As some of you may have heard, Scott Crossfield, legendary test pilot and first man to break Mach 2 (Gen. Chuck Yeager, USAF-Ret. broke Mach 1 first of course), in the Republic D558 II, passed away today when his Cessna went down.
Scott Crossfield was a true American hero, and will be remembered among the greats in aviation along with the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacher, and others.
Scott Crossfield was a man of great humility, and even told on himself during an interview on the Discovery Wings channel once. He had noted that he was infamous for having the technique of, after landing, shutting down the engines on his plane, and coasting it to it's parking spot and with only a touch of his brakes, bring the plane to a perfect stop. On one such occassion, and back then far more concerned with in-air emergency procedures than on-ground ones, he found out the hard way that with the engines off on one plane, the hydraulics for the brakes also were unpressurized, and he could not stop the aircraft! It ended up coasting right into the hangar wall with the nose buried in through the wall! Not to let the opportunity slide, the friendly competetion between Yeager and Crossfield manifested itself again when Yeager chided Crossfield that "The sound barrier is mine, the hangar barrier is Crossfields!" Truly it shows the wonderful sense of humor, and humility that he had to tell this tale on himself.
When you look skyward, think of Scott Crossfield ... a true American hero!
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