Tech entrepreneur Jeanette Symons passed away Friday night when a plane she was flying crashed in the woods outside Augusta, Maine, killing Symons and her 10 year old son.
Symons co-founded the big ticket telcom firm Zhone Technologies, then the family-centered social network Imbee/Industrious Kid.
I wrote about Imbee's funding announcement in early 2006 and about Symons' vision for the company a few months later. Readers interested in this trailblazing woman in tech might also appreciate this interview with Symons at GirlGeeks.org. May she rest in peace.
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Tragic and sad news. Our thoughts go out to her family.
Posted by: Richard MacManus
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February 3, 2008 9:56 PM
Wow, tragic indeed. She leaves behind a 7-year old daughter as well. RIP Jeanette.
-Gyutae Park of Winning the Web
Posted by: Internet Marketing Strategy | February 3, 2008 10:34 PM
This is incredibly heartbreaking news.
Besides being an integral piece of one of the companies that helped build the internet we know today (or at least knew back in the day), Jeanette was a visionary and a pioneer in bringing a web2.0 experience to todays youngsters with a focus on safety and security.
Her efforts and personality will be truly missed by an industry that is desperate for more people like her.
Rest In Peace, Jeanette and Balan. :(
Posted by: Matt | February 4, 2008 9:44 AM
Wow...plane crashes have taken a real toll on the tech industry of late.
My condolences to her family and friends!
Posted by: Jollyjo | February 4, 2008 10:56 AM
Tragic news; May you both rest in peace.
Posted by: John | February 5, 2008 5:45 AM
May she and her son rest in peace for ever.
Posted by: Angel Delgado | February 5, 2008 3:54 PM
I'm a Zhone employee abroad US, the chances i had to talk to her to solve issues were all followed by strong competence and speed. We all miss her vision and way she deals with things. I can say she was the person "Who Cares".
My condolences to her family.
Posted by: Marcelo Sena | February 6, 2008 10:17 AM
Even more tragic is that it was so preventable. Early reports indicate that she was a victim of what has killed so many pilots: Get-Homeitis!! I've been guilty of it myself, but I got away with it. Even brilliant and capable people must use good judgement and have the skills when trying to violate the laws of physics. Too many pilots endanger themselves and others risking death when delaying would make the trip safe. All the decisions were hers. She was the pilot and made many wrong ones pointing to what was about to happen.
I know many will think what I say is at an inappropriate time. It is the truth! There is no excuse for this situation which risked others safety and their futures as well as hers. There are others who will take risks like this with the same results. I hope they will remember this tragedy avoid theirs.
Many right decisions can be negated by a few bad ones!
Posted by: Ralph Miller | February 9, 2008 3:25 PM
I don't know the family personally but I live in west gardiner just half a mile from the incident and all of my thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends, and co-workers, god bless you all
Posted by: Cherryl | February 9, 2008 8:07 PM
Begin forwarded message:
Interesting/sad pilot story.
You are really going to roll your eyeballs on this one... It's an absolutely incredible example of 'What in the world were you thinking??!!'
This information is public knowledge.
Friday nite, February 1st, at Augusta, ME. Sleet and freezing rain has been falling for most of the afternoon. The ground crew pulls the Cessna Citation CJ out for the owner to fly to Lincoln, NE.
It sits outside for at least an hour...getting a significant covering of ice.
Pilot (also owner of CJ) and her son arrive. She is big shot entrepreneur from San Francisco.. now living in Steamboat Springs. By her own account, the CJ is her SUV.
The line personnel ask about deicing. (Remember, it's still sleet/freezing rain fairly heavy). She is reported to have declined deicing with an aside that she 'has hot wings'... (yeah right).
So, at around 5:30 pm she is loaded up and taxis out for departure.
Slight problem soon develops as she fails to turn on the airport lights.
(Remember your basic skills... multiple clicks on CTAF and the lights come on!) Soon her shiny little CJ is taxiing over the grass area between the taxiway and the runway. Obviously not sure of where she is going, she manages to taxi into a drainage swail. Well, for most of us this would have been the clincher. But some people are 'driven' (as she has been described..). As we all know.. there is no situation that plenty of POWER can't overcome. That's what she used. Power. Out of the ditch... and pressing onward.
So now that the line guys have clicked the UNICOM radio to turn on the runway/taxi lights, it is suspected that she finally realizes she isn't even close to being where she planned to be. After some additional wandering around on the unpaved surfaces, she makes it onto a runway. Not the runway she was intending to go to, but at least a runway. A little indecision was expressed regarding which runway she would eventually use but remember...she is on a mission.
Somewhere along the way she manages to call for her clearance and release and finally blasts off on runway 17. Oh yeah.. One other 'minor detail' I forgot. All of the transmissions that most of us would be making on the CTAF.. well, those were broadcast on the ATC clearance frequency over the RCO. There is an upside to this, however... Those radio calls were far superior to a cockpit voice recorder.......which this aircraft does not have.
Off the ground and climbing, she contacts ATC. ATC acknowledges and gives her a turn to Syracuse. Shortly after this she comes up on the frequency and declares an emergency because she has an attitude gyro failure.
ATC acknowledges and asks if she would prefer to return to Augusta and direction of turn. The immediate response is that she can't tell which way she is turning...and then nothing. ATC notes a rapid rate of descent. Radar contact lost. Gone.
Ground witnesses said they heard the airplane impact and saw a huge ball of orange fire and black smoke. The impact was in West Gardiner... only a few miles from the Augusta airport. It wasn't pretty. Impact most likely in nose down, wing down (perhaps more that 60 degrees down). Very large crater. Pieces everywhere. Both pilot and passenger fatals. Not pretty.
The aftermath is obviously a hectic scene. Notable, very wealthy business person dies in plane crash...flying her own private jet...single pilot.
Those of us who have paid attention in class and in the cockpit would likely recognize that having to crank in some significant aileron might indicate a problem. (like fuel imbalance or lift issues. But then again... this person DECLINED DEICE with what was likely a significant layer of ice on the entire aircraft!!!) If you have 40 degrees left aileron and the attitude gyro is showing 'wings level', most of us would immediately reference the copilot's panel or the 'peanut gyro'. Remember the phrase.. Trust Your Instruments.. Crosscheck and verify. Unfortunately, we all know where this mess goes...
There is a lot more that was derived during the investigation, but I'll leave that up to official sources. It certainly is interesting to see how her business contemporaries characterize her.
'Driven'..
'She used her plane the way most people would use a car.'
'She was a very good pilot, very well practiced and meticulous,' said Donovan her Director of Marketing. 'We've all flown with her over the years, many times.'
I wonder what her fellow pilots and FBO folks have to say??
Pilot: Jeanette Symons
Aircraft: Cessna Citation CJ N102PT
Location: West Gardiner, ME
Date: February 1, 2008
Stay tuned.
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Posted by: Cheryl | February 12, 2008 8:02 AM
The comment that she treated the jet like a SUV sounds like she liked to 'just jump in and go' - flight planning, preflight, procedures and checklist were probably for 'chumps'. The comment that she had "hot wings" shows how she saw herself. (for those not in aviation - the jet does not have "heated wings" - they have leading edge deicers - but they do not work on ice collected farther back on the wing - you MUST have the plane 'deiced', meaning it would be sprayed with a chemical to remove the built up ice. Her comment of 'hot wings' meant she thought she had a fast and cool airplane. The taxiing around in the dark - what was she thinking? Through a ditch, but did not go back to the ramp to check for damage - what was she thinking? Toolk off on the wrong runway - what was she thinking? Did not follow in flight procedures (trusting other instruments) - what was she thinking? It seems she made error after error - she could have 'saved' it at any of those points, but the "get home-itis" took over. But she was not alone - many pilots have died the same way.
Posted by: Terry Galbreath | February 12, 2008 11:36 AM
based on my 18 yrs flying experience and the NTSB accident report, I don't think Jeanette had any business flying a jet aircraft. This rings of JFK syndrome.
Posted by: THOMAS C. WHALEN | February 12, 2008 6:27 PM
Great Post! Thanks for inspiring me. I really enjoy the content of your blog.
Posted by: Giblink | February 15, 2008 9:41 PM
A pity, but it was her fault. She had poor judgment in declining deicing after her aircraft stood in the freezing rain for over 1 hour. She was on the wrong radio freq., failed to turn on the runway lights and taxied all over the place before she managed to find pavement (she even got stuck in a drainage swale but powered up and kept going). When she reported a faulty gyro, she did not cross check with the co-pilots panel, this alone would have let her know that the gyro was in fact working. Why do smart people make dumb mistakes? Be cause as so many say, she treated her plane like a car and a plane is in no way as simple as a car. When NTSB finishes their report it will be, as with so many other crashes, pilot error.
Posted by: Michael Swaraski | March 1, 2008 9:32 AM
Regarding the comment by THOMAS C. WHALEN:
"based on my 18 yrs flying experience and the NTSB accident report, I don't think Jeanette had any business flying a jet aircraft. This rings of JFK syndrome."
I got my license back in 1976. I don't believe she had any business flying ANY aircraft, let alone a jet.
There are old pilots and there ar bold pilots. There are no old bold pilots.
Heinlein said it best:
"Stupidity cannot be cured with money, or through education, or by legislation. Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid. But stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carrieed out automatically and without pity."
Posted by: Gene Pallat | March 1, 2008 6:59 PM