Stardom, Fame, and Airplanes - a Bad Combination

The latest missing person of fame, Steve Fosset, apparently down in a remote area of Nevada. Not off on an adventure, just a normal everyday flight in a normal everyday plane. Clear weather, a routine flight just a relaxing trip to scout out sights for a possible land speed record. It's not like he wasn't prepared for emergencies, his plane has a locater beacon, he was even wearing a wristwatch with a transmitter in it that can direct rescuers to him. He has food and water with him also, and the skills to survive such a predicament. Hope still remains that he will be found, but as time goes on the chances start to fade.

One of so many, in the long list of stars, or famous people, to lose their lives in an aviation related incident. Since the beginning of aviation, adventurers have risked their lives. For what ever reason the quest to accomplish a goal no one else has accomplished drives them to put their lives on the line. Men, women, no matter, its a drive that affects both sexes.

Amilea Earhart, died July 2, 1937 in the vicinity of Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean, toward the end of an attempt to fly around the world. Howard Hughes, on the maiden flight of the XF-11 on July 7th 1946, crashed and was seriously injured. No he didn't die, but the injuries caused by the crash affected him for the rest of his life, and led to his addiction to pain killers.

Admittedly people in this category chose the path they took. Knowing full well the possible dangers of their profession, it was a risk they accepted to be able to be the first. But what about movie stars, singing sensations, people outside the aviation profession who only used aircraft for transportation.

The Day the Music Died, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, (The Big Bopper). Their death by airplane on February 3, 1959 was a day of tragedy for the music world. While trying to leave Clear Lake Iowa, headed to Fargo, North Dakota in a Beechcraft Bonanza owned by Dwyer Flying Service their plane went down. The flight ended in a corn field about five miles from the airport.