The Death of a Pinto Pilot

In the summer of 1973, another prototype with a different plane engine was unveiled and taken for a series of taxi and test flights over a span of three months at the Ventura County Airport. The regular driver slash pilot who famously landed in a bean field was not available for the scheduled test flight. So Smolensky and Blake took the miser up themselves. According to the airport manager, the men had made an agreement with the airport that they would notify him before each flight so he could alert local police and fire officials. But on this day, oh Jesus. After watching the miser take out, the airport manager ran to the air control tower to radio the craft. He heard the airport's crash