Comments about ‘Craft flies into Hooper crowd’

This craft should not have been allowed in the area with the hazards close by.It's sad that there were injuries but thankful none were life threatening. Thank you to all involved in treating the injured.

I hope the injured all manage to recover well. What a horrible accident.

Anyone know if this is the same craft that was circling over the Utah-Utah State game last Thursday?

Illegal flight, incompetent pilot. Violation of FAA-FAR 91.119

Sec. 91.119

Minimum safe altitudes: General.

Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes:
(a) Anywhere. An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.
(b) Over congested areas. Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft.
(c) Over other than congested areas. An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.
(d) Helicopters. Helicopters may be operated at less than the minimums prescribed in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section if the operation is conducted without hazard to persons or property on the surface. In addition, each person operating a helicopter shall comply with any routes or altitudes specifically prescribed for helicopters by the Administrator.

Does anybody know who the pilot was?

I am saddened also that somebody was circling over the Utah-Utah State game last Thursday, as such flying is illegal, explicitely prohibited by FAA regulations. If the irresponsible pilot who was doing that reads this, KNOCK IT OFF, because illegal flying threatens freedoms enjoyed by the rest of us pilots who follow the law (and common sense).

Are you sure an aircraft this light operates under Part 91? Many small, "personal-size" aircraft are not even regulated by the FAA.

It was mentioned in the article that nothing like this has ever happened in Hooper before. I beg your humble pardon. I remember as a kid, a small airplane took a header on 5900 West near or on the B and B confectionary. It has been many years since that happened but it still happened. It seems like a Frew was hit on the ground. Anyway, has anyone ever thought of instead of an airplane drop, using a candy canon? They are safe, make a lot of noise and are totally entertaining.

My husband ran in the St George marathon a few years ago. The race started very early in the morning, at the top of Snow Canyon. Unfortunately, the runners were not able to enjoy the quiet beauty around them, as one of these personal aircraft was being flown above their heads. It seems the pilot of this aircraft thought he would put himself into the race one way or another. It seems that buzzing those on the ground is part of the fun.

Maybe, there will be laws inacted to protect people from these pilots in the future. This is a sensless tragedy, and I pray those who have been injured will be okay.

The pilot was contracted by the event organizers to do the drop for the kids. They have done it for years. It was part of the events for the day.

The pilot wasn't Super Dell, was it?

It is unfortunate that the it happened altogether. You can imagine that the pilot has an unbelievable sense of remorse as I'm sure he was just trying to give some candy to the kids, and now he is being hammered by everyone because of it. Hindsight says it's unsafe but no one said anything last year and no one would have said anything this year had everything gone right. I know some of the people who were injured as well as the pilot. It's unfortunate but obviously could have been tragic. Possibly the pilot is due some respect as it could have been worse had he not been as experienced as he was. Equiptment failure happens, but experience can play a large part in the outcome.

In part of the video it appears the pilot didn't even have his hands on the wheel but rather both hands in the bucket. Is this true?

My husband has been flying powered paracutes (PPCs) for over 10 years. I've been riding and observing for all that time. PPCs are fun and safe when flown by a well-trained, careful pilot. EVERY incident we've ever seen that resulted in serious injury was caused by pilot error. Harsh, but true.

A good pilot always flies so that he has plenty of safe room to recover when something like a wind gust or equipment failure happens.

A legal 2-seater pilot should be sport pilot licensed and have his craft N-numbered. Unfortunately, too many PPC pilots remain illegal because it is just too easy not to. Local law enforcement don't know the FAA regs. It's too bad.

I hope all the 'seat-of-pnats' pilots out there learn from this and take steps to prevent any other accidents.

And no, this wasn't Super Dell or the guy from the U/USU game. That pilot needs to get his act together before he causes an accident. I know he's been told the right way to fly legally but chooses not to.

These machines are steered by the foot poles which are attached to and pull on appropriate chute lines when pushed. The only thing the pilot does in-flight with his hands is control the throttle. If this pilot's hands were down in front of him, he was working the throttle as he should have been.

He's lucky he didn't crash into the power lines clearly visible in the video, knocking live power lines down onto the crowd. 100% pilot error, IMO.

We can all speculate on what we think is right or wrong. but the fact of the matter is, the pilot went out there with intentions of making children smile and to participate in his own communities homedays. This was a tragic accident and now that this has happened all we can do is pray for the victims and for the pilot and learn from this mistake to prevent further tragedies. Tragic accidents happen everyday across this nation, and the first thing people do is talk about whose fault it is and trash them, versus putting their energy into praying for these victims. The victims could of been one of your children...but then again the pilot could of been your husband, father, brother...then what would you say?

any idiot who endangers and injures many innocents because of stupidity, doesn't deserve any respect. Neither should anyone else who thought this was an okay activity. this isn't ww2 in europe. what a bunch of stupid rednecks.

I agree with you Kade, this is indeed a tragic accident. The pilot did not maliciously cause this. I have children myself and although I would be horrified if this happened to them, I couldnt play blame game. and although us Hooper residents are "rednecks", at least we love our community and the people in it! No matter what religion we are or arent, no matter where we came from, no matter what way we choose to live, we still come together and are there for one another when we need to be. Comparing a small motorized plane throwing candy to children to WW2 is not only ignorant but ludicrous. This tragic accident could of been avoided, yes, but every tragic accident could be avoided. My heart goes out to those children and adults that were wounded. Our Hooper Community will get thru this and us "rednecks" will be there for our fellow neighbors who were involved in this.

I happen to know the piolot and some of the injured people, they are all good people that were involved in a true accident! The piolot had no intentions of anything but providing a service to his community because he was asked to do so. He had nothing to gain and was only being kind. I pray for everyone involved including the piolot and all of the injured people. It is easy for people to point fingers and second guess, but really what good does that do anybody?

U need to watch closer at the video its wasent power lines its was just Sport Lights to light up the field but hey its not only his fault kids and mommy and daddys need to Know Heads up when something is flying around even a paper airplane can cause problems going to the park they knew this air craft would be flying above them and if you look again at the video the son doing the candy dumping and the father is driving w/ hands and feet. Sorry it happend. Even At US Air Force pilots trainied more then 40 hrs a week still have problems even though they r more carefully at air shows, crashes do, have and contunie to happened. You put yourself thire not the polit.