No Injury Accident in Denver

[Bill Greenwood]

There as a crash in the Northglen suburb of Denver yesterday. A banner towing plane was to circle the Rockies baseball game but apparently had a problem and went down at hit the side and roof of a house.

Two amazing things, despite a hard impact, and a fire the plane which looks like a Super Cub, allowed the pilot to walk away.
And the house was unoccupied, but previously had been owned by this same pilot!

[1600vw]

I don't believe you can call this an " Accident ". If I can see this I am sure the powers to be can see this also.

Tony

[Bill Greenwood]

Tony, I am not sure what you mean by "If I can see this". If you have some esp on this please tell us.

Here is a little more info from the local news. The plane is a Piper PA-25 Pawnee, a crop duster which is built strongly with extra pilot protection features, thus how he could survive a head on impact, which even at slow speed must have been pretty hard. The tail, one wing and most of the fuselage were pretty intact after the crash, even if upside down in the roof of the house. The roof may have had enough give to soften the impact as the plane made a hole about 10 feet into the house. The pilot, Brian Veatch is also a firefighter, and when not injured he found a water hose at the house to fight the flames so the house did not fully burn.
The pilot owned this same house and lived there 2000 to 2003. The current owners were not home.
This house is not isolated, it is part of a housing area also with lots of trees.
The police say it seems to be a conincidence, even if a strange one.
In covering the story, the news channel used a drone helicopter to get the overhead shots. You can see the shadow of the copter rotor as it takes off.

[1600vw]

Tony, I am not sure what you mean by "If I can see this". If you have some esp on this please tell us.

Here is a little more info from the local news. The plane is a Piper PA-25 Pawnee, a crop duster which is built strongly with extra pilot protection features, thus how he could survive a head on impact, which even at slow speed must have been pretty hard. The tail, one wing and most of the fuselage were pretty intact after the crash, even if upside down in the roof of the house. The roof may have had enough give to soften the impact as the plane made a hole about 10 feet into the house. The pilot, Brian Veatch is also a firefighter, and when not injured he found a water hose at the house to fight the flames so the house did not fully burn.
The pilot owned this same house and lived there 2000 to 2003. The current owners were not home.
This house is not isolated, it is part of a housing area also with lots of trees.
The police say it seems to be a conincidence, even if a strange one.
In covering the story, the news channel used a drone helicopter to get the overhead shots. You can see the shadow of the copter rotor as it takes off.


I have to agree with the police on this one.....

Tony

[1600vw]

Let me see...I owned a home some years ago and for unknown reasons I sold it. Then many years go by and I somehow crash my airplane into this home with all these other homes around it and not hit one of them but this one home I owned sometime ago.
This guy should play the lottery if he has that kind of luck for what are the chances of this happening.....

Tony

[Frank Giger]

The only way I'd be suspicious is if his ex-wife got it in the divorce.

[rwanttaja]

The only way I'd be suspicious is if his ex-wife got it in the divorce.
Or he'd lost it in foreclosure, like a lot of folks.

"Used to own the house" is harmless, 'though if the sentence ends, "...until he lost it to the bank/his ex-wife," it's perfectly reasonable that the local cops may talk to him a bit more. We just don't know.

I live near my airport...right under the pattern-entry zone, in fact. I've looked up and down my street to assess it as a potential forced-landing location should the engine act up. Better a street that you know, rather than one you didn't (besides, an MD lives next door to me). Though if I had previously lost the house messily, and manage to imbed the Fly Baby through the front door, I think it'd be likely that the cop's questions were a bit pointed.

Ron Wanttaja

[Bill Greenwood]

Ron, you certainly have a vivid imagination and a sense of looking for the dark side. There is nothing at all in any news that I saw which says or hints that the pilot lost the house in foreclosure or any other way.
And recall that foreclosures were pretty rare in 2003, when the economy and housing market were pretty good, in fact the best economy we ever had was in the 2nd Clinton term.
The market peaked around 2007 and foreclosures escalated after that and especially in the latter part of the 2nd Bush term.
Also this man is a firefighter so likely is able to find work.

[rwanttaja]

Ron, you certainly have a vivid imagination and a sense of looking for the dark side.

It's a gift. :-)

Ron Wanttaja

[martymayes]

Though if I had previously lost the house messily, and manage to imbed the Fly Baby through the front door, I think it'd be likely that the cop's questions were a bit pointed.

lol, I had a vision of the scars left in that door by a fly baby, palm sized chip in the veneer face and one of the address numbers knocked loose.

[Infidel]

I'm somewhat amazed that he not only flew/crashed into a residence he previously owned, but felt it necessary to extract himself from the wreckage, find the garden hose, and commenced to extinguish the flames. I wonder if he helped himself to the fridge while he was there?

As as a retired law enforcement officer, I learned most "coincidences" are not coincidences.

[Floatsflyer]

Planes into houses are hardly an anomaly. One of the best ever with one of the best post-crash lines ever.

http://youtu.be/DBSAeqdcZAM (http://youtu.be/DBSAeqdcZAM)

[rwanttaja]

I'm somewhat amazed that he not only flew/crashed into a residence he previously owned, but felt it necessary to extract himself from the wreckage, find the garden hose, and commenced to extinguish the flames. I wonder if he helped himself to the fridge while he was there?

As as a retired law enforcement officer, I learned most "coincidences" are not coincidences.

I agree that the coincidence might deserve a brief official look, but it should be easy to determine if the guy had any incentive for deliberate damage.

For the rest, i don't see a problem. Many pilots have owned homes near airports, most crashes occur on or near airports. The guy sounds experienced; not unlikely he could maximize the survivability of the impact.

As for self-extricating himself from the wreck, I think that's something all of us would do.

As for getting a hose to put the fire out, the guy was apparently a firefighter. He would have known the value of knocking the fire down early.

I think he showed tremendous presence of mind in a critical situation, after what had to have been a tremendous shock. Again, what i would expect from a professional firefighter.

In any event, he showed a laudible sense of personal responsibility. He could have just walked out to the curb and dialed 911. Few would have criticized him.

Ron Wanttaja

[Infidel]

I agree that the coincidence might deserve a brief official look, but it should be easy to determine if the guy had any incentive for deliberate damage.

For the rest, i don't see a problem. Many pilots have owned homes near airports, most crashes occur on or near airports. The guy sounds experienced; not unlikely he could maximize the survivability of the impact.

As for self-extricating himself from the wreck, I think that's something all of us would do.

As for getting a hose to put the fire out, the guy was apparently a firefighter. He would have known the value of knocking the fire down early.

I think he showed tremendous presence of mind in a critical situation, after what had to have been a tremendous shock.

In any event, he showed a laudible sense of personal responsibility. He could have just walked out to the curb and dialed 911. Few would have criticized him.

Ron Wanttaja

Exactly, and without a doubt, intriguing.