Two members of the Civil Air Patrol were killed in a crash in Colorado over the weekend. Susan Wolber was the pilot and Jay Rhoten was serving as an aerial photographer. They were on a routine training mission when the plane crashed near Storm Mountain in Larimer County, Colorado. A third member of the crew, co-pilot Randall Settergren, survived the crash but was seriously injured.
I’m putting this up to give FotB RoadRich a chance to comment if he wishes. From private discussions with him, I know he was a friend of the pilot, but I’m going to leave it up to him how much more he wants to say.
Barbara Taylor Bradford, author. Her books were huge.
Beginning with the runaway success of her 1979 debut novel, “A Woman of Substance,” Ms. Bradford’s 40 works of fiction sold more than 90 million copies in 40 languages and were all best sellers on both sides of the Atlantic, according to publishers’ reports.
Ten of her books were adapted for television films and mini-series, and the author, a self-described workaholic whose life mirrored the rags-to-riches stories of many of her heroines, achieved global celebrity and amassed a $300 million fortune.
Charles Dumont has passed away at 95. He was a French songwriter, and you might recognize his name: he wrote (with Michel Vaucaire) “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien”.
At 44, Piaf was racked by pain after a car accident and expressed little apparent interest in returning to the stage — certainly not with a song by Mr. Dumont, whom she had previously dismissed as “a mechanical songwriter of no great talent,” he recalled in a 2010 interview with The Independent.
That day, Piaf’s secretary had already informed them that the meeting was canceled when the singer piped up in a weary voice from her bedroom and agreed to see them. It took an hour for the frail figure to emerge, Mr. Dumont said, and when she did, she told them. “I’ll hear only one song — just one.” Mr. Dumont raced to the piano and began belting out “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” which he and Mr. Vaucaire had written with Piaf in mind.
“When I finished,” he said in 2010, “she asked, rather rudely, ‘Did you really write that song? You?’ Then she made me play it over and over again, maybe five or six times. She said that it was magnificent, wonderful. That it was made for her. That it was her. That it would be her resurrection.”
Noted:
Chuck Woolery. NYT (archived).
After the Kentucky native performed “Delta Dawn” on The Merv Griffin Show, Griffin offered him a chance to audition as the host of a new game show he had just developed called Shopper’s Bazaar. Woolery beat out former 77 Sunset Strip star Edd “Kookie” Byrnes for the job, and the renamed Wheel of Fortune premiered on NBC on Jan. 6, 1975.
With the show pulling in a 44 share in 1981, Woolery requested a raise from $65,000 a year to about $500,000, what other top game show hosts were making at the time, he recalled in 2007. Griffin offered him $400,000 and NBC said it would pony up the rest, but that somehow infuriated Griffin, who threatened to take Wheel of Fortune to CBS, according to Woolery.
Not wanting to lose the game show, NBC withdrew the offer, and Griffin proceeded to fire Woolery and hire Pat Sajak. Also let go: original letter-turner Susan Stafford, who was replaced by Vanna White.
I seem to recall that Chuck Woolery came from my youngest son’s town of Ashland. I do know that he was recently making more statements about his fairly conservative stance. RIP to a man who seemed to be genuine and decent.
And he was living in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. Which, for OPSEC purposes, I’ll just say isn’t too far a drive from here…
Stainles
I just wanted to wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving. Here in West Michigan we had rain and 50 degrees today. Tomorrow a cold front moves in, bringing with it snow and sleet.
Gotta love Michigan, the state that tells everyone that if they don’t like the weather just wait a couple of hours and it will change.
Thank you, pigpen. I hope you guys have a good holiday as well.
Down here, it is just starting to get cold enough to justify a jacket. No rain, though.
I almost forgot to mention that when I was in high school, after having gotten my ham radio license at the age of 12, one of the two men who taught me the basics of electronics and Morse code tried to get me into the Civil Air Patrol.
Because I had so many other things going on like school, sports, a job pumping gas Friday and Saturday nights from 5-10 and Sunday from 9-9, selling tickets at girls basketball games, running the Varsity club concession stand for boys basketball games, referring high school girls volleyball games, etc. I could not find the time.
Funny that my one son, when seeing the list of my activities in my high school yearbook asked me how in the world I found time to actually study and do homework for my classes. Fortunately for me, I remembered everything that I read and that was said by the teacher during lecture time. I pulled a solid 3.0 GPA without ever having to study.
It is now one week after my friend Susan Wolber passed away in the plane crash mentioned in this post. She was a pilot of significant experience and was sharing this experience with all of us as a member of the Civil Air Patrol in the Fort Collins / Loveland area, based out of KFNL. The crash was in rugged terrain and any pilot would find the area challenging. Two died in the crash as mentioned in this post, and the third was able to call for assistance.
I learned of the crash because I too am a member of Civil Air Patrol, and the national commander of CAP sent an e-mail to the entire membership to inform us and share her sympathies to the families and friends of those involved. Through news sources local to the accident, I learned the names of those involved and my heart sank. The mission was an aerial photography exercise.
That resonated with me – I too am aerial photography certified and appreciate the challenges of photographing items on the ground for review, not only the challenges faced by the photographer, but the challenges of the pilot.
Because, thanks to Sue and her partner Bob, I too am a pilot. I happened to reveal my interest in aviation while visiting them and other friends in Fort Collins. They offered to take me for a flight sometime. I said ‘sure’, and they did something no other pilots before them did: they said ‘tomorrow morning then,’ rather than leave me to find the nerve to ask for my free flight. From that first trip with Bob I found myself amazed at how learning to fly would be within my grasp, and by the time I made my next trip I’d started lessons. Between Bob and Sue I had a new adventure each year I returned to Fort Collins, and on one of my return trips I was able to participate in my own first aerial search while flying with Bob – an aircraft approaching KFNL declared an emergency and landed off airport, and with Bob flying a pattern, I located the aircraft. (All were fine, but their aircraft was damaged in the landing.)
The day after the crash I posted this to my friends: Speculation is worthless, so here is mine… the only thing I know for certain are my pilot friend’s skills are excellent, and that she is merely human. The Problem that happened, whatever it was, would probably have been far more survivable if it wasn’t for the terrain over which it took place. We pilots are trained to practice emergency procedures, and to fly the plane ignoring everything else. “Aviate, Navigate, Communicate” is a regularly repeated mantra for emergencies. “Just Fly The Plane” (with or without colorful metaphors added to that sentence) is job one. Fly into the accident. We pilots talk about getting handed a dead engine over trees a lot. Fly… into… the… accident. Pull the least lousy path out of what you have to choose from. I believe the reason anyone survived is because one or both pilots followed this rule when The Problem that happened, whatever it was, took place.
Three days ago Juan Brown posted a video on his ‘blancolirio’ channel examining what little was known about the accident. His video was very kind to mention Sue’s extensive experience not only flying, but flying for Civil Air Patrol. I appreciate his factual, reasoned analyses and have watched his videos for some time now. He points out that mountain winds might be a contributing factor, which is definitely something we pay attention to when we conduct search and rescue operations, either as practice or for real. I have attended several Mountain Flying Exercises in Alpine, Texas with members of my squadron. Colorado squadrons don’t have to go far for that kind of terrain, so it is a natural component of nearly every exercise. On my very second flight in Fort Collins, Sue put me in her Cessna 182 and we flew over (with plenty of altitude) the nearby mountain range to appreciate their beauty, even as she pointed out the challenges of accessing a small strip nestled in a valley below.
I’ve so far flown in four different aircraft with Bob and Sue, and what I can say is that both are meticulous pilots who fly often, and every flight was a learning experience, for all. “A good pilot never stops learning.”
We affect our risk level with everything we do. We elevate that risk stepping out of our homes, getting into our vehicles and so on. CAP provides a lot of training and a lot of tools on risk management. Risk is not removed, but a plan is in place for when risk begins to rise beyond expectations. Whatever it was that became The Problem, be it the mountain wave, the equipment, or the human pilot, I think it’s that extensive skill that allowed one of them to make it.
I shall miss my friend Sue, and when this finally hits me it’ll probably hit hard. I’ll always treasure the world that she and Bob opened up to me.
-RoadRich