Sunday, September 16, 2012

Pasco plane crash ended life of man who shared his wonder with others

 Obituary:  William George "Bill" ATHEY  

ATHEY, William George "Bill" 53, of Odessa died unexpectedly Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012. He is survived by sons, Ryan & Wilson Athey; parents, Billy F. and Georgia Lee Athey, all from Odessa; and sister, Sybil (Rick) Bowen; his nieces, Leanne and Marisa Bowen of St. Louis, MO; and special friend, Vicky Truong of Tampa. He was a Senior Software Engineer at CAE in Tampa engineering flight simulators for the past 6 years. In addition, he was very involved in Educational and Community Outreach Programs at CAE. Previously he was employed 20 yrs as a software engineer in Clearwater for Honeywell where he developed software for Space Guidance and Navigation. He received numerous awards for Software Development, Outstanding Community Service and was inducted as a Honeywell Inventor. He was a graduate of Eckerd College with a BS in Information Systems/Computer Science. Bill was a lifelong learner of science/nature and loved to share his knowledge with schools and community groups. With his guidance, some participated in the Starshine Project where students polished mirrors for a satellite launched from the Space Shuttle in 1999/2001. He held an Extra Class Amateur Radio license and was a certified First Responder. He was an Eagle Scout and served as Scoutmaster of Troop 68 for 12 years; recently receiving BSA District Merit Award. He twice completed the Wasatch Front 100-mile Endurance Run in Utah. He loved to hike, backpack, Geo Cache, scuba dive, pursue flying, investigate genealogy and fly his newly created Quad Copter. He played various stringed instruments and raised white homing pigeons which have been used in Epiphany celebrations in Tarpon Springs. He loved long-distance bicycle riding and competed once in Olympic trials. Bill spent his life in service to others and above all honoring his Lord, Jesus Christ. Visitation will be Saturday, 5-7 pm at Blount & Curry Funeral Home, 6802 Silvermill Drive, Tampa. Services will be held Sunday, 2 pm at Hillsdale Baptist Church, 6201 Erhlich Road, Tampa. Graveside services to follow at Keystone UMC, 16310 Race Track Road, Odessa. Please sign online guestbook www.blountcurrywest.com.

 ODESSA — Bill Athey loved to learn new things, but he could never keep them to himself.

In high school, he built his family's first color television. An Eagle Scout, he also tried out for the Olympic cycling team and barely missed the cutoff. He rode his bicycle across Florida "just because he could," said his sister, Sybil Bowen.

A science freak, he would email family and friends with the precise dates and times they could see the space shuttle or other phenomena in the night sky. He became an engineer who often volunteered in schools. Sometimes he brought his homing pigeons. Other times he talked about space or operating his amateur radio.

And recently, Athey, 53, fixed up an ultralight plane and took flying lessons because he finally had the time and the money.

"He wanted to fly an ultralight for as long as I can remember," said Bowen, 51, of St. Louis.

Athey was taking his first flight in the plane about 8:30 a.m. Sunday when it snagged power lines near Pasco County's Pilot Country and crashed, killing him. Bowen said she was surprised to hear the details about the crash.

"He was never a risk-taker," Bowen said. "If he were flying a kite, he'd make sure you were at least 6 miles away from any wires. He would never take a chance or do something stupid."

Athey's crash was one of two ultralight fatalities on Sunday. A second happened about 11:30 a.m. when another aircraft took off from Hernando County Airport, stalled, crashed and burst into flames, killing 50-year-old Christopher Ambrose Washington of Spring Hill.

Although Athey's crash was the first fatality at the Pilot Country airstrip, according to its manager, it was not the only fatality associated with the airfield. In 1995, a plane that took off from Pilot Country crashed shortly afterward, killing one.

A graduate of Leto High School, Athey grew up in an Air Force family. He lived in various places but finally the family settled in the Citrus Park area, which his grandfather developed. As a teen, he got a job at an appliance repair shop because he could fix anything, his sister said.

After high school, he went to Hillsborough Community College and Eckerd College. He worked for Honeywell as an engineer until he was laid off several years ago, Bowen said.

He most recently worked for CAE, a company that designs flight simulators.

Athey would have flown ultralights years ago but a divorce "put that on the back burner," Bowen said.

He loved to take his two sons, who are in their 20s, camping and hiking, she said.

"He doted on those boys, Bowen said.

She described her brother as a man of strong Christian faith who regularly volunteered at homeless shelters. Though she's saddened by his death, Bowen said she knows he died doing something he loved.

"I know where he is," she said. "He's talking with Albert Einstein. All those scientific things he wondered about, he now knows the answers."


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Three hours and 12 miles apart Sunday, two pilots each climbed into their single-seat ultralight planes. They taxied down the runways and took off into the air. And both came crashing down.

In Pasco and Hernando counties, two pilots died in separate incidents, authorities said.

Around 8:30 a.m., a beginner ultralight pilot practiced “crow hops” at Pilot Country Airport, north of Land O’Lakes. Somewhere in the series of short takeoffs and landings, the ultralight lifted into the air. Flying too low, it snagged power lines along State Road 52.

The crash killed the pilot, 53-year-old William George Athey of Odessa, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said.

Around 11:30 a.m., another ultralight took off from the Hernando County Airport. Climbing to 200 feet, the plane appeared to stall. It spiraled downward and burst into flames when it hit the ground, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office said.

The pilot was identified Sunday night as Christopher Ambrose Washington, 50, of Spring Hill. He died at the scene.

Ultralights fly slow and low — planes for hobby aviators, for sight-seers, for dreamers who want to soar.

For all forms of flying, pilot error is the leading cause of crashes, said Roy Beisswenger, a board member of the U.S. Ultralight Association. He said ultralights actually can be safer than other planes because they’re lighter and slower, maxing out at 55 mph.

Ultralight fatalities are unusual, he said — the most recent in the Tampa Bay area was in June in Plant City — so the region’s two deaths Sunday shocked him.

Unlike larger planes, ultralights and their pilots do not receive certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, Beisswenger said. Left to regulate themselves, ultralight pilots tend to approach flight with an abundance of caution, he said.

“It’s really one of the last freedoms in America,” he said.

•••
During his daily chores Sunday, Rex Myers spotted an ultralight taxiing at the Pilot Country Airport. He waved to Athey, a man who had started coming by two weeks ago.

Later, he heard the ultralight in the air. The tiny plane was taking off from the runway, and it looked good: steady wings on a smooth flight.

Then the power went out across the neighborhood.

Athey’s plane had caught in the wires, 40 feet above the ground.

“He was flying his airplane for the first time,” said Myers, the volunteer airport manager.

But he also said Athey wasn’t supposed to be in the air yet.

For years, Athey had given his time to others. First it was as a Scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts, both when his two sons were young and then even after they had grown. An engineer, he inspired Citrus Park Elementary students to take an interest in space and wowed them with smoky dry ice at the Great American Teach-In. He shared his hobbies of raising homing pigeons and operating radios.
Now, he had told Myers, Athey just wanted to do something for himself.

Athey bought a used ultralight and fixed it up so well that Myers thought it looked like new. He took lessons and got a student pilot’s license, federal records show, polishing his decades-old flying skills. His instructor allowed Athey to practice on the ground without him, Myers said.

When Athey took off, he should have been 150 or 200 feet in the air, well above the power lines marked with orange balls, Myers said. He should have had plenty of room to descend to the runway, which ran perpendicular to the lines.

“For some reason,” Myers said, “he just never got very high.”

It was the first fatality at Pilot Country Airport, Myers said. Over the years, there had been “fender benders” in and around the small public airport. Sometimes people emerged unscathed.

For several hours after Sunday’s Pasco crash, the power remained out and deputies detoured traffic around State Road 52 and U.S. 41 while rescuers untangled the plane from the wires.

Though many pilots live around the airport, the way golfers live in golf-course communities, Athey lived in Odessa.

He had arranged with Myers to keep the ultralight plane at the airport over the weekend.

On Sunday, Athey would have disassembled the small plane, removing the wings and packing it into a trailer to drive home.

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