Soul Searching after a STOL Fatality
The tragic death of a popular backcountry flyer at an impromptu STOL competition in gusty-wind conditions in May has prompted a good deal of soul-searching among many in aviation. It sometimes happens in the wake of a particularly emotionally jarring crash, and this one was bad. Tom Dafoe, a 45-year-old aviation sales professional, died in a mishap at a Nebraska STOL event. The fatal crash was witnessed by dozens of people, and it was captured on video. The traditional STOL contest, which grades contestants on the total length of their takeoff and landing rolls—the shorter, the better—was being flown after high winds scrubbed the planned STOL/Drag event, in which planes race at very low altitude in a straight line and back again to a short landing. The more traditional STOL event…