chapter_4_the_last_flight
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chapter_4_the_last_flight [2018/03/23 14:07] tom |
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| I mailed a check for $14 and waited for them to send a report. | I mailed a check for $14 and waited for them to send a report. | ||
| - | oon, something dawned on me. Captain Sabatke would have reached Douglas Lake, which is a man-made, forty-four square mile Tennessee Valley Authority lake, slightly north of Newport, Tennessee—if he had been able to continue to fly the aircraft westward another four or five miles beyond Parrottsville. Any passenger who has flown into Knoxville has looked out the window and viewed the large waterways that twist through the hills and valleys of Eastern Tennessee. Sabatke had flown in and out of Knoxville a number times, going back to his days with Capital Airlines. There was good visibility on July 9 and, at 500 feet above the ground, he would have seen Douglas Lake. | + | Soon, something dawned on me. Captain Sabatke would have reached Douglas Lake, which is a man-made, forty-four square mile Tennessee Valley Authority lake, slightly north of Newport, Tennessee—if he had been able to continue to fly the aircraft westward another four or five miles beyond Parrottsville. Any passenger who has flown into Knoxville has looked out the window and viewed the large waterways that twist through the hills and valleys of Eastern Tennessee. Sabatke had flown in and out of Knoxville a number times, going back to his days with Capital Airlines. There was good visibility on July 9 and, at 500 feet above the ground, he would have seen Douglas Lake. |
| The requested report from the data base was slow in coming and, as I waited, I told myself that if it turned out that Captain Sabatke's 1944 military accident was one that involved him ditching a plane in water, in all likelihood, his final desperate minutes, twenty years later in East Tennessee, had been spent in an attempt to safely land the plane in or on Douglas Lake. | The requested report from the data base was slow in coming and, as I waited, I told myself that if it turned out that Captain Sabatke's 1944 military accident was one that involved him ditching a plane in water, in all likelihood, his final desperate minutes, twenty years later in East Tennessee, had been spent in an attempt to safely land the plane in or on Douglas Lake. | ||
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| The landing gear, as found in the wreckage, was in the retracted position, according to the CAB accident report. The landing gear in the "up" position would have been necessary for a water landing. | The landing gear, as found in the wreckage, was in the retracted position, according to the CAB accident report. The landing gear in the "up" position would have been necessary for a water landing. | ||
| - | Eventually I received additional information about Captain Sabatke's experience in the United States Navy as a pilot who not only had survived the crash landing of one aircraft; but he had also logged nearly 1,500 additional hours in amphibious Catalina PBY aircraft in the Pacific Theater during World War II. I became more convinced that he "deviated" from the Victor 16 Airway to make a water landing. | + | Eventually I received additional information about Captain Sabatke's experience in the United States Navy as a pilot who not only had survived the crash landing of one aircraft; but he had also logged nearly 1,500 additional hours in amphibious Catalina PBY aircraft in the Pacific Theater during World War II. I became more convinced that he "deviated" from the Victor 16 Airway to make a water landing. {Captain Sabatke's experience with PBY amphibious aircraft is discussed in another chapter} |
| Again, had anyone considered the Captain's experience as a military pilot? | Again, had anyone considered the Captain's experience as a military pilot? | ||
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| It must be remembered that outbound traffic from Knoxville was also subject to observing air space, to the Northeast, belonging to Tri Cities Airport. By the time outbound flights had traveled the approximately forty or fifty miles along their assigned Victor Airway 16S, they were required to be above the same 7,000 feet that "belonged" to Tri-Cities airspace. | It must be remembered that outbound traffic from Knoxville was also subject to observing air space, to the Northeast, belonging to Tri Cities Airport. By the time outbound flights had traveled the approximately forty or fifty miles along their assigned Victor Airway 16S, they were required to be above the same 7,000 feet that "belonged" to Tri-Cities airspace. | ||
| - | Sabatke had to have known that he had veered south from Victor 16 Airway. Besides giving him the chance of landing the aircraft in Douglas Lake a loss of altitude, therefore, would also allow him to avoid out bound traffic from Knoxville. | + | Sabatke had to have known that he had veered south from Victor 16 Airway. Besides giving him the chance of landing the aircraft in Douglas Lake, a loss of altitude, therefore, would also allow him to avoid out bound traffic from Knoxville. |
| Likely, as a pilot who was accustomed to flying in and out of Knoxville, Sabatke had to have been aware of a possibility that traffic was leaving Knoxville and heading in his general direction. | Likely, as a pilot who was accustomed to flying in and out of Knoxville, Sabatke had to have been aware of a possibility that traffic was leaving Knoxville and heading in his general direction. | ||
chapter_4_the_last_flight.txt · Last modified: 2018/03/23 14:23 by tom
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