Phil,

Thank you for updating this thread with the info from the NTSB. It has provided some closure for me and I'm sure others in this forum.

I know that probably every pilot out there reads accident reports to try and learn something from the mistakes that other pilots have made. I know that early on when it was assumed that he clipped wires, or trees, or a combination of the two, my heart just sank. I tried to put myself in the cockpit looking through Hanks windshield. I thought about the fear that I'm sure he had, and then knowing that you just made a mistake, and all that you can do is just hang on and hope for the best. Scary and sad.

I flew about an hour north of home this weekend into an unfamiliar area and spotted some really sweet looking gravel bars. My mind immediately went to the Chosstronaut's gravel bar videos and how much fun it would be to land them. Of course I was on my way somewhere and thought, "On the way back, I'm gonna check those out and maybe try and land one!" Well, then I saw a power line easement that crossed the small river. My mind immediately went to Hank. I just decided I needed to stick to the mission and go where I was going and get home.

I'll go up there again and check the nice little gravel bars out when I have some more time to do some scouting.

For each of our friends that have passed, I edit their forum signature to reflect that they have flown west to avoid an awkward situation when a newbie replies to one of their old posts. Berk, Dirtstrip, ATXCitab.

Zzz wrote:For each of our friends that have passed, I edit their forum signature to reflect that they have flown west to avoid an awkward situation when a newbie replies to one of their old posts. Berk, Dirtstrip, ATXCitab.

Skylane, aka Bub as well.

Take it from me, from someone who has smoked in the ground after doing a wire induce Lomcevak. The event happens so fast that the emotion of fear has no time to generate. Fear actually requires time consuming cognitive thinking and a period of denial. That doesn't happen in the very short time from, Oh shit, to thundering into the ground.
Id say your friend's sub conscious focused strictly on the task at hand and making the best possible decision to avoid a collision. The events that followed would not be of sufficient duration that he could comprehend the consequences of the out come.