# Pilot helps rescue man dying in desert **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486 "2008-08-01T13:43:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/21 "2008-08-16T01:14:35Z")
I consider you both rich and PITAs to boot. How’s that? 😃😛 The price you quote is only for the plane–there is the um, storage fee (hangar space or similar), the lessons and the upkeep on the license etc. Spend your money however you like, but if you can afford 2 private planes and the stuff that goes with them, you have a decent amount of expendable income. Ditto for boats, IMO. Or car collectors. Middle class you may be, but either you’re pinching pennies somewhere else or you are not middle class (upper, perhaps). Notice I don’t ask, WHY you would want 2 planes or boats… To each his own. 🙂 And I still don’t know how that guy ended up in the desert, alone, with a broken back and no vehicle etc. I’ll never know. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/22 "2008-08-16T02:39:52Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] And I still don’t know how that guy ended up in the desert, alone, with a broken back and no vehicle etc. I’ll never know. ☹ [/QUOTE] -Overachiving human cannonball? -Took a right turn in Albuquerque? -A fitting end for his career as a snitch? -Fell of a quad with cruise control? -A deported Raelian? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/23 "2008-08-16T08:03:55Z")
Interesting to know that there’s 600,000 trained pilots in the US. That’s a significantly large percentage of the populace. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/24 "2008-08-16T08:33:34Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Do you consider truck drivers “rich”? [http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/big-trucks/find/listing/2009-kenworth-t660-93403727](http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/big-trucks/find/listing/2009-kenworth-t660-93403727) If you only have one Cessna to trade in, you can afford this beauty. 150,000 trouble-free miles! [http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/big-trucks/find/listing/2005-kenworth-t800-93269281](http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/big-trucks/find/listing/2005-kenworth-t800-93269281) In case you’re wondering, an owner-operator can gross as much as $150,000 per year, but running costs will eat at least half of that. If he’s paying off his truck, he might not see more than $20,000 a year after expenses. [/QUOTE] Truck owners (not the same as drivers) do get the equivalent of mortgages on their equipment. In some locations they can also get special government loans and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/25 "2008-08-16T10:15:30Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] It’s a more expensive proposition to own even a single aircraft nowadays, compared to the '70s when a five- or six-year-old Skyhawk could be had for $10,000 to $15,000 but you don’t have to be Thurston Howell III rich. [/QUOTE] I have to wonder what $15K from the '70s translates to in same year dollars. I got my SEL license in 1975, and I was looking lustfully at a Cardinal RG for about $15K at the time, and it was most definitely an unattainable dream for me. However, to continue the hijack, one needn’t be rich to spend one’s disposable income on what some might consider to be outrageously expensive toys. It’s just a matter of choice and budgeting. Our last boat fell into that category - between the payment, the insurance, the slip fees, and upkeep, we had another mortgage on our hands. But for us, having a boat is a priority, so we adjust our life accordingly. We weren’t rich, although since selling that boat and using the proceeds to buy another one for cash, I now see how strained our budget was. Anyway, I can see a pilot making choices so he could afford his plane. Maybe renting a cheap, small place, not eating out, driving a beater… Or he could be rich. Either way. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/26 "2008-08-16T11:04:52Z")
You don’t have to be rich to own a plane (I’ve known a couple of people in my lifetime who have owned small planes), but if you’re not rich then flying would have to be a passion, as you’d probably pour a lot of your money and free time into it. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/27 "2008-08-16T11:50:47Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] And I still don’t know how that guy ended up in the desert, alone, with a broken back and no vehicle etc. I’ll never know. ☹ [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > Turns out the guy initially wanted to end it all. Took maybe 100 over-the-counter sleeping pills, some whiskey, and then bailed out of his car at speed. He had no idea how long he’d been on the desert but I guess the heat and suffering woke up his desire to survive. From [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:1JnQI9EJG2oJ:open.salon.com/content.php%3Fcid%3D5881+reno+pilot+husky&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:1JnQI9EJG2oJ:open.salon.com/content.php%3Fcid%3D5881+reno+pilot+husky&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us) Great pics. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/28 "2008-08-16T11:56:54Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Interesting to know that there’s 600,000 trained pilots in the US. That’s a significantly large percentage of the populace. [/QUOTE] How many of those own their own plane? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/29 "2008-08-16T12:36:10Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] From [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:1JnQI9EJG2oJ:open.salon.com/content.php%3Fcid%3D5881+reno+pilot+husky&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us](http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:1JnQI9EJG2oJ:open.salon.com/content.php%3Fcid%3D5881+reno+pilot+husky&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us) Great pics. [/QUOTE] Thanks for posting this. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/30 "2008-08-16T12:44:26Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I’m not criticizing, I’m just reminding you that to some of us, $80,000 is a ridiculously large sum of money for something that doesn’t come with a 30 year mortgage. [/QUOTE] Dude..it FLIES. What’s so ridiculous? Owning an $80,000 Piper Cub is not “rich”. As someone pointed out, it is in the same price range as a high-end car. Owning one of [these](http://www.gulfstream.com/) is rich. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/31 "2008-08-16T14:25:59Z")
**samclem** : Thanks for posting that. I thought this was going to turn into one of those ‘There is a dead man in a field. He has no clothes. There is a broken matchstick next to him. What happened?’ puzzles. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/32 "2008-08-16T14:47:50Z")
Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/33 "2008-08-16T16:13:53Z")
To continue the rather pointless hijack… 😉 My MIL & her then-husband owned a small plane in the 70’s & 80’s, and they weren’t rich. He was already a kick-ass pilot, and they used to fly all over CA for business. It was hella cheaper than flying commercial at the time. Of course, he wasn’t a very smart businessman… they bought a boat… :smack: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/34 "2008-08-16T16:18:57Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] To continue the rather pointless hijack… 😉 My MIL & her then-husband owned a small plane in the 70’s & 80’s, and they weren’t rich. He was already a kick-ass pilot, and they used to fly all over CA for business. It was hella cheaper than flying commercial at the time. Of course, he wasn’t a very smart businessman… they bought a boat… :smack: 😃 [/QUOTE] Does anyone else see the irony here? He may have been rich, except that he bought a plane and then a boat… Of course, what do you do when you’re rich but buy expensive toys, aka boats and planes. My mind is whirling. (I know you don’t have to be rich to have a plane. Two planes and you’re pushing it, IMO, unless you live in one of them. I refuse to talk to crazy boat people.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/35 "2008-08-16T16:42:45Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] I don’t know for sure, but I think it might have been based on a Super Cub. [/QUOTE] Right. When Piper stopped making the PA-18, Frank Christensen (of Christen Eagle fame) designed the Husky to do what it could but with more power and fewer limiting quirks. They do look very much alike. Airplane ownership is affordable if you want it to be. You may have to settle for an older car and a cheaper house, and fewer restaurant meals, to make the budget ends meet, but those are the kinds of tradeoffs everyone has to make with their incomes. If it’s important to you, you can make it work. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/36 "2008-08-16T16:56:30Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] Right. When Piper stopped making the PA-18, Frank Christensen (of Christen Eagle fame) designed the Husky to do what it could but with more power and fewer limiting quirks. They do look very much alike. [/quote] Now that you post it, I remember. I briefly thought about looking up what it was before it was Aviat (remembering now that it was Christen), but didn’t pursue it. [QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] If it’s important to you, you can make it work. [/QUOTE] An old g/f used to say, ‘It’s all what’s most important to you.’ ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/37 "2008-08-16T17:02:06Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] ‘There is a dead man in a field. He has no clothes. There is a broken matchstick next to him. What happened?’ [/QUOTE] Let’s see… he was in an airplane with some sky divers and the plane was going down and there was one parachute too few and they drew straws and he lost and so he looked down and he thought he saw a lake he could dive into so he took off his clothes and jumped out except it wasn’t a lake and he went squish. Plus, aliens. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/38 "2008-08-16T17:09:26Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] **samclem** : Thanks for posting that. I thought this was going to turn into one of those ‘There is a dead man in a field. He has no clothes. There is a broken matchstick next to him. What happened?’ puzzles. [/QUOTE] I was worried he was going to start wondering where his wallet was. 😛 Was that too obscure? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/39 "2008-08-16T17:21:58Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] I briefly thought about looking up what it was before it was Aviat (remembering now that it was Christen), but didn’t pursue it. [/QUOTE] Christensen sold the design to Aviat. His Christen Eagle was similarly a knockoff, of the Pitts - and Aviat bought that too. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486/40 "2008-08-16T17:23:46Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] Christensen sold the design to Aviat. His Christen Eagle was similarly a knockoff, of the Pitts - and Aviat bought that too. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure I have a Christen Eagle brochure around here somewhere. Or at least a one-sheet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pilot-helps-rescue-man-dying-in-desert/458486.md?page=3)