Fred Cabanas

[EA757]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/16/3 ... banas.html

[Colonel Sanders]

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2 ... =News:S1RM

[LousyFisherman]

You know it would be nice to know what these links are about.
Was Fred a pilot?
Why are these links relevant now?
Just one or two lines so I can determine if I'm interested.
Communication is a wonderful thing.

LF

[Shiny Side Up]

From the first link:

Key West stunt pilot Fred Cabanas, who has entertained hundreds of thousands of people around the world with his dare-devil aerobatics at air shows, died Tuesday in an aviation accident near Cozumel, Mexico, according to a report from a Spanish website El Comercio.com.
He was 60.
Passenger Jorge Lopez Vives, host of an extreme sports program, also died in the crash that occurred at a private airfield on the southern island of Cozumel in the state of Quintana Roo, a major international tourist destination.
“They were filming a documentary to promote an air show but unfortunately had an accident,” Erosa Rudy, director of Civil Protection of Cozumel, told El Comercio.com. “Emergency crews rescued the bodies.
Cabanas, a fourth-generation Key West native, fell in love with flying as a boy and by 16 he as a “hangar bum” at Key West International Airport, where he traded washing planes for flying lessons.
An instructor showed him how to do a snap roll and Cabanas said that he was instantly hooked on aerobatics. Cabanas recalled that first snap roll in 2010 before the Southernmost Air Spectacular at Naval Air Station Key West. “You pull back on the stick and kick the rudder in the direction you want to go. Then you go around real, real fast … 360 degrees in one second.”
Cabanas was a Key West aviation legend who also was known around the world, flying in vintage biplanes. In 2010, he cut the ribbon to open the Navy’s air show in pure Cabanas style — with the propeller of his bright yellow Pitts Special S-2C.
He accelerated to 150 mph, flipped the plane 180 degrees with the left wing just missing the ground by five feet and then slicing the ribbon between two poles while flying upside down.
“Why fly straight when you can do the fun stuff like this,” Cabanas said before the crowd-thrilling stunt. “It is the most dangerous part of the show, but I love to make people smile.”
Cabanas had been making people smile with his aerobatics for nearly three decades. At air shows he was called the “Marlboro Man” for leaving trails of smoke, shaped like hearts and figure eights, in his wake. In 2010, he said he had spent almost 25,000 hours in the pilot’s seat.
He has won numerous awards at air shows and was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, featured in several movies, TV programs and commercials.
In 1991, he was teaching a student to fly when he spotted a MiG 23 ground attack plane flying over the island city with a defecting Cuban military general at the controls.
Cabanas said he alerted authorities. The Key West mayor proclaimed him general of the fictitious Conch Republic Air Force.
He owned Cabanas Aeronautics Unlimited, which offers aerial tours of the Keys and for those who dare, thrill rides.
Air show aerobatics pilot Gary Ward has called Cabanas “a good stick,” which means a pilot who can fly almost any kind of plane well.
In the deadly accident, Cabanas was not flying one of his own planes.
Cabanas said in 2010 he respected the risks of flying, and just months earlier had a close call during an air show in Mexico when it took him three turns to recover from a maneuver called the knife’s edge spin at 1,200 feet. “Normally, I can get out of a spin in one turn, maximum 2 ½. … The ground was coming at you fast.”
Cabanas has passed on his love of flying to both his children: daughter Lt. Kelly Gander, a Navy pilot, and son Raymond Cabanas, who helped his dad fly two planes to Haiti to deliver supplies for orphans after the earthquake.
Cabanas also is survived by his longtime wife, Susan.

From the second.

A mischievous smile, boundless enthusiasm, and a “type-A-plus character” made Fred Cabanas the kind of person those who met him never forget. He joked that instead of having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, he’d say, “I’ve got two devils, both saying ‘Do it, do it,’” longtime friend and aerobatic performer Gary Ward recalled.

A phenomenal pilot with a proven safety record, Cabanas performed airshows internationally in the Pitts Special S-2C; Hawker Sea Fury; North American T-28, T-6, and P-51 Mustang; Waco; and J-3 Cub. He also competed in the Reno Air Races multiple years, winning Rookie of the Year in 2005. His ability as an accomplished pilot in different types of aircraft preceded him on the airshow circuit. “He was known to be a very good pilot for decades,” said Mike Stewart, founder and flight lead of Team AeroDynamix, who knew Cabanas professionally.

Cabanas died Jan. 15 in Cozumel, Mexico, when the aircraft he was flying while giving a ride to a TV personality crashed. The passenger also was killed in the accident. Cabanas was flying a Decathlon, according to Ward.

Giving back to aviation, Cabanas mentored aerobatic pilots like Ward and launched their airshow careers; introduced others to the joy of flight and world of aerobatics with his business, Cabanas Aerobatics Unlimited, at Key West International Airport in Florida; and provided narrated tours of historic points in Key West in Waco UPF-7s through Conch Republic Air Force biplane rides. “He inspired so many people,” airshow pilot Debbie Gary said. “He was just relentlessly enthusiastic about flying.” Gary became acquainted with Cabanas through her mentor, Jim Holland, and the airshow circuit. She said she often saw him giving rides at airshows, in addition to performing.

He was the go-to person at Key West International, a regular at the airport since graduating from high school and attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He had accumulated 24,000 hours of flight time since learning to fly at age 16, according to his website, and held ATP, multiengine, instrument, commercial, and seaplane certificates and ratings. Cabanas also was an aerobatic competency evaluator for the International Council of Airshows.

“Every field has a go-to guy who can and will fly anything that shows up, and Cabanas is that guy at Key West,” Mark R. Twombly wrote of his involvement at the airport in the 2008 feature, “America’s Airports: In the Conch Republic.”

For some, he was also the go-to ferry pilot. Cabanas regularly ferried aircraft for aerobatic champion and airshow performer Patty Wagstaff. “Over the years, I worked and flew with Freddy many times at airshows and on television projects, and I cannot remember a time that he didn't make me laugh and feel good,” Wagstaff wrote of Cabanas, who was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and was featured in movies and on television. “He would also drop everything at a moment’s notice to help a friend. Recently I had to leave my airplane in Mexico for another commitment, and who did I call? Freddy went and picked it up two days later.”

“He’s a legend in his own time,” Ward said. Cabanas had taken Ward up for an aerobatic experience in 1992, lighting the fire for him to pursue the sport. The two didn’t cross paths again until a 1999 airshow in North Carolina, and they became fast friends. He helped Ward land his first airshow performance at the age of 57. “It always takes someone to pave the way,” he said. The two flew thousands of miles together over the years, crossing ocean and jungle to perform airshows in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Panama, Acapulco, Honduras, Guatemala, and other locations.

“He had a real heart,” Ward said, “a tender spot in his heart” for helping others and introducing them to aviation.

“And, most importantly,” Wagstaff said, “he loved and valued his family more than anything else in the world.” Cabanas is survived by his wife, Susan; daughter, Kelly; and son, Fred R. Cabanas Jr.

[Sidebar]

You know it would be nice to know what these links are about.

Links are there for you to click on. Try it!

[Gogona]

Was Fred a pilot?

Good question, bro! This guy just logged 25000+ hours. I think so... Wasn't he?

[Colonel Sanders]

People with ATP's are generally pilots. People who are
ICAS ACE's are generally pilots, too.




People who show up for Reno for the first time with a
Sea Fury and win Unlimited Bronze, then Unlimited Silver,
then race Unlimited Gold their first year are generally
pilots, too. That's never been done before or since.

[pelmet]

It is amazing that he accumulated 24,000 hours as a pilot not flying for the airlines. Wow.

[EA757]

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=fre ... 4F&first=0

[TG]

Was Fred a pilot?

Good question, bro! This guy just logged 25000+ hours. I think so... Wasn't he?

Hey bro! I'm currently in a place with a sh!tty internet connection.
So guess what, yes LF has a point, it would be nice to know if those links are revelant or not.

[Shiny Side Up]

Has there been anything released as to what was the cause?

[Colonel Sanders]

24,000 hours

Actually it was over 27,000 hours.

[Gogona]

©

That's one of my pet peeves, is it worth that extra click and opening a second window on my archaic machine??

As TG suggests, it doesn't work for people, who sit "in a place with a sh!tty internet connection".
But I'm just really wondering, how it's possible to get this forum, having Google or Yahoo inaccessible in the same time?

[Beefitarian]

Has there been some links in here leading to caterday pictures or something wasting everyone's valuable time and bandwidth?

[dashx]

is it worth that extra click

Yes. Yes it is.

The world is (still) a wonderful place inhabited by individuals that truly enjoy doing what they do. I didn't know Fred but I'm sure he enjoyed life right to the end.