Warbird Information Exchange

The first world record involves young Tiger Brewer who at the age of eight has become the world's youngest wing walker. The other world record that has been broken is the Dumbest Stearman Pilot Of All Time. Actually, I'm sure the lad's grandfather will be in the running for the Dumbest Pilot Of All Time. Why limit him to the sub-category of Dumbest Stearman Pilot Of All Time.

I consider myself to be a relatively open minded person who is not inclined to judge the actions of others on a regular basis but this deal is over my limit. As a Stearman pilot and the father of an eight year old I feel that I have some ability to comment on this event. I find this stunt to be without exception, the most ill-conceived thing I have ever seen done with an airplane when the only motivation was publicity. If I were King, and believe me it's a good thing that I'm not, the parents of this child, along with his pilot grandfather, would be the first ones up against the wall.

http://itn.co.uk/fabcc5f2724f4c45a440344b8395519d.html

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Albert Stix Jr.
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"

Well, as a novice wing walker myself, I gotta say that I agree with you Albert. Although, at least the little kiddo was strapped on the rig nice and tight and didn't do any real "walking" while he was up there. I'm certainly not defending the judgment used there, but it's better than the way I did it..............








Gary

WTF???!!!!! I'll stay inside the aeroplane, thank you.

Of course I have seen the video of an L-19 flying with someone (who shall remain nameless and is certainly not me) sitting on the tailcone, tied into place.

Gary, are there any regulations about passengers climbing outside the passenger's compartment in non-waivered airspace?

pretty reckless judgement on the parents part!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

oh what is the big deal.., he was as safe up there, 5 pt restraint and all, as his father doing the flying.., barring any descents under bridges.., he was snug as a bug strapped to the wing of an airplane!

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S.

Ya know, I've put a little thought into doing this myself - my wife has always wanted to walk and I've got a 450 Stearman at my disposal so why not? I've talked with a few 'frequent' wing walkers (Tony Kazian who walks on Dave Dacy's Stearman) and from what they all say it is really pretty safe. Well the flying part is. They told me under NO circumstances should you consider taking off or landing with someone strapped on the top wing - a break lock along with numerous other possibilities (engine failure and off field landing) could get pretty ugly. I'd have to agree, this isn't something for an 8 year old to be doing. Just my thoughts though...

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Ryan Pemberton
www.pembertonandsons.com

The only regulation we found was concerning the fact that seatbelts must be worn during takeoff and landing......which I did. There may indeed be some other FAR that I violated during that episode, but we couldn't find any.

Oh, and IF anyone out there is considering doing this, a HUGE mistake I made (or so I'm told) was that I wore a parachute. You see, the chutes have been known to deploy unexpectedly, pulling folks through the flying wires on the tail, not only causing substantial injury to the former wing walker (knew of a guy in Arkansas that lost a leg for this reason....but naturally found out about it AFTER I did my walk), and potentially downing the airplane due to structural failure of the tail. And after my flight, my parachute had indeed started coming out of the container.

That was an incredibly stupid stunt I pulled. I got away with it, but it was stupid nonetheless. Just something to think about.

Gary

First, that's a big eight year old.
Second, if he really is just eight, I'm with Al. STUPID people to risk a child's life.
Third. What the heck it that thing they're flying?

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"I love the smell of 100LL in the morning."

i'm assuming tony kazian is the son or brother of johnny kazian, who i partyed with at the 89 cleveland air show in the coca cola private sponsors tent. we talked for hours, had a few beers, ate huge dagwood sandwiches, & then johnny went up & did his thing!! he's a hoot & a heck of a nice guy!! got his sig, it means alot to me!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!