Flyfunston

have you guys heard that bill bennett was killed .......

you posted "that he was killed" but how did he die? was an accident?
somebody killed him ?a flying accident ?illness or what?
Please give us some more information.
Rafie

He was in an ultralight....crashed right after take off....details in the OZ Report.....

Here is what I was told happened. On takeoff, just after the trike left the ground Bill let off power and pulled the bar in. My friend Drew was taken totally by surprise and said he tried to move the bar out slightly but it never happened. In just a few seconds they impacted the ground. The trike was not equipped with instructor bars and for what it is worth the Gibbo wing was equipped with a speed bar.

Looking at this situation I believe what Drew should have done was first, applied full throttle and tried to get the trike to fly then try to gain control of the wing. That's easy for me to say, I wasn't in the back seat.

I had an opportunity to get my BFI a few months ago but declined opting to go Sport Pilot. Whenever that happens. I don't want to instruct. I would never have the balls to be in the back seat of a trike with someone in the front that did not know how to fly and possibly might do something like that.

Bill had already had ten hours instruction in his trike and Drew knew this. I guess he made the mistake of being too relaxed. I spoke with the instructor who had been training Bill and he told me he did not think Bill was going to make the grade. He told me Bill was always extremely nervous and did well some flights and other times did some crazy stuff. I hate saying these things, but that is what I told.

Bill also froze while attempting to fly a PPC at Quartzsite two years ago and flew it into a tree on takeoff. I don't know the whole story on that incident. My friend's injuries are a broken pelvis, broken left femur that they put a rod into, several broken ribs and a 3-inch gash high on his forehead. He is at Las Vegas University Medical Center and will be for a couple weeks and then probably transferred to the VA Hospital at Phoenix.

Discuss Bill's accident at the Oz Report forum