He was. The video shows him performing an areobatic move in a old fighter-trainer aircraft and the dive was too steep and it couldn't pull out in time. It's that, or during the maneuvering he subjected himself to G-forces and blacked out, or he may have had a heart attack or stroke thus losing control... it's a tough video to watch.
Thats an impossible survivability crash. IMHO he was dead or dying before impact. At 90, the odds are that. He went out doing what he loved. RIP.
Was he flying?
Was he near Whidbey Island?
He was. The video shows him performing an areobatic move in a old fighter-trainer aircraft and the dive was too steep and it couldn't pull out in time. It's that, or during the maneuvering he subjected himself to G-forces and blacked out, or he may have had a heart attack or stroke thus losing control... it's a tough video to watch.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-3206689/Video-Astronaut-Apollo-8-mission-killed-crashing-small-plane.html
Search and recovery on the way is how the story should of read!