BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!

Subject: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 May 09 - 02:56 PM

This news story attracted my interest with its colorful headline a week or so ago: Click here for report

May 2, 2009

Outhouses Cushion Small Plane Crash in Washington State

PUYALLUP, Wash. — A small airplane dropping from the sky after its engine failed wound up on a cushioning bunch of portable toilets — and the pilot was able to walk away apparently unhurt.

Gary Mayor of the Federal Aviation Administration says the Cessna 182 crashed Friday afternoon in Washington state after taking off from Thun Field, an airfield owned by Pierce County southeast of Tacoma.

Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer says the plane was about 150 feet in the air when the engine quit.

Troyer told The News Tribune that the pilot tried to turn around to land but didn't quite make it.

The plane hit a fence, flipped over and landed upside down on top of the portable toilets standing in a storage yard.

Authorities didn't immediately give the pilot's identity.
___
Copyright 2009, The Associated Press.

There appears to be no follow-up story but that should not discourage creative speculation on this Forum. Obviously the pilot went into a stall as he tried to take off from the Puyallup air strip. It's a good thing the porta-potties were in storage or the shit would have really begun to fly. It's also happy news that the pilot was able to walk away from this crash evidently uninjured, no doubt moping his brow with a handy-wipe.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 May 09 - 03:00 PM

I think that it was a damned good thing he hit what he hit, considering what he probably left on his seat, his pants, the ground around him, the ceiling of the plane....

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 May 09 - 03:03 PM

Ah, here's a link to some images of the crash site: click here for photos

The plane appears to be "en lieu" upsidedown.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 May 09 - 03:04 PM

Rapaire-

I wonder if the pilot had time to change into his brown pants.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 May 09 - 03:05 PM

Can't say he was just lucky as he obviously knew what the shit he was doing!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Emma B
Date: 06 May 09 - 03:12 PM

"The most frequent last words I have heard on cockpit voice-recorder tapes are, 'Oh Shit' "

Frank McDermott, partner in McDermott Associates, specialists in cockpit voice recorders

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 May 09 - 03:15 PM

Yeah, ranks right up there with, "Betcha I kin chug a beer while...."

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 May 09 - 03:35 PM

That's similar to the most common last words of a redneck:

"Hey y'all...Watch me do THIS"!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 06 May 09 - 03:38 PM

talk about landing in da shit

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Bill D
Date: 06 May 09 - 03:47 PM

Just waiting for the suggestion that the ends of major runways be lined with porta-potties.

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 May 09 - 07:30 PM

I wonder if anyone was inside at the time...

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 May 09 - 09:25 PM

There was the pilot....

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 May 09 - 10:17 PM

McGrath-

Naw, no business was being done in the porta-potties; they were in the warehouse lot.

Walking away from a crash like this one could leave one flushed with success.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 07 May 09 - 02:57 AM

Obviously just a 'Flash in the pan"..... a one off!!   Hope it hasn't driven the pilot 'Round the bend"

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 May 09 - 04:34 AM

Obviously he had time to prepare for the landing. The photos clearly show his flaps were down.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Michael
Date: 07 May 09 - 04:43 AM

"Just waiting for the suggestion that the ends of major runways be lined with porta-potties."

That would only be for Chemi Khazi pilots.

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 07 May 09 - 06:10 AM

Changing the title Airport... to Airportaloo???

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Michael
Date: 07 May 09 - 06:14 AM

Good job he didn't have 'the runways' too!

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: manitas_at_work
Date: 07 May 09 - 06:50 AM

"Obviously the pilot went into a stall ". Inspired choice of words!

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 07 May 09 - 08:18 AM

Aeronautical Engineer :

We're always in the shit - only the depth varies.

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 07 May 09 - 08:21 AM

The toilet is usually somewhere in the wings... not the wings somewhere in the toilet!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 May 09 - 08:43 AM

So much for his career -- it's in the shit now.

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Emma B
Date: 07 May 09 - 08:57 AM

yeah...right down the pan!

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 May 09 - 09:00 AM

What a harvest!

Still no follow-up reports from Puyallup. I find this puzzling given the attention this story has generated here. Here's some more information about the airport itself and the services described on their website: Click here for report

The relevant statement is "Today, from our headquarters at historic Thun Field in Puyallup, WA (KPLU), our company provides unparalleled service and highly competitive pricing for all your aviation needs, wants and desires." To which they might add a complimentary roll of tissue to pilots flying in or out.

"KPLU", the official abbreviation for the airport, I note rhymes nicely with "loo."

Where is columnist Dave Barry when we need him?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: olddude
Date: 07 May 09 - 09:56 AM

Thinking about the propeller, I now finally understand the term "when the shit hits the fan" ...

see catters always clear up these thing ...

now I know where that term came from

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: olddude
Date: 07 May 09 - 09:57 AM

I think the crash was cause by
"That Dog Diamond"


I am still chuckling John, more of them please

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: frogprince
Date: 07 May 09 - 10:36 AM

We walk a mile to Tim Horton's for coffee most mornings, and sit and gab about whatever for a while with some regulars. There are two - to -four licensed pilots in the group most mornings; one bought his own Cessna recently (had owned for years, but not recently). I printed the article for them. Just the one pilot/owner there today, but he read and some other friends read it and cracked up.

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 May 09 - 11:41 AM

Not exactly -- in this case the fan hit the shit.

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 May 09 - 01:06 PM

Maybe the commemorative song should be titled "Loop de Loo"?

Lost my engine, what'll I do?
Lost my engine, what'll I do?
Lost my engine, what'll I do?
Loop de loo, my darling!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 May 09 - 01:25 PM

It just keeps getting better. Spencer Aircraft is headquartered at historic Thun Field in Puyallup, WA (KPLU), and one of its slogans is "Helping you get to where you want to go!"

Well, when you gotta go, you gotta go.

The pilot by the way, according to other reports, is a 67 year old man. Possibly with a bladder problem...

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 May 09 - 01:40 PM

Possibly with a bladder problem

If he didn't have one before, he probably does now. At least until he settles back to a more "regular" routine.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 07 May 09 - 03:05 PM

Incidentally, did the plane have a 'Rolls' engine?

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: GUEST,Slag
Date: 07 May 09 - 03:27 PM

Actually, as I understand it, the pilot was flying inverted when the Tower came on the radio and said "This is Puyallup, Puyallup..." to which the pilot gave a slurred response "Roger that... Pulling up..." and of course, you know the rest.

Personally, in my younger years, I too, was saved several times by crashing into a toilet. When I think of the messes I would have otherwise had to clean up...

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 May 09 - 03:43 PM

Slag-

Well do I remember the comfort of the one-holer above the creek in Marshall, North Carolina, after an evening of drinking white lightning mellowed with cider. My buddy Franz eventually checked on me to see if I had per chance fallen in but I was just meditating, and throwing up when I wasn't doing that.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Pilot Saved by Crashing into Toilet!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 May 09 - 08:37 AM

Some of the other comments that have been posted on alternative websites include:

"And then the plane went to pot!"

"Any porta-pottie you can walk away from is a good one!"

Still no follow-up report in the Washington state newspapers. Maybe there are no more Washington state newspapers.

Charley Noble