OT: Michigan Student possibly involved in 'Ghost Plane' crash
A developing story about a plane crashing in Ontario with no sign of a pilot inside. Police have traced the plane back to a missing U of M graduate student.
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2017/03/missing_um_student_rented_plan.html
http://jalopnik.com/this-ghost-plane-crash-is-one-of-the-weirdest-mysteri-1793462770
Wild guess that the pilot jumped out, maybe a fake death scenario? The plane's range is just over the distance from Ann Arbor to the crash site. Would be curious to see when the last communication with the pilot was during the flight, I don't know enough of flying to know how often these smaller planes communicate with towers.
Only really three options. Either jumped intentionally with the intent to survive; jumped without the intention to survive; or somehow fell out. I easily like your theory the best of the three.
Maybe the plane was low on fuel and there wasn't enough to land it safely, so the pilot bailed out?
The plane was scheduled to land in Harbor Springs, well short of where the plane crashed. I think it's a reasonable assumption that the pilot did not wait until running out of fuel to decide to bail to safety. Possible, obviously. Maybe the pilot fell asleep or always had a different destination in mind. Just not likely.
March 22nd, 2017 at 12:19 AM ^
a 4 seat Mooney and he had to land his plane once on a freeway because it was malfunctioning and he used the plane as a glider to land it, I believe you can do that with small planes.
So any pilot who knows what they're doing should be able to do that otherwise you shouldn't be flying a plane in the first place.
March 22nd, 2017 at 11:58 AM ^
All single engine planes must have a survivable glide ratio to be certified as air-worthy by the FAA. On top of that, unless you're flying an aerobatics plane, there isn't going to be a parachute available. So there is zero possibility that a small plane pilot is ever going to jump out of the plane voluntarily because of something mechanical. Even if the thing is actively on fire, you're taught to kill the fuel supply to the engine and glide it to the nearest field, road, river, clearing in the woods, whatever.
It would be unusual for a pilot in a plane like this to have a parachute in case of emergency, so the emergency-bail-out scenario is unlikely. If he had a parachute and used it, either he is very unusual, or planned on using it all along.
I just saw that the crash site was basically on the north shore of Lake Superior. That seems like a pretty important detail, since it obviously wouldn't have been safe to jump while the plane was over the lake.
If the pilot was trying to fake his death, maybe he jumped over the UP somewhere and assumed the plane would crash into the lake?
Not a very effective death plan when they don't find a body at the crash site.
Lake Superior's deepest point is 1333 feet, far less than a mile
You'll get no argument from me. Because Superior, it's said, never gives up her dead. And the gales of November come early.
March 22nd, 2017 at 11:54 AM ^
I love the fact that some lurker created an account today just to drop this fact on us. +1.
If the plane crashed into the lake then perhaps but it didn't, not what I would call effecient.
D.B, Cooper wannabe?
Can we not still just fake our deaths by making everyone think we fell off a ferry, like in the old days?
I was telling my kids the story this morning, and proposed the exact same theory. I assume you cannot "rent" a plane without an active pilot's license. So it's unlikely someone with the level of expertise would "accidentally" fall out of an airplane mid-air. So it's gotta be a "I'll jump, the plane will crash, and everyone will think I'm dead" scenario.
After telling this to my kids, my 13 year old responded with, "or, the person really did crash and die, but then a wolf dragged the body off." God I love my kids...
They're doomed...
C'mon, when are you going to break the truth to your kids about who took the body...
Sasquatch.
March 21st, 2017 at 11:52 PM ^
opened the door to take a whiz?
and jumped out with a bunch of money and dissappeard into the woods.
Could be he is Brian Robeson and living in the wilderness like Brian Robeson in the book Hatchet.
Read that book as a youngster. Quite entertaining. I still find the tornado in the wilds of Ontario to be the biggest stretch in a book full of stretches.
In addition, Sgt. Peter Leon, media coordinator for Ontario police, said there was nothing to suggest the pilot was in the plane at the time of the crash. Officials searched the nearby area, but the pilot has not been located.
Saw this on Channel 7 in Detroit this morning, and that part above is perhaps the most intriguing aspect to me.
The kid is obviously the love child of DB Cooper and a bartender he knocked up while on the lam. My guess? He's heading for Alert, NU, CA.
If anyone ever says, "Hey, where did LSA Aught One go?" The answer is Alert.
Northernmost inhabited town on earth, right?
Inhabited is a stretch, but northernmost is correct.
Perhaps a bartender from the erstwhile DB Cooper's in Madison Heights?
That stood out to me as well, but then the more I thought about it, the less surprising it was. Lots of people taking flying lessons and get their pilot's license. I'm sure many of them can't afford to own their own plane.
Edit: Ann Arbor plane rental, doesn't look too expensive http://aviationcenter.aero/rentals.shtml
$126/hr is pretty damn expensive, unless he planned on never returning.
Yeah, in the post-9/11 era that seems a bit dodgy.
On the post-9/11 bit, a little cessna plane couldn't do much damage, could it? I remember shortly after 9/11 a Yankees pitcher crashed his plane into a building in Manhattan. Obviously still a life threatening situation if anyone happened to be at the crash point, but relatively little overall damage to the building.
Maybe not by itself, but if you equip the plane with explosives, it could become pretty lethal, if it crashes into a vulnerable area.
Well, the same is true of a U-Haul truck--as has been sadly demonstrated.
At some point life goes on. We can't just stop renting airplanes or trucks or whatever other legitimate vehicle people need just because some a-hole might repurpose it for destructive means.
Why?
18 year old males pay through the nose on car insurance for a reason. This isn't renting a car.
A younger pilot is much more responsible.
Not to mention it is far easier to load a ground based vehicle with explosive materials than a plane you rented. Can't just pull your rented plain into a garage.
It's probably a single engine Cessna or something like it, not a jumbo jet, professor.
March 21st, 2017 at 11:58 PM ^
Renting planes is quite common. It's what most flying clubs do. I'd bet that most private pilots rent.