.................
Friday’s Atlanta Journal Constitution article....
"Pilot dies in crash
practicing for China Air Show". The pilot was Elgin Wells, Jr.
68................Captain Wells Sr. was born 8/7/17, hired by DL 4/19/46 and
passed away 2/19/2007, one of the nicest men you ever met. He too was a General
Aviation pilot and had some notoriety when the engine failed on his light
airplane and he glided to a mostly safe landing in the median on a divided
highway just northeast of Atlanta. More about that in his obituary
below.
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/gwinnett-pilot-known-for-light-covered-plane-dies-china-crash/jp7bz75ZJMTOKN6sm5AEBK/
Gwinnett pilot known for light-covered plane dies in China
crash
A Gwinnett County pilot and musician known for flying a
plane covered in hundreds of LED lights died in a plane crash in China,
according to a local news report.
Elgin Wells Jr., 68, was performing a
training run in Zhengzhou, China, on April 25 when his one-of-a-kind “
Starjammer” fell from 100 meters above the Shangjie
Airport runway, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Wells, a Peachtree Corners
resident, was in China for the Zhengzhou Air Show, which is scheduled to begin
Friday, April 27. Wells performed aerobatic stunts and routines in the
Starjammer, which was outfitted for entertainment.
Wells had been flying
the Starjammer since 2010. The custom aircraft featured 255 lights and a
4,000-watt sound system, both of which played performance sequences that Wells
programmed himself. Wells’ last Facebook post shows the Starjammer being shipped
to China on March 10.
Wells, a regular at the Gwinnett County Airport in
Lawrenceville, followed his father into aviation. Elgin Wells Sr., who died in
2007, was a pilot in World War II before becoming a commercial pilot for Delta,
according to his obituary.
The younger
Wells was also a professional jazz musician, helming the Elgin Wells Group. He
sang and performed multiple instruments, including the trumpet, flute and
violin, according to his website. The group performed in metro Atlanta
regularly; the last advertised performance was in Duluth in October
2017.
----------------------
U.S. Pilot Elgin Wells Killed While Practicing for Chinese
Airshow
posted in:
Airshows |
24
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Elgin Wells, known for his “Starjammer”
routine was
killed when
his aerobatic aircraft crashed during a practice flight ahead of the
Zhengzhou airshow in Zhengzhou, China.
The crash occurred around 6:14pm
local time on Wednesday the 26th of April. An investigation into the cause of
the crash is underway.
The Zhengzhou Air Show is scheduled to kick off on
Friday, April 27th and last until May 1st. Several airshow performers from the
United States are scheduled to perform. In March, Well’s aircraft was shipped to
China in preparation for the show.
Wells was a native of the Atlanta, GA
area. From the age of 14, he began
playing
instruments and singing. His band, the “The Elgin Wells Group” won several
awards, including the New South Music Award for Best Jazz Band. He has produced
12 albums, mainly in the jazz and blues genre.
He began flying in 1968 at
the age of 18. His father, a fighter squadron commander who served in the
Pacific during WW2 was a career pilot with delta Airlines. Elgin’s dad wanted
him to join the airlines, but all Wells wanted to do was fly aerobatics. In the
early 2000s, Elgin was flying Unlimited low level aerobatic competitions and
helped lead a team of airshow pilots known as “Airshow Unlimited.”
In 1996, Wells began building the StarJammer,
which has 250+ lights and a 4,000 watt amplifier and onboard loudspeakers as a
sound system. As the World’s only aircraft of it’s kind, the StarJammer combines
aerobatics and music together in one unique performance for both daytime and
nighttime airshows.
Photo compliments of Elgin Wells Website
http://airshowstuff.com/v4/2018/u-s-pilot-elgin-wells-killed-while-practicing-for-chinese-airshow/
These are some other articles about his death online along with
his personal web site.
http://www.elginwells.com/
http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/gwinnett-county-music-teacher-stun-pilot-dies-in-china
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/local/gwinnett-resident-aerobatic-pilot-reportedly-killed-in-plane-crash-in/article_81f1e0d9-a77b-50f7-a8a8-91aed493b0fc.html
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/atlanta/obituary.aspx?n=elgin-wells&pid=86641581
Elgin Wells Sr. News Obituary Article
DULUTH: Elgin Wells Sr., 89, thrill of flying a lifelong love
After 30 years of piloting planes for Delta Air Lines, Elgin Wells Sr.
hadn't lost his taste for the breathtaking expansiveness of the open sky. He
still wanted to shake off his earthly bonds and soar.
Which is why --- at an age when many would have preferred the gravitational
pull of a La-Z-Boy recliner --- the retired Delta captain took up aerobatics and
started putting his plane through stomach-churning maneuvers that would have
made his commercial passengers cringe.
"This is just exhilarating, moving in three dimensions," he said in a 1997
Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, when he was 79.
After three decades of flying passenger jets as uneventfully as possible,
he faced an endless blue canvas ready to be filled with loops, rolls and
spins.
"That three-dimensional freedom was his favorite thing," said his son,
Elgin Wells Jr.
Elgin Miles Wells Sr., 89, of Duluth died Feb. 19 at Hospice Atlanta of
complications from a hiatal hernia. The body was cremated. The memorial service
is 10 a.m. March 10 at Gwinnett County Airport/Briscoe Field's EAA Hangar 1.
Wages & Sons Funeral Home, Gwinnett Chapel, is in charge of
arrangements.
The Jackson, Miss., native graduated from Mississippi College in 1938, did
graduate work in physics at Duke University, enlisted in the Army Air Corps and
earned his wings in 1941.
He trained pilots stateside for several years, then served as a fighter
pilot and photo reconnaissance squadron commander in World War II.
At Delta, he started flying DC-3s in 1947 and retired in 1977, having
witnessed "the transition from the propeller age to the jet age," his son
said.
His favorite route was to the West Coast.
"He always said he was a cloud freak," his son said. "That long flight
allowed him plenty of time for that coast-to-coast panoramic view, where he
could see the entire mid-belt of the country in a whole afternoon."
"Dad commented that most pilots really love what they do, but occasionally
there are some who are just punching the clock, and he just could not understand
that," his son said. "The glorious visuals, the fact that people are actually
leaving the ground and going great distances --- that awe never left him."
One night in 1993, every ounce of his piloting skills came into play when
he was forced to make an emergency landing on Ga. 316. When his yellow 1976
Bellanca Decathlon's engine suddenly cut out, Mr. Wells --- then 76 --- followed
the lights below, aimed for a traffic-free lane, dodged power lines and landed
safely.
"He hit a traffic light with the left wing, but because it was green, they
couldn't even give us a traffic ticket," his son said. Still, the elder Mr.
Wells exclaimed, "Damn, 50 years of flying and that's the first time I've
scratched a plane."
Until recently, Mr. Wells was still lifting weights and completing an
aerobic workout before heading to Briscoe Field to fly with his son, also an
aerobatic pilot.
He took photographs of wildflowers and butterflies that his late wife, Girl
Scout executive Geraldine Wells, used in nature lectures, and he tinkered and
schemed with dozens of inventions.
With his flying buddies, "we'd be discussing the physics of aeronautics and
he'd bring up an equation from 50 years ago," said his friend Dr. Leonard Pace
of Lilburn. "The man was just amazing, and not just mentally but
physically.
"I mean, I didn't meet him until he was 74, when most people are in their
waning years, but he would come out there and fly aerobatics with us all day
long.
"There was no one sharper than Elgin Wells."
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