EAA Sport Aviation - April 2012

I USUALLY DON’T WRITE ABOUT experimental aircraft because my 45 years of aviation experience have been almost exclusively with certificated, normal-category airplanes. However, I’m making an exception this month. This column was prompted by the June 16, 2001, crash of an experimental Lancair IV-P (NTSB reference LAX01FA212) that claimed the life of veteran pilot Tony Durizzi.

I didn’t know Tony personally, but I did research
his accident carefully, and I believe there are some
terribly important lessons to be learned from it—les-
sons that might just cause you to question some of
the most basic things your CFI taught you, and per-
haps to change some of your most basic flying habits.

TONY WHO?

Anthony J. “Tony” Durizzi’s flying career started well before my time. Back in the mid-1960s, when I was just earning my private ticket, Tony was flying big radial-engine transports in Southeast Asia for Air America, the big airline operated covertly by the CIA. Colleagues who shared a cockpit with Tony agreed that he was an outstanding pilot with superb stick-and-rudder skills. You had to be to survive in Air America.