No Medical, No Certificate — Still Supported

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Survivors of a crash of a Cessna 180 skydiving plane in Pennsylvania last October say they don’t fault the pilot … even though he was flying with a revoked medical for a heart condition, had vision corrected to no better than 20/40, clipped trees on takeoff from his own 1,515-foot grass strip (its condition is listed as poor in the NTSB’s report), and was at the controls for the subsequent fatal crash. Emil Kindelberger, 81, was denied a medical on May 27, 2003, after being diagnosed with coronary artery disease requiring a bypass. He apparently continued to fly skydiving customers and they remain supportive of him. “Emil is Beaver County legend material,” said Cecil Smith, who still suffers neck pain and sleepless nights from the accident. “It’s sad that something like this happened at the end of his career.” Another skydiver, Nancy Elm, died in the accident. Kindelberger and skydiver Timothy McGraw were also injured.

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