Sad News

[Peter Collin]

We lost a Taylorcraft pilot in Maine last week end. George Fortin and a friend was killed in a Taylorcraft. The cause and circumstances are not known yet.
Thoughts and prayers to the families.
I believe George was a poster on this forum from time to time.
It has been a bad month for GA this month.

Peter

https://www.thekathrynreport.com/.../taylorcraft-bc12-d-n96389-2-dead-in.htm

[DanBrown]

Re: Sad News

Sad, Indeed. He will be much missed.

Yes, George posted as gfortin.

The most recent was last month in this thread:

http://vb.taylorcraft.org/showthread.php?t=7511

The link to the article about him didn't work for me. Peter, can you post the article?

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Sad News

I have to wonder if there was anything in his sticking float/needle that may have contributed to his accident. It is so hard when we loose a friend.
Hank

Damn-it George!

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Sad News

I have lost three friends this month alone ; one died at his 55th Class Reunion. Calling hours tonight and another memorial on Sat.. I will follow this report closely ,

[Bird]

Re: Sad News

Bangor news

http://www.bangordailynews.com/story/bdn/2-killed-in-plane-crash-in-Maine,151355

You can do a search by typing in "plane crash taylorcraft Maine" and it will bring up several sites.
My thoughts are with the families.

[Peter Collin]

Re: Sad News

Dan.

Bird answered your question. Right now I don't have any more info, I will post it as soon as I hear anything.

Peter

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Sad News

Guys, as someone who did a LOT of crash investigations for the Navy I can tell you you shouldn't listen to ANYTHING you read or hear in the media on this. Most reporters are NOT knowledgeable about aircraft or accidents. They are interested in a "story" their editor will publish. I'm NOT throwing rocks at the reporters or the media. I used to interface with them on a regular basis. Some were great, some were jerks.
We won't know what really happened till the accident report comes out, and then it may not be right (hey, it happens). What WE need to do is learn from this loss and never let it happen again. We lost a friend. We need to make sure we learn as much from it as we can. George sure wouldn't have wanted someone else to go from the same cause.
Even if it turns out to NOT have been a contributing factor, we need to remember George if we have a balky engine or fuel problem. FIND THE ROOT CAUSE AND FIX IT when you have a problem. Nothing scares me more than a problem that goes away without knowing where it came from. You never know when it may come back to bite you.
Hank

[jim cooper]

Re: Sad News

Terrible news! We do know, from the news report, that he took off once, landed again, picked someone up and then........ We also know that he was flying a very old airplane with old carb., etc. (I often think of these things as I take off, or add just a little power if I come up short over the fence, and murmer to myself, "don't let me down now you mf'er)....but sometimes they do, or at my age, maybe something physical. Its a real shame. JC

[N95334]

Re: Sad News

There is a poster at our airpark that has an old airplane in a tree with words something like : Flying is not inherently dangerous, but less forgiving than the sea.
Would it be inappropriate to say, Godspeed George.

[dewhitaker]

Re: Sad News

NTSB preliminary report...

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20100815X81520&key=1

A lot of unanswered questions, but I remember some of George's posts where he mentioned how beautiful the flight was, etc.

My condolances and best wishes to the families involved.

[Len Petterson]

Re: Sad News

IT HAS BEEN A HOT SUMMER AND WITH HEAT COMMES HIGH DENSITY ALLTITUDE!
Our old A 65 and other engines does not perform as well in heat, as we know.
My self fly of a short runway with obstucktions at each end and if I have No wind, I dont go!
Never mind taking ANYONE with me!
530 Ft asl can become 3000 easy, and with long grass add??????
We cut the grass weekly, a must in the summerheat!
Call me chicken if you like, but!
Len