As both a land and seaplane instructor most of my life, I take every aircraft accident personally, whether I knew the pilot or not. The death last November of Roy Halladay, former MLB star pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays and later the Philadelphia Phillies and a multiple Cy Young award winner, seemed even more needless than many because of the low-altitude maneuvers he was performing just before the crash. How many times, I thought, have I cautioned students against such stunts close to the ground or the water? What was he thinking, I wondered?
Roy Halladay Autopsy Findings Catch Industry by Surprise
Key Takeaways:
- Roy Halladay's fatal Icon A5 crash occurred after performing dangerous low-altitude maneuvers, with data showing the aircraft descended to just 11 feet above water before its final dive.
- The autopsy revealed Halladay was still breathing after the crash and that drowning was a contributing cause of death, leading to questions about the lack of immediate assistance from bystanders.
- Halladay's system contained a dangerous and contradictory cocktail of mood-altering drugs, including zolpidem (Ambien), amphetamine (Adderall), fluoxetine (Prozac), morphine, and ethanol, rendering him unfit to pilot an aircraft.
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