[HIGHTECHDUDE]

JONES ISLAND, (June 7, 2024) — Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the famous “Earthrise” photograph died in a plane crash Friday at the age of 90.

His son, retired Lt. Col. Greg Anders, confirmed the death. “The family is devastated,” he said. “He was a great father and a great pilot.”

The sheriff’s office of San Juan County, Wash., said in a statement that a two-seater plane went down into the waters near Jones Island in the San Juan Channel on Friday morning. San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter said that the cause of the crash is being investigated and that it appeared the pilot was the only person on board at the time.

On Dec. 24, 1968, Anders and fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell became the first humans to orbit the moon.

[kellyhound]

90 year old in a 70 year old plane doing barrel roll loops.
He died during what he loved most. Respect!

[William May]

That video will make it a LOT easier to determine where the wreckage is, and recover it.

Wonder if he had a stroke? Certainly the guy could REALLY fly, so just being an accident like schmoe pilots have is unlikely. Engine sounds good, so it wasn't a power problem. Plenty of fuel on board, as evidenced by the fire going on.

T-34's have a LOT of magnesium sheet metal parts on them, so whatever isn't recovered is going to just dissolve in the salt water in a month or so.

[ride]

G-LOC?

Flight controls froze?

Started his loop from too low an altitude?

[istoauresmaa]

It was his time to go.

[houseoftechno]

Looks like altitude too low for a roll.

[Roosta]

[Ferocity]

Originally Posted by houseoftechno ↗

Looks like altitude too low for a roll.

That's what I thought at first too. However, if you notice the way he went down you'll see he was going in a nice arc, then... For some reason, instead of continuing the path of the arc, he went more or less "straight." As if he was a tangent on a circle. If he had kept following the arc he started, I think he would have completed loop-d-loop successfully.

[Ferocity]

Rest in Peace, Hero❤️

[Hogmann]

Originally Posted by Ferocity ↗

That's what I thought at first too. However, if you notice the way he went down you'll see he was going in a nice arc, then... For some reason, instead of continuing the path of the arc, he went more or less "straight." As if he was a tangent on a circle. If he had kept following the arc he started, I think he would have completed loop-d-loop successfully.

Don't hurt yourself buddy physics certainly isn't your thing.
As the plane descends in the loop it accelerates which means the radius of the turn will be constantly increasing.