Carl Weber
John Milhous
Nearly 18 months after a plane crash in Amherst County killed two area men, their families talked about their experiences since, and what they believe caused the tragedy that took the lives of the two friends.
On Aug. 22, 2010, John Milhous, 77, of Amherst was piloting an experimental aircraft he had just purchased, though he already had put more than 20 hours of flying in it.
Less than an hour after the Northwing Scout XC took off at about 6 p.m., the craft crashed in a field near Christian Springs Road, killing Milhous and his passenger, Carl Weber, 47, of Forest.
Mark Milhous said this week he and investigators believe his father must have become incapacitated, causing the trike, similar to a hang-glider attached to a motorized craft, to crash.
“We don’t know what (the cause) was,” he said.
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board that September mentioned a witness who saw the craft flying very low, as though the pilot was attempting to land in a nearby pasture.
“This is nothing like dad flies,” Milhous said. “He would never come in low. There’s nothing to come in low for. There’s no landing site.”
He said the way witnesses describe the aircraft descending is consistent with someone passing out, or perhaps having a heart attack.
“Since his hands were on the controls,” Milhous said, “when anything happens to somebody, the body will react by pulling in, which is totally consistent with people who saw the flight when it entered that area.”
A “probable cause” report issued last month by the NTSB mentioned the witness who observed the craft in the moments before and during the crash noticed it spiraling upward before pitching down and into the ground.
The report noted the controls in the rear of the craft would have been accessible to a passenger, and it’s conceivable Weber somehow caused the throttle to open up in the moments just before the crash.
Despite no direct evidence, Milhous, his mother Carol and Weber’s wife Cathy all said this week they believed Weber was attempting to save the craft when it was clear a crash was imminent.
“We just believe Carl was trying to save them,” Carol Milhous said.
She said she and Cathy Weber, already friends, have grown closer since they both lost their husbands.
“We consider ourselves heart sisters,” she said.
“It’s just like half of your heart is ripped out,” she said of losing her husband of 53 years. “Some days are easier than others. Some days are hard. We both depend on the Lord Jesus Christ to get us through.”
Cathy Weber said her husband’s death left a hole in her life, especially considering how much time they always spent together.
“We did everything together. We were rarely apart, except for at work,” she said.
Weber said though her husband had been in the Air Force and worked with NASA, she was never much of an “airplane person.”
That was different with John Milhous in the cockpit, and Weber said she and her husband often took turns going up in Milhous’ planes.
“We felt totally safe being with him when we flew,” she said.
“That I truly loved,” she said recalling the feeling of spreading her arms and feeling the outside air pass over and under.
“It was like flying, like a bird.”
Mark Milhous said it’s a mystery what could have caused his father to lose control, especially since the autopsies weren’t able to give any insight into what happened before the crash.
“He was in better shape than I am,” said Milhous. “He worked out every day. He ate right. He didn’t take blood pressure medicine. He was in great shape.”
For Milhous, the loss of his father was magnified by the fact that he lost his business partner at the family-owned Milhous Company, which manufactures electromagnets for what he called “high-energy physics applications.”
“He was a big part of (the business),” Milhous said. “We lost a lot of technical know-how when he went.”
Carol Milhous said though her son never took up flying, the company was one common factor uniting the family.
“When John was killed, it wasn’t just a chunk out of my heart, it was a chunk out of our whole family in many, many ways,” she said.
For Mark Milhous, some questions just won’t be answered.
“It’s a real mystery and it’s going to stay that way, because we can’t prove anything else.”
But Cathy Weber said she and the Milhous family have found comfort in their faith and their friends.
“God has provided so many friends and people around, family members and everything,” she said.
“We had amazing husbands. We’re very proud of both of them.”
Source: http://www2.newsadvance.com
NTSB Identification: ERA10FA435
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
A witness observed the weight-shift aircraft approach her location and descend toward a nearby pasture. Shortly thereafter, the engine "revved up" and the aircraft pitched up at a steep angle. The aircraft began to make a tight spiral turn and continued until the nose pitched down, consistent with entering a stall/spin, before impacting the ground and erupting into flames. A postaccident examination of the wreckage did not reveal any mechanical anomalies with the airframe or engine. The aircraft was equipped with dual flight controls, and a throttle control was located on the foot rest for the aft passenger. The pilot was seated in the front seat and the passenger was seated in the aft seat. The passenger had access to the throttle control located near his foot rest, in addition to the flight controls, and it is possible he manipulated the throttle inadvertently although the investigation was unable to definitively determine if this occurred.
The pilot's loss of aircraft control for an undetermined reason.
