On the Fly …
89-year-old pilot, who’d been flying 12 years, walked away from crash …Hot air balloon was blown into power lines, no one injured …Heart problem ruled out in Skytyper accident …Public Benefit Flying Award Winners announced.
An 89-year-old Florida pilot walked away from the crash of PiperPA-28 Saturday in Myrtle Beach. Martin Geraghty took up flying at 77. A wind gust got the better of him as he was trying to go around after misjudging his approach ... .
No one was injured when a hot air balloon crashed into electric wires in Calgary, Alberta, on Saturday. The balloon, carrying a pilot and eight passengers, was just about to land when a wind gust carried it about 1,000 feet into the wires ... .
The widow of Jan Wildberghs, the Geico Skytyper pilot who died in a crash at Virginia Beach, Va., on Friday, told Newsday that a "heartissue" had been ruled out as the cause of his death. A sudden medical condition had been suspected since, without warning, the SNJ he was flying broke formation and flew into the ground ... .
The National Aeronautic Association, in association with the Air Care Alliance, will preent its annual Public Benefit Flying Awards Sept. 17. Winners are: Peter VandenBosch, Founder and President of Wings of Mercy;Terrence Trapnell, a volunteer pilot with the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps; Chuck Schroll, a volunteer pilot with LightHawk and the Flying Samaritans; Second Lt. Guy Loughridge of the Civil Air Patrol and Wings of Hope with Fundacion AeroAmazonica.
