And we're not talking a nick or a scrape on one side or another. Leddy Greever, the last surviving member of the Beech management triumvirate that included Walter and Olive Anne Beech, died in Wichita last week. Leddy started at Beech in 1941 and rose through the ranks to become a board member, traveling companion and confidante to Mr. and Mrs. Beech. He was 83. Talk about your holiday gift, two Australian skydivers survived a 1,640 feet fall Wednesday after they collided in mid-air, entangled their chutes and rode them down in a swirling, twirling plunge to Earth.
Witnesses say it appeared the aerobatic plane lost power after going straight up and rolling.
And pilots, not the plane, are the reason for the high stall-spin accident rate. The Piper Cherokee hit a pine tree in the back yard of the house and flipped into the roof of the house, about three miles from Florence Regional Airport in South Carolina. All four aboard the plane survived. A Piper Aerostar crashed into Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp shortly after launching into fog Thursday night, killing all four aboard. FAA has failed to increase controller staffing in the New York region, despite nearly two years of recruiting.