EDDIE: The Life and Times of America's Preeminent Bad Boy by Ken Osmond & Christopher J. Lynch

Author:Ken Osmond & Christopher J. Lynch [Osmond, Ken & Lynch, Christopher J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

The newspaper article about our crash.

“Pilot error” is the death knell of any pilot’s career. The cause of our crash was determined as failure of engine due to lack of fuel. We knew that we had topped off the tank in Malibu, and we should have had a good two and a half hours of safe flying time. Instead, we ran out after only thirty-five minutes. But since we had used our own service truck to top us off, instead of buying fuel at the airport, which would have provided us with a receipt, we had no proof of how much fuel we had put into the tank. It was our word against the Federal Aviation Administration. Because of this, Dayton’s license was suspended, and we weren’t able to fly. Unless something exonerated us, our business was kaput.

Our redemption came from the very same airship several months later. After the crash, the Bell-47 was not considered a total loss. It was soon rebuilt, deemed airworthy, and went right back into service. A flight instructor fueled up the ship one day at Whiteman Airport and took off for a training flight. She made it no further than the end of the runway before the engine ran out of fuel on her. With a receipt to prove it, the ship was taken out of service and the culprit was found in the form of a failure in the carburetor on the engine. Apparently, with all of our shenanigans that day flying in Malibu Canyon, we had dislodged something that was causing the ship to gulp down fuel like no one’s business. Dayton’s license was reinstated.

We got another helicopter and tried to make up for lost time, but unlike our physical beings, our business was mortally wounded from the crash, and we were never able to recover. We lasted about another year and then said adios to the helicopter charter business. My stint as a fly-boy was over. Again, I was back to the grind looking for work.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.