The National Transportation Safety Board released the preliminary report on the crash that killed "Spanish Fly" host Jose Wejebe, who was flying an "experimental amateur-built" plane from Everglades City to Merritt Island Airport. Investigators learned that on April 6 Wejebe, 54, took off from the Everglades City runway and rose upwards of 150 feet when the plane took a sharp right turn and started nose-diving. According to the report, Wejebe's plane crashed 275 yards from the runway, where winds were estimated at 14 mph. Although Webeje reportedly had around 1,000 hours of total flight experience, the amateur-built aircraft he piloted are known for being accident-prone. According to a Miami New Times cover story on the kit airplane trend in Florida, "home-built aircraft are 5 times as likely to crash as professionally made planes. And if an accident does happen, their pilots are 7 times as likely to die." [video]http://i.planepictures.net/92/35/1268135486.jpg[/video]
Home-built aircraft thrill and kill - Page 1 - News ... - Miami New Times [video]http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.miaminewtimes.com%2F2011-12-08%2Fnews%2Fhome-built-aircraft-thrill-and-kill%2F&ei=GRv2T6uBLoWo8ATf3OjzBg&usg=AFQjCNEEwcrnYH8ofREvr1XSi9VRozkdLQ[/video]
I wonder about their statistics???/ You don't walk away from many plane crashes. I had the hydralics shot out of a chopper I was in and we made an autorotate in.... but that's different. When a plane goes down... people die. Where do theye get this 7 times more likely crap from.
