February 7, 1981: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is involved in a serious plane crash in California, resulting in his first extended leave from the company.
At the time, Wozniak flies a turbocharged, single-engine, six-seat Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC. On the plane with Woz are his fiancé Candi Clark, her brother and her brother’s girlfriend. Fortunately, no one died in the accident, although Woz suffered minor head injuries.
Steve Wozniak plane crash
Just months after Apple’s IPO, when Wozniak’s stake in Apple fetched $116 million, the crash came at a time of extreme change in Woz’s life. He watched Apple grow bigger than he ever imagined—and change in ways he wasn’t entirely happy about.
As for his personal life, he just divorced his first wife. Woz then began dating Clarke, a secretary at Apple. On their first date, he took her to see a sci-fi movie at a theater he bought with some of his IPO money.
The couple quickly planned the wedding. Wozniak decided to fly with them to see Clark’s uncle, who offered to design a custom wedding ring for her.
With Woz at the controls, the plane climbed too steeply during takeoff from Santa Cruz Skypark, a small airport about 25 miles from Cupertino in Scotts Valley, California. Then the plane stopped and slid through two fences into a nearby ice rink parking lot. Woz, who had flown only 50 hours at the time, later said he thought Clark might have accidentally leaned on the controls.
A turning point for Woz at Apple
Steve Wozniak apparently survived the plane crash. However, he ended up in the hospital suffering from amnesia. He spent most of his recovery time playing video games and convincing his old friend from the Homebrew Computer Club, Dan Sokol, to smuggle pizza and milkshakes. He did not immediately return to Apple.
It turned out to be the beginning of Woz breaking out of his full-time role at the company he co-founded with Steve Jobs. Although he technically remains an Apple employee to this day—making it to a short list of leaders known as Apple Fellows—Woz has pursued other interests.
When he returned to Apple a few years later, he only stayed for another two years. He became increasingly frustrated with the lack of focus on the Apple II division. Wozniak left Apple in 1985.
Photo: InfoWorld
