Tragic or Stupid?

On July 3rd a Hawker Beechcraft G36 left Aspen airport.  At the last minute the pilots decided against taking their pre planned route out of Aspen or the route taken by virtually every plane to the south.  They instead decided to circle over Aspen, gain as much altitude as they could and fly up Hunter Creek Valley.  Fourteen miles later at just under 11k vertical they crashed into some trees near a meadow near mid valley pass.  Both passengers-(who were also pilots) died.

Yesterday we decided to hike to the crash site.  I wouldn't recommend this---while not a super hard hike, it is not visible and for the inexperienced represents a great opportunity to get lost.

Below are some pictures I took.

Things you will noticed from the pictures---they crashed into trees feet from a meadow (they plowed straight into the trees---I suspect they were trying to turn around and head back down but lost speed as they attempted a tight turn at an altitude that was near the performance limit of their plane).  They blue thing on the ground was their ipad with foreflight app to assist with flying.  Also you will see the burned trees.

Bottom line, two pilots ignored ground control advice and their plane's performance limits and died as a result.  They also risked starting a major forest fire, and created costs that will ultimately be born by many in terms of higher insurance costs and use of public resources to remove the bodies and deal with the site.

TRAGIC OR STUPID?

Next up in our tragic or stupid list, I was at the Snowmass post office last week and ran into two old (unmasked) codgers bitching about Covid vaccines, proudly claiming they wouldn't get one, claiming they had had COVID in January of 2020 (making them the first cases in Colorado) and one of them was wearing this shirt.

Approximately 99% of recent COVID deaths are in unvaccinated people and 96% of all COVID hospitalizations are unvaccinated.  If someone chooses not to get vaccinated is that tragic or stupid.  What about when that decision affects the lives and livelihood of everyone in our country?  I asked these gentlemen if they were pro drunk driving and they indicated they were not.  I asked them to explain to me the difference between allowing drunk drivers to roam our roads causing death and destruction to others and allowing unvaccinated people to spread disease, use up medical resources, and in general socialize the cost of their choice.   They told me to 'fuck off'.  Tragic or Stupid?  How about if a bus load of children are in a major car accident and all the beds in the hospital are filled with unvaccinated COVID patients?

TRAGIC OR STUPID?

Last up in our Stupid or Tragic poll.  The GOP.  What do you think about a party that chooses to undermine democracy by lying about election integrity in order to assuage the ego of one man?  How about cheering low vaccine take up numbers at a major GOP event?  How about not allowing health care officials in Tennessee to inform their younger citizens about vaccination programs (heck are they pro polio)?  Or passing laws to withhold funding from schools that teach issues that are divisive or offensive to anyone (talk about taking PC to a whole new level).  Or complaining about deficits having past an unfunded tax cut of $2.3 trillion in 2017.  How about supporting white supremacists?  Or suggesting that January 6th wasn't a violent attack on our capital or police while in the same breath claiming blue lives matter.  Is it tragic or stupid when in a country with two political parties one has clearly lost its mind.   

TRAGIC OR STUPID

Last up, with the Olympics starting this week is it tragic or stupid that Ms. Richardson has been kicked out because she used marijuana, but neither the Japanese or Tokyo government nor the Olympic governing bodies are requiring COVID vaccinations to participate in the Olympics.  In case you are wondering athletes in the Olympic village are testing positive.

TRAGIC OR STUPID OR JUST  SADLY PREDICTABLE