Earl Eastabrooks killed in KitFox helping another

[jon s blocker]

On Zanes web site, I read that the owner of a C170, in the area of Seabrooke, Tx. was killed while flying in a Kitfox. Does anyone know who this pilot was, and if he was a member of the Association? I believe this happened Sunday or Monday. God bless his family and the family of the other pilot on board with him. Don't know which one was pilot in command. Jon

[1SeventyZ]

His name was Willis Earl Eastabrooks, not sure if he was on this site or not.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

This is bad news when you don't know the person. But in this case I as well as many of the members here know Earl and so this is terrible news. His wife Dorothy just became a member herself but Earl has been a member since 1971. His son Phillip is also a member. Earl to the best of my knowledge did not participate on this board.

Earl was a great guy. Kind of quiet at the conventions. Just sat in the back and observed. Couldn't tell if he was following the discussion or not till later you would find out he knew more about the subject than the speaker.

If I remember correctly he served in the Airforce and flew a lot of interesting aircraft and missions that somehow you would not associate with him. The kind of guy you might like to spend some time with and here a story or two of his experiances and maybe learn a thing or two. At least that is my impressions from my time with him at conventions.

I will miss his smiling face.

Bruce Fenstermacer

[170C]

Sadly I just received a phone call regarding the death of our fine member Earl Easterbrooks. A real loss to our association family. Earl, Dorothy and their son Phillip were all members and attended lots of conventions and flyins. As Bruce correctly said, Earl was a quiet one, but one to listen to when he spoke. I had many occasions to visit with Earl at various times. He was a very knowledgable individual. He did serve in the Air Force and I believe was a navigator on B-47's, B-57's in Vietnam and FB-111's among others. He did have some stories to tell of those experiences. We will miss him greatly. Our thoughts and prayers for Dorothy, Phillip, his immediate family and the C170 family for this loss.

[jlwild]

The Memorial Service for Earl Eastabrooks will be held at 1:00 P.M., Friday, June 6 at the Clear Lake United Methodist Church. For fellow 170 members planning to attend, the address is 16335 El Camino Real, Houston Texas, 77062. If you need to call the church, their phone number is 281-488-5110.

Lolly and I will be attending the Memorial Service and from the many phone calls other Texas 170 members will also be there.

Earl will be greatly missed.

[GAHorn]

From the email sent out by Gary Hansen (Ol' Gar):
Willis Earl Eastabrooks was helping out a friend and fellow pilot when he agreed to show a Fox Series 5 single-engine plane to a perspective buyer. Just after 2 p.m. Monday, the lifelong pilot from Houston and Sam Brunson of Natchitoches, La., took off in the homebuilt plane from the La Porte Municipal Airport. About six minutes later and a half-mile away, it crashed and burst into flames, killing both men. The plane went down in a field in the 11,000 block of North Ave. H. less than a mile from the runway , La Porte police spokesman Steve Deardorff said. "We believe the airplane was travelling in a northwesterly direction consistent with the traffic pattern at La Porte Municipal airport when it experienced some kind of problem forcing it down into the field. It caught fire upon impact with the ground," Deardorff said. There has been no determination on who was flying the plane when it crashed about 2:10 p.m. Monday. Officials on Tuesday were trying to determine the cause of the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash.
The plane was owned by Robert Harms of Houston, Federal Aviation Administration records show. Harms built his single-engine plane in 1999 and Eastabrooks helped him. When Harms was unable learn to fly the plane, he made contact with Earl and asked him to show the plane to a prospective buyer, a pilot Sam Brunson. Earl Eastabrooks obliged. His son Phillip Eastabrooks, said "Dad was very familiar with the plane". Harms, 83, was watching the two men fly his plane and witnessed the crash. He could not be reached for comment at his home on Tuesday.

Eastabrooks, 74, kept his own personal plane, a Classic Cessna 170, at the La Porte Airport and had was at his hangar to repair the tracks on the doors when approached by Robert Harms. Phillip Eastabrooks said, "My Dad, having been a lifelong pilot, one who served as a navigator during his 26-year tenure with the U.S. Air Force, including serving in the Vietnam War, never turned down a chance to fly". After leaving the military, Eastabrooks also trained NASA astronauts on flight simulators and retired again from that a few years ago. His son said., Dad would go out to the airport several times a week to visit and fly with his aviator friends. He just loved pilots and planes."

The board, (TIC170A) has authorized the sending of a funeral spray in the name of Earl's friends at the 170 Assn. If you wish to contribute, you may send your payment to me. Be CERTAIN to send an email .... NO PM'S ....notifying me if you pay by check, so I can include your contribution, as I will be making the order this PM or early AM and will not recieve your contribution for several days. (I will personally cover all expenses until then.)
If you prefer, you may also make payment via PayPal to my hotmail address (on the cover of every Flypaper): gahorn146ys (at) hotmail (dot) com.
Any excess funds will be held for the determination of the board (likely a donation to the scholarship fund in Earl's name.)

[GAHorn]

Just happened to discover this report, which undoubtedly was the event in which Earl ejected :
(Earl told me he and his pilot were slogging across a rice paddy toward the rescue helicopter when the enemy appeared on the levee and began shooting at them, killing the pilot. Earl reached the helicopter and was rescued.)


https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/141813

https://beresfordfunerals.com/obituary/ ... astabrooks