”Completely out of character”, that is how an associate described the reckless behavior of Wairoa Aero Club members Antony Donald Bell, 30, and Darren John McNay, 39 which resulted in a plane crash that claimed both their lives.
Authorities are trying to piece together the events that led up to the fatal crash and of course since you are reading it here; alcohol is considered a factor in the accident. Ask any police officer or parent for that matter and they will almost inevitably tell you that rarely anything thing that occurs between the hours of two and six AM is legit, legal, or safe. So it should come at no surprise that police believe the pilot and his passenger had been drinking at a party before deciding to take to the skies at 3 o’clock in the morning.
The microlight plane was not designed for night flying and it’s illegal to do so. It was raining. There was lightning. It was foggy. Officials described the ill fated night as having the ”worst possible” flying conditions, especially when you throw a few drinks into the mix.
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“We are shocked because Antony especially was really responsible in the position that he has with the instructing. He was always … on the ball and being conscientious about safety, so it’s a very big surprise about what happened. Mr. Tollison said he was aware that there would be a perception of two reckless young guys going out for a joyride flight after a few drinks, but what happened was “completely out of character”. ~ NZ Herald
From the quote above, I find it hard to believe that anyone would find it a “very big surprise” that after a night of drinking that someone could do something “completely out of character”. I guess things are the same in New Zealand as they are here where apparently it is acceptable to die from drunken stupid behavior as long as one doesn’t have a “problem” with alcohol.
Both men leave behind widows, one pregnant and the other with kids.
True to form in a world that acts as if the death and destruction caused by alcohol is rare and anything but routine and predictable, at the bottom of this New Zealand Herald article was this ad:
After all, it certainly would be “out of character” if as a society we let reality get in the way of our drinking.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Flying with a hangover is bad enough. I’ve had vertigo on a clear day.
Anyone flying in bad weather and in an unrated aircraft had the deck stacked against them from the word go. Add alcohol and the chances of survival diminish precipitously.
http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/nall.html
Good reading for a rainy day.
Personal opinion follows.
People get away with things until the statistics catch up with them. The first time you get away with it there is the exhilaration of cheating death. The second is more of the same. By the third time, you’re wondering what sort of fuddy duddies wrote the rules, anyway.
Sooner or later, the circumstances will be right. Could be any number of individual parameters or just the right combination.
With any luck, you’ll have a good scare. If not, well, the Nall report is filled with people who used up all their luck. Some survived, some not. The tragedy is the dead passengers and innocents.
A good pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid having to use his superior skill.
BTW, 50 bux for a bottle of single malt. Too bad I’ve lost the taste for it. Would be wasted on me anyway.
once this phrase hits the recipe all bets are off. I would agree with your analysis of playing the odds one too many times and would like to add that I think as alcoholics our talent to rationalize anything almost insures a quicker and worse outcome.
Thanks for the link!
i dont think the reletive authorities have accertained the cause of this crash yet and whether or not alcohol was even a factor. R.I.P DEISEL
These two men left a party and took an inadequate craft into a storm at 3 AM in the morning in what their own colleagues describe as the “worst conditions possible”.
I agree with the police and say that alcohol is likely the culprit. I guess of course there is always the chance they just accidently ate some stupid cookies or moron muffins at the party.