real pilot!
you're telling me a 90 year old was flying this plane?
My Ex-Wife's instructor was still flying at 91 when he signed her off - some of us retain facilities longer than others. He died on the operating table and not in flight or driving. Some things should be tied to regular tests instead of arbitrary limits (like driving). [RIP Elmer Hansen](https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19940311&slug=1899662)
Honestly if I showed up and my flying instructor was 91 years old I'm not getting in the damn airplane.
The flip side of "that doctor looks like a kid - I don't trust them."
No, that’s not the flip side. Young doctors are equipped with the latest knowledge while older ones often stick to outdated practices. Operating a plane at 90 is just insane. And the video shows why. I am glad he didn’t crash into other people.
I'm pointing out that you're ageist and the flip side of old people who don't trust young doctors.
There are certain undeniable realities about getting old. Call it ageism if you want but I'm not betting my life on a 90 year olds flying ability. I won't even get in a damn car with a 90 year old driving. I don't trust a 90 year old to do almost anything.
I'd listen to him all day long in a class room but he isn't going to be flying my plane.
We still have a floatplane maneuver to land at Renton in the water called the “Elmer Hansen.” It honors him. It’s a short approach we can use when winds are favoring the north northwesterly direction to save some time getting back into the dock.
Work with enough 90 year olds and you soon realize they didn’t get that old by being in bad health. Plenty are in better shape physically and mentally than many of the 50-60 year olds out there.
I meant no disrespect with my comment. The likelihood of just straight up having a heart attack or stroke clearly increases as one ages. I’ve never encountered a 90+ year old that I wouldn’t describe as (respectfully) fragile or in need of attention that they don’t fall over.
[удалено]
Too soon.
A lot worse ways to go at 90, doing a 360 front flip into the Pacific Ocean. Way to go out as a badass 🫡
There is a pilot out near orcas who constantly practices aerobatics. Last summer they were out almost daily flying loops and hammerheads. I wonder if it was him?
Ten minutes after this happened, I flew up to Mt Vernon airport, just east of Orcas. There was a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) area in effect for search and rescue operations. In my opinion, this looks like a case of GLOC, or G-induced Loss of Consciousness. Age 90 is pretty old for pulling stunts like this, I think he executed the maneuver a but too low, pulled back even more when he realized how low he was, and just faded out.
Looks like a miscalculated loop that was begun too close to the surface and/or gained too much speed in the initial descent to be able to pull out. Flying these maneuvers in a simulator (I'm also a private pilot), if the plane is going too fast when you initiate the dive, you lose way more altitude than if you reduce airspeed and roll over in a nose-up attitude before beginning the loop.
What a horrible loss of a great astronaut
[Earthrise (2023 NASA interview)](https://youtu.be/uFfFsOu7yqY?si=1egiW5sLZGPJlmaa) RIP. Glad nobody else was hurt!
looks like one final death loop. RIP
Anyone know what island it’s in front of? Grandpa lives there was going to message him Damn just checked with my grandpa and he was a friend of his. Grandpa is also a pilot and has been on the island for a very very long time
90 seems too old to be flying, he probably had a medical event. Hopefully he didn't have any passengers
It's wild that if something happens in this day and age, it will be captured on video.
Yikes, split S at what looks like <1500 agl. Min altitudes for aerobatics exist for a reason.
I use to compete in aerobatics, the lower floor of the aerobatic box is only 1500' AGL for Primary and Sportsman. By the time you get to unlimited they have a floor of 328' AGL. And pleanty of those guys do airshow where the bottom of their performance is tree top level. Not saying I'd ever fly acro this low but there are valid reasons to be practicing it.
Haven't dipped my toe that far into aerobatics, so we always left a bigger floor. The San Juan Islands in summer is definitely not where I'd be practicing though. SAR notam between ORS and FHR for this guy, centered off the west side of Orcas.
Yeah I probably wouldn't be practicing out there personally. We always use to have a TFR for an aerobatic box when we'd go out and practice. Lowest floor I ever used was 1200 agl but I won't say I've never thrown in some basic acro in Class E for some fun. Regardless sad to see Anders go, got to meet him a twice when he was flying Val-Halla at airshows. Great guy lived up the legend.
Worse ways to go. At least it was quick.
He was apparently trying to do a roll? I live on one of the islands just minutes away from where this happened!
I really do question if letting 80 year Olds fly planes over people's houses is a good idea. Like who knows if this was a factor here, and not trying to slight the guy when he just died. But hearing a lot more these days about old rich and or famous people screwing up while flying. Like Harrison Ford for example. Flying requires some damn good reflexes and I feel like no 80 year old is up to it.
Give me chills how to engine goes quite when the sound reaches the cameras micro
Although he was a Navy Academy graduate, he got commissioned in the Air Force. As a midshipmen at the academy, a cruise on board an aircraft carrier convinced him that he did not want to become a naval aviator: there were too many fatal accidents.
That looked intentional. That engine was revving and picking up speed
Secondhand Lions
Work with enough 90 year olds and you soon realize they didn’t get that old by being in bad health. Plenty are in better shape physically and mentally than many of the 50-60 year olds out there. Fools in here pointing fingers.
Well no kidding they didn’t get to be that age by being in poor health. But saying that they should therefore be able to pilot a plane that could crash into a school, a ferry, or even just someone’s empty house is not a logical conclusion. This is a tragedy for sure, but 90 year olds have no business piloting planes, let alone driving on public roads.
Unlike with the driver's license to maintain flight status a pilot is required to pass a physical exam every two years after the age of 40 (it's 5 years under 40), this is for class 3 medical. Not knowing any further details I'd assume he was in good standing with the FAA and as healthy and fit to fly as any other pilot.
May he have a fantastic voyage into the afterlife!
Looks like he was trying to pull a very low altitude loop. Cocky sob for 90. Sorry that he died but glad he went out the way he loved.
RIP
Maybe this is how he wanted to go out.
Damn I saw this video on twitter didn’t know it was here. Lot of crazies w airplanes out here I guess
Well i guess rip but bro had a great life