LAT: 'American father of the Prius' dies in crash of experimental plane

[DeepModem Mom]

'American father of the Prius' dies in plane crash
By Kurt Streeter, Times Staff Writer
November 26, 2006


Hybrid champion

Search crews Sunday morning located the wreckage of an experimental plane that crashed into the ocean off San Pedro, southwest of Los Angeles, on Saturday, killing the pilot, a top engineer for Toyota.

After sonar spotted the submerged plane, divers from the Los Angeles County Fire Department videotaped it to aid a crash investigation, according to Mark Savage, a department spokesman. Savage said plans are being made to retrieve the wreckage, which was found about 70 feet below the surface.

The Saturday afternoon crash killed David Hermance, 59, from Huntington Beach....The area where the crash occurred is often used by pilots for aerobatics and witnesses said they saw the plane flying in loops and dives before the accident. Witnesses said that during one of the maneuvers the plane's engine revved and, instead of pulling out of a loop, the plane went straight into the water. One witness added that he thought he saw an un-inflated parachute trailing the plane.

Hermance was Executive Engineer for Advanced Technology Vehicles at Toyota's technical center in the Los Angeles area. He played a key role in unveiling to the American market such cars as the Prius, which runs on a combination of gasoline and batteries. "His job was to take the technology developed in Japan and bring it to the United States," said Bill Reinert, a longtime colleague. "He was the American father of the Prius."...

****

Authorities identified the plane as a Interavia E-3. It took off form the Long Beach Airport Saturday. Hermance was the only occupant, said Savage....The FAA Web site classifies Hermance's plane as experimental, meaning it was assembled by amateurs or from a kit, or that it was a light-sport aircraft that had not received a U.S. or foreign certificate for airworthiness....

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-prius27nov27,0,1783048.story?track=mostviewed-splashpage

[renate]

1. oh, that makes me sad

I'm sure history (and our descendants who'll enjoy breathing oxygen and not being submerged by water) will remember him.

[Eurobabe]

2. So now the auto industry is offing alternative fuel gurus?

Hmmm, smells like Sushi.

Tin foil anyone?

[Porcupine]

3. Toyota is being sued for patent infringment

A company called Solomon Technologies for infringment on it's "electric wheel" patent. This person could be a material witness to that suit. The prius hybrid was probably made possible by this technology.

http://www.solomontechnologies.com/solomon_sues_toyota.htm

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/02/itc_to_investig.html


:tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[Bucky]

4. You people are wonderful.

If it weren't for murderous corporate conspiracies, there wouldn't be any plane crashes, would there?

[Eurobabe]

6. Lighten up Bucky, it was a freaking joke...n/t

[goforit]

14. Well, let's ask Cheney. How about garage doors attacking the enemy.

[ClintonTyree]

5. The Interavia E-3.....

Looks like a lot of fun, I wonder what happened? :shrug:

[independentpiney]

7. That is a sweet looking plane, i've been googling for specs

but haven't come up with much- only that it's an all metal Sukhoi knock-off with a 360 hp engine. I also saw an ntsb fatal report of one diving into the ground after a series of loops and rolls. A part was reported to have fallen off before the crash by witnesses, but ntsb only found the canopy had come off. I'm thinking that was an escape attempt? Sounds to me like their might be a problem with the vertical stabilizer or controls. There were only 5 registered as flying in the US as of early 2006.

[Solo_in_MD]

8. Most crashes are at least in part caused by pilot error

[Javaman]

9. I find it odd that a guy as wealthy as he obviously was, didn't have

one of those new parachute dealies installed into his plane.

Since it dove straight into the water, maybe he had a heart attack and wasn't able to pull up.

[benEzra]

10. The plane either has to be designed for it...

or has to have enough room in the aft cockpit/fuselage for the rocket and chute assembly, and a place to attach everything. And you have to be flying fairly slow to deploy it, not in a dive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus_Aircraft_Parachute_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus_SR20

Installation of a system in this particular aircraft could probably have been done, but if he was in a dive and lost the ability to pull out, it wouldn't have helped (chute would have blown).

[Javaman]

12. Ahhh, thanks for the info. So basically he was a plummeting rock at that point. nt.

[goforit]

11. Hmmm... it makes you wonder.

[loves_dulcinea]

13. gotta hand it to the man...

he put his chips on the table.