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Andrew Phillips

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Colin McG

Colin McG

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It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that Andrew Phillips died on Saturday while flying his RV-7A. Andrew had flown to Lindsay (Ontario) in the company of 2 other RVs and he was returning to his home base of Smith Falls when he went missing. The other RVs realised there was a problem when he couldn?t be raised on the radio. They searched the area and then flew to Smith Falls in the hope that he?d had a comms failure and had flown on ahead. There was no sign of Andrew at Smith Falls so the pilots checked his Spot track and immediately called Search and Rescue. Both RV?s returned to the area and were soon joined by the Search and Rescue teams. Sadly the aircraft was found later that evening.

At this difficult time I would like to ask that we all respect the privacy of the family and avoid speculating here on what may have happened.

I will pass on details of the funeral arrangements in the coming days.

Our thoughts are with his family.


Colin McGeachy (Andrew?s flying partner)
 
Horrible

That is just awful. I knew Andrew and chatted with him often online. I met him through VAF. He come down to my town when I gave him and his brother tickets to the redbull races, and they camped with us at Osh too with his wife and kids. Great great guy, very nice family, I cant think of a thing to say. I am so sorry for his family. Thoughts and prayers... Just gut wrenching to hear.

That really sucks.
 
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Very sad

Andrew was one of the most active RV pilots in Ottawa, always lending advice to other builders in the area, and on VAF. It was such a joy flying with him -- one of the best flying partners I ever had. I will truly miss him.

He loved that plane, and loved flying it every chance he got. Colin may not realize it, but Andrew often spoke of how much he enjoyed having Colin as a partner in his airplane.

I only knew Andrew for a couple of years, but we had become quite close. I feel for his family, and wish there was anything we could do.

Matt Pearson
 
I have known Andy for about 3 years now, ever since he bought his kit. During the construction stages we often shared ideas, parts and assistance.

Andy was passionate about flying. We became good flying buddies, meeting up at Carp or Smiths Falls to then head out for a breakfast or lunch destination. We would call each other for advice or information, and often end up chatting for hours on the phone... yes, about flying.

To say Andy had an RV grin permanently etched on his face would be an understatement. It was infectious too.

Gonna miss you Andy.
 
We have a very large RV community in Ottawa, and Andrew was well known by all of us. There will now be a very large gap in our group, missing Andew's infectious enthusiasm and willingness to help.

My condolences to Andew's wife and children.
 
Really sorry to hear about this. Condolences to his family. We met Andrew at Carp during our visit in 2008. It especially sad to learn the death of someone you have met.
 
Andrew Phillips was a really nice guy. IMHO he built a fine aircraft, which I gave some dual on. I would happily fly it any day.

He was an above-average stick - he effortlessly handled the crosswinds at CYSH - there always seems to be a crosswind at CYSH!

Probably my best memory of Andrew was us flying in formation from CYSH to CYRO. Bob Hanson and I were in the Cessna 421B, and Andrew was going to fly on our wing, with his xponder on standby. I told him to tuck in tight and stay there while I worked the radio with Terminal.

Well, Bob was wrestling with the autopilot in the 421 - since fixed - and the gyrations in pitch and roll, I thought might be a wee bit challenging - most pilots would have been thrown off - but Andrew hung in there in right echelon, no problem. Impressive airplane, impressive flying.

He will be missed.
 
It sure was a sad shock yesterday to learn of Andrew's death the day before. Andy always had a smile and a kind word. He will definitely be missed. My heart goes out to his family.
 
This is horrible news and not a good way to start off the new year. My sympathies and condolences to the family and friends. I didn't know Andrew as well as many of you, but had the fortune to work with him over the past year. Sad day....

Stein
 
Wow, this is so sad.

For me personally this type of accident is the most troubling -- apparently in cruise flight and something goes terribly wrong. Hopefully Transport Canada will find the cause.

Condolences to all who knew Andrew.
 
C-GNDY Andy Phillips

Colin, my heartfelt sympathy to you and Andy's family. My name is Peter Luff. I fly out of the Ottawa Flying Club and am a co-owner/pilot of a Beech Sierra. Around the Spring'2008 I contacted Andy when I was looking into building an RV7A. He invited me out to Smiths Falls to try a flight in CGNDY. He let me fly it for quite some time and long before returning to the airport I was hooked. ( I have some photos of that day if you would like to see them). Later that day he flew from Smiths Falls to Carp in readiness for a trip to Lindsay with his son. He loaned me all his books on RV7 building and offered all kinds of help. He was a great guy and I just can't believe he is gone. Please could you post the funeral arrangements when you have them so we can pay our respects to a warm and generous fellow pilot.
Peter Luff.
 
Memorial service for Andrew Phillips

There will be a memorial service at the Hangar in Smiths Falls at 2:00 on Saturday. The obituary will be in the Ottawa Citizen on Thursday and Friday.
 
I am terribly saddened by this news. I was Andrew's Flight Instructor throughout his private. We became good friends outside of training as well. Although we haven't spoken a great deal in the last 2 yrs or so, I would be interested to find out if/where a memorial service will be held.

I am devastated for his wife and children.

Please PM or post details of any service.

Thanks

BTD
 
Andrew was my friend, I enjoyed test flying his RV, I enjoyed our friendly banter back and forth about the Chang and the RV.

I'm really at a loss, as we all are, to express how I feel. Andrew was gifted, a good stick, a good friend, and a wonderful family man. He never missed an opportunity to talk about his kids to me. He shared my drive to change children's lives through aviation, and for that alone his short time with us made an enormous difference.

Andrew, buddy,,, I know you're listening and watching and feeling for our sadness. We miss you, till we meet again.

Mike
 
Somehow I missed this thread when I posted mine a few minutes ago... If I can find a way i'll delete my duplicate post. Sorry to hear about Andrew. I have read many of his posts here, this truly is shocking. Without prompting any speculation, I hope we can determine the cause.

To that end, please note that the Transportation Safety Board (NOT TC) considers Amateur-Built-Aircraft the lowest priority in their hierarchy of accident investigations. They're not trying to slight Amateur-Built owners, it's a matter of putting the resources where the largest benefit can be found. Investigating commercial operations carryign hundreds of passengers gives a much larger return, so they get priority, and TSB is currently understaffed for the amount of work that comes their way.

If we want to know what happened, the best way is for some technically competent people *from the RV community* to visit the crash site and inspect and analyze the wreckage. TSB will probably appreciate the help, and will recognize that the community in general has more knowledge about these aircraft than their investigators.

If the local TSB isn't going to look into it, and someone close to the family is interested in pursuing this, I may be able to put you in touch with the right people. I investigated an in-flight breakup accident of a wooden airplane last fall here in BC with the full support and cooperation of the TSB. My article on the investigation appeared in the last Recreational Flyer, for anyone who is an R.A.A.C. member.
 
Follow up.

I do hope there are some follow up details. I know Andrews plane was top notch, no expense spared for quality, he kept it up beautifully. As a pilot he was well trained, lots of recent hours, working on his night rating, flying the rv lots....so...that likely puts him ahead of lots of us as a good current competent pilot. Further, he took the time and expense to fly out west and get Mike Seager to do transition training prior to flying his own bird. That says a lot about his concern for safety and respect for flying. A trip out to the western US from Ottawa Canada is not a simple weekend adventure, or chump change. There just has to be something to learn or get from all this. People doing low level aero, or silly stunts, or poorly maintained planes or t/o, landing stalls etc are fairly common reading. Good young healthy pilots in good planes falling out of the sky with not so much as a radio call...just so wierd.

If any of the Ottawa rvers can think of something we can do for the family or as a sign of respect to Andrew please let us know. I have lost a couple flying buddies over the years but this one is the oddest.

:(
 
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Thanks for the kind words about my brother

I am Andrew's younger brother Justin. In this time of unbelievable shock and sadness, it is comforting to me to hear the wonderful impact he has had on all of you. Flying was his passion and the silver lining here is that he passed away doing what he loved. Our father was a private pilot and flew until late 70's and I went through training in 1990 right out of highschool but unfortunately ran out of funds to complete the course half way through my training.

Andrew lived and breathed his RV. I had the chance to go out with him and as some of you have pointed out, he was competent, cool and collected. At some point I hope to have some closure to this event and find out what happened. More for my curiousity than anything else. It won't bring him back but I, like the rest of you, would like to understand how the airplane fell out of the sky.

On a side note, I just want to share with the community that Andrew was an amazing brother. He taught me so much of what I know today about all aspects of life. He was a great friend and mentor to me. My life will be empty without him, a void that many of you will surely feel.

Please be safe!
Justin
 
Unfortunately I will be away from CYSH this weekend, but perhaps some of the RV Ottawa community could organize a safe simple fly-by of the Classic Wings hangar at a pre-determined time.

It's none of my business but I can't imagine a better tribute to a pilot than having airplanes in the sky - in Andrew's case, preferably RV's.
 
My Sympathies.

Wow, I am deeply saddened by Andrews death. My heart goes out to his family and you are all in my thoughts and prayers.
 
Colon,
I took transition training with Andrew in Oregon. We took turns flying two hour sessions with Mike. We stayed in touch via e mail. He got along well and he impressed me with his approach to flying. I know he was a devoted family man and a good provider for his family.
I am schocked to hear of his passing. I recently flew my RV7a from upstate NY to Melbourne FL. I posted a question to the list of best routes to fly. Andy was kind enough to respond and signed his E mail your friend Andy.
I will miss him.
Ed Hamilton
 
I have previously posted my concern about perfectly healthy pilots in well built airplanes that seem to just fall out of the sky. These accidents have really become a concern for me lately and I really want to understand what might be happening. These airplanes are top notch, the pilots are capable, the weather is satisfactory, but somehow, for seemigly no reason, there is an accident. I am so sorry for the families that are affected by these accidents....it is just terrible. My heart felt concern goes out to Andrew's family.

I was on a road trip the other day with nothing to do but drive and think. In my previous post I mentioned heart attacks, strokes, fainting, etc. While driving, the thought of a bird strike came to mind. I've never hit one, but I've come very close several times. I wonder if some of the recent accidents are the result of bird strikes. I guess it's possible....certainly the NTSB looks for this sort of thing.
 
Bird strikes seem unlikely as the cause of an RV failure - an RV will survive impact with most birds at the speeds it flies.

I lost a couple of friends once when they impacted a 13+ pound turkey vulture in their recovery pull after a 30 degree dive-bomb delivery. At 500 knots it killed the front seater immediately.

But our canopies are flexible enough to repel most birds in a direct strike under 200mph, and we have the sausage-maker-impact-repeller out front as a first line of defense against canopy penetration. I suspect we will have to look elsewhere for causes of this mystery.

Edit: Seems my beliefs about "shredded tweet" have been de-bunked. Birds can get past both props and windshields on RVs. I still hold doubts that birdstrikes are "the answer" to mysterious downings, but some may certainly have that cause.
 
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I thought bird strike too, although it seems like the "perfect storm" situation would need to occur with size of bird/impact zone/etc.

My gut feel on this is probably one of those "never ending debate" issues in that I think if we all had some type of impact/fire resistant black box on board, we would be doing our fellow pilots a huge favor by leaving invaluable clues in situations like this.

From what it sounds like on this thread, Andrew was a tremendous guy and I regret that I will never have the honor of meeting him. My prayers go out to the family.
 
This accident has hit close to home for a lot of us. I'm a similar age, with young kids at home, building a similar aircraft, and I was flying last weekend around the Oshawa/Lindsay area (his last point of departure).

The comment about 'black box' makes me wonder though - did Andrew's a/c have an EFIS/EIS that may have recorded some relevant data? I guess I pose that question to those of you that knew the aircraft and it's equipment.

I'm sure the TSB will examine that...

Rest in Peace Andrew.
 
Scherminator said:
This accident has hit close to home for a lot of us. I'm a similar age, with young kids at home, building a similar aircraft, and I was flying last weekend around the Oshawa/Lindsay area (his last point of departure).

The comment about 'black box' makes me wonder though - did Andrew's a/c have an EFIS/EIS that may have recorded some relevant data? I guess I pose that question to those of you that knew the aircraft and it's equipment.

I'm sure the TSB will examine that...

Rest in Peace Andrew.
Click to expand...

I know Andrew had an EFIS as that was my Father's contribution to the project. The NSTB has all of that and it is part of the investigation.

Justin
 
CGNDY-BRO said:
I am Andrew's younger brother Justin. In this time of unbelievable shock and sadness, it is comforting to me to hear the wonderful impact he has had on all of you. Flying was his passion and the silver lining here is that he passed away doing what he loved. Our father was a private pilot and flew until late 70's and I went through training in 1990 right out of highschool but unfortunately ran out of funds to complete the course half way through my training.

Andrew lived and breathed his RV. I had the chance to go out with him and as some of you have pointed out, he was competent, cool and collected. At some point I hope to have some closure to this event and find out what happened. More for my curiousity than anything else. It won't bring him back but I, like the rest of you, would like to understand how the airplane fell out of the sky.

On a side note, I just want to share with the community that Andrew was an amazing brother. He taught me so much of what I know today about all aspects of life. He was a great friend and mentor to me. My life will be empty without him, a void that many of you will surely feel.

Please be safe!
Justin
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Justin,

Brothers share a very special bond, like no other. I share the void - for 14 years now. Remember the good experiences you had together - I'm sure you are from your post. I'm sorry for your loss.

Bob Axsom
 
This is sad

Very sad. I briefly communicated with Andrew after a group of RVs landed on frozen river. Andrew shared some landing techniques with my Russian buddies. Rest in Peace Andrew and thank You!
 
There has been a spat of RV's just falling out of the sky, makes one wonder how many were precipitated by some version of a cardiac event?

My doc is a fanatic on two items, one is blood pressure the other is molecular size of cholesterol. He has had patients just keel over at a relatively young age without much warning and in apparent good health.

His theory on cholesterol size, which I believe cardiologists subscribe to, is cholesterol in a relatively small size penetrates the arteries causing inflammation and increases the risk of a cardiac event.

The treatment is a high dosage of niacin, as high as one can tolerate. The end result is cholesterol molecules of a larger size which do not penetrate the arteries. The proof in the pudding is a fancy blood test that measures cholesterol molecular size and reports it as a number, like I started at 2200 (units per given volume) and went to 1200-1400 after six months or so on niacin. The 1200-1400 size is about what they figure is good. I seem to be able to keep it there on 1000 mg of niacin, any more gives me the heeby-geebies. This treatment I believe is common for post cardiac event, my doc says we will prevent the first event - not treat it after the fact. So far, so good.

It is tragic to see relatively young guys leave so unexpectedly. And it keeps on happening. I really feel for the young kids and their mother. It turns their lives upside down.
 
I did not have the chance to meet Andrew, but we did have a few conversations off line. I was impressed with his concern for the well being of those around him and his willingness to help them.

I too am disturbed by his untimely death and wonder what could have gone wrong, and what could have been done, if anything, to prevent it. I hope it can be determined what happened so that we can all learn from it and that we may find peace of mind about this unfortunate accident.

While life is made to be lived and savoured fully, when for a colleague it stops so unexpectedly while doing an activity he evidently cherished, it sobers me up and reminds me how just how vulnerable we are all to the same risks.

To Andrew's family and friends, my heartfelt sympathy.


Normand RV8 fuselage
 
I don't want to dwell on this for the sake of Andrew's family....again I express my concern for their loss. I did not know Andrew, but obviously he was a fine fellow. I think it would have been a priviledge to know him.

My point is that in the last two months there has been three accidents involving pilots that had hundreds, some thousands of hours of flying time that collide with the ground in near vertical accidents. Sam eluded to stall/spin situations, which I completely understand, but why would two very high time ex-military pilots with thousands of hours allow themselves to get in such a situation so close to the ground, particularly right next to the airport. It appeared that they were just out of the traffic pattern. The wreckage was very confined. It has been said that the next one was testing his autopilot when he did nearly the same thing. I'm convinced that Andrew was a very accomplished pilot and thorough with his piloting duties. He was flying with friends that would have heard any distress radio transmission he made, but there was never a call. Apparently something is happening very suddenly that requires immediate attention and there's not enough altitude to provide the time to get things corrected. Things just don't add up for me. I'm convinced that they hit a large bird or they had a serious health problem.

Again, my sympathy to Andrew's family. Hopefully the family will learn what happened to him.
 
I don't want to contribute to the speculation, but from my understanding the group was cruising at over 9000', which seems to make a bird strike unlikely (I don't know anything about birds, but 9000 feet seems pretty high for them).

While life is made to be lived and savoured fully, when for a colleague it stops so unexpectedly while doing an activity he evidently cherished, it sobers me up and reminds me how just how vulnerable we are all to the same risks.
Click to expand...

This is so true. I have spent the week since the accident full of self-doubt about what I am doing here. Spending 90 thousand dollars for a toy, to indulge in an extravagant hobby that time and time again is proving itself to have very real dangers. Dangers that could leave my daughter without a father. I'm not saying I'm going to throw in the towel and sell the RV... I'm not. But I search for some rationalization, and for some way that I can believe that I will be safe, and that it will not happen to me. Of course, when accidents go unexplained, it is particularly troubling because then we don't how to reduce the risk of the same thing happening to us. It's kind of taken the wind out of my sails, right when I was getting excited about finishing :( I know that sounds selfish... of course I can't even imagine what this must be like for Andrew's family and close friends. I knew him, but I hadn't had the opportunity to spend very much time with him, although I had beenlooking forward to flying with him together in our RVs (Andrew was my hangar neighbour) next year.
I'll be at the memorial service at YSH tomorrow.
 
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Phil,

You're right.....there's a lot that I don't know about these accidents and I really shouldn't speculate. I'll leave it alone. Eventually we'll find out what happened.
 
prkaye said:
This is so true. I have spent the week since the accident full of self-doubt about what I am doing here. Spending 90 thousand dollars for a toy, to indulge in an extravagant hobby that time and time again is proving itself to have very real dangers. Dangers that could leave my daughter without a father. I'm not saying I'm going to throw in the towel and sell the RV... I'm not. But I search for some rationalization, and for some way that I can believe that I will be safe, and that it will not happen to me.
Click to expand...

Many of us have had the same thoughts for the same reasons, including myself & friends of mine. It does take the wind out of our sails for a while; but as time goes by, most of us are able to get past it. You most likely will too.

I also enjoyed Andrew's posts & pics. I'll miss him.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
Niacin

David-aviator said:
...My doc is a fanatic on two items, one is blood pressure the other is molecular size of cholesterol....

The treatment is a high dosage of niacin, as high as one can tolerate. The end result is cholesterol molecules of a larger size which do not penetrate the arteries. The proof in the pudding is a fancy blood test that measures cholesterol molecular size and reports it as a number, like I started at 2200 (units per given volume) and went to 1200-1400 after six months or so on niacin. The 1200-1400 size is about what they figure is good. I seem to be able to keep it there on 1000 mg of niacin, any more gives me the heeby-geebies. This treatment I believe is common for post cardiac event, my doc says we will prevent the first event - not treat it after the fact. So far, so good.
Click to expand...

First, my sympathies to Andrew's family and many friends.

Second, I wanted to comment about Niacin. I had heart valve replacement surgery last April due to severe regurgitation (medical term for leakage) and mitral valve prolapse. The surgery was not due to cholesterol buildup. However, David's advice is good advice as Niacin has shown to help prevent arterial blockages in some people. I took it before my surgery as part of a daily regimen and now after surgery my cardiologist has me on 2000 mg a day. I don't know about the "heeby-geebies" but I do know what happens if I don't take the "non-flushing" kind. I was in the local hospital for some pre-surgery tests and was given some regular Niacin. In about an hour my head and shoulders felt as if 1000 fire ants were attacking me. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized the Niacin wasn't the "non-flushing" or "flush-free" that I had been buying over the counter.

I don't know if Andrew's loss was related in any way to a cardiac event, but if you read this thread and have any puzzling chest pains or numbness, don't hesitate to call 911 and get to an emergency room. Read Jim Doenges's letter to the editor in the AOPA Pilot magazine this month and you'll see it can happen to any of us.
 
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Fly-by Appreciated

The memorial for Andrew was held yesterday. After the speeches from friends and family a formation of 4 RVs (RV6, RV7A, RV8, RV9A did a missing pilot fly by. It was appreciated by Andrew's widow, Dawn and the crowd.
Good show guys!
 
Thanks for all of your support

My brother Andrew would have been so proud if not overwhealmed at the memorial on Saturday. I learend a lot about him from his flying buddies which it appears many of you are in this thread are. Bob's hanger was amazing and so fitting. I can't even express my gratitude to him for his part in making the memorial so special. I am guessing we had close to 500 people in attendance. The missing man formation was also fitting yet I couldn't help but feel extremely sad watching the single plane break from the formation. I'm kind of glad that it was RV's and not military jets because the noice and engine rumble would have crushed me at that moment. You guys have an awesome brotherhood and he was truly proud to ba a part of it!

I am not going to say too much about the investigation at this time except to say that this appears to be a freak accident. No fault of the pilot, the build or Andrew's health. Of course, these are just preliminary results and it could be a year before we know for sure.

You guys are in a sport that comes with its risks. Although flying is safer than driving, when something does happen in a plane, it's almost always fatal. My brother would tell you that you can't go through life worrying about every little thing or you would never leave the house. He would also not want this unfortunate incident to make you do anything different. If the shoe was on the other foot, Andy would have been flying in the missing man formation on Saturday and continuing on with the hobby he loved so much.

Be safe out there!
Justin
 
Some photos of the ceremony:

ap1.jpg


ap2.jpg


ap3.jpg


ap4.jpg


ap5.jpg


ap6.jpg


ap7.jpg


ap8.jpg


ap9.jpg
 
Hi fellas, I don't want to be disrespectful in any way to the family of Andrew. I think he was a great guy and from the sounds of it, a great aviator. I'm just curious if anyone has any further information on his accident.
 
The VS came off

lostpilot28 said:
Hi fellas, I don't want to be disrespectful in any way to the family of Andrew. I think he was a great guy and from the sounds of it, a great aviator. I'm just curious if anyone has any further information on his accident.
Click to expand...

The Transportation Safety Board has finally broken their silence on this accident. They report that the vertical tail was found about one kilometre from the rest of the aircraft, which clearly means it came off in flight.
 
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Gentlemen -

You have now taken a thread intended to honor the memory of a fellow flier, one visited and contributed to by his family, one in which you have begun directly speculating on the cause of the crash, and now turned it argumentative.

To me, this behavior does nothing but dishonor the memory of this man, and I am closing it out. You can start all sorts of threads on the topics that you are discussing on the Safety forum.

To Andrews family (a man whom I did not know), I am sorry.

Paul

[ed. Agreed. Paul, thank you for locking this. dr]

All speculative posts following Kevin Horton's post have been deleted. S. Buchanan
 
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