210 down near BHM

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teethdoc

Pre-takeoff checklist
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teethdoc
A Cessna 210 went down up the road from me coming into BHM during bad weather? News say crashed in rough terrain and no survivors. Flight started in Jackson, MS. Anybody know any details or a tail number?
 
According to flight aware n732ej left Jackson for Birmingham last night shortly after 9pm
 
Sad indeed. Looking at Flightware I am puzzle by the long extended downwind to runway 24 and the left turn instead of right turn. Didn't the controller noticed such deviation and advised the pilot. I also noticed that it never slowed down for the approach. The altitude graph does not show a descent. This could be due to the transponder suddenly stopping from transmitting. Maybe due to a total loss of electrical power which impaired avionics and lighting of primary instruments. At night without primary instruments visible and no ground reference it is a sure thing that the pilot will overbank and put the the plane into a dive or stall

Always keep two flashlights handy. Mine has velcro around so I can stick it on the glareshield to iluminate the instruments. Always check them for night flying. The battery master relay is a single point of failure with no back up on most piston singles.

My sympathies to the family.

José
 
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Found him on the LiveATC.net archives and cut together the audio. It's fairly brief so I've transcribed it below:

Start of Recording:

732EJ Birmingham Approach, good evening. Birmingham altimeter 29.79, advise you have information golf. The field is IFR, when able say intentions.

I do have Golf and I'd like to pick up a local IFR for the ILS 24 into Birmingham please.

732EJ, not a problem, for the tape I just need to make sure are you capable and qualified for IFR flight?

Affirmative, 732EJ.

[stepped on] airport via radar vectors fly heading 055 maintain 4,000.

055 maintain 4,000 2EJ.

2EJ turn left heading 050.

050, 2EJ.

2EJ turn 5 degrees right.

5 degrees right, 2EJ.

2EJ turn right 090 descend and maintain 3,000.

090 descend and maintain 3,000, EJ.

2EJ turn right heading 150.

150 EJ.

[New voice, still approach, 12 minutes and 35 seconds since start]

And 2EJ turn right 210 3 and a half miles from ???, maintain 2,800 until established on the localizer, cleared ILS runway 24 approach.

Say again for 2EJ.

Uhhh, 2EJ looks like you're in a turn there to the north. I'm gonna-what I want you to do right now is get level wings and uh maintain an altitude of 2,800, or climb to 3,000. Um, I see you in a turn there so I don't want you to uh get too far off base there.

N2EJ, how do you hear me sir?

N2EJ, Birmingham Approach, how do you hear me?

N2EJ, radar contact lost, N2EJ if you hear me-Birmingham Approach how do you hear me?

N2EJ, Birmingham Approach, can you hear me sir?

[End, no further communication]
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There was a low ceiling, aircraft were reporting breaking out 200 feet above minimums on the ILS at around 3:20 Z. I think I heard a report from the tower of 5 miles visibility around this time as well. Arrivals were dodging some heavy cells before he showed up. Numerous wind shear alerts from the tower.
 
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Looks like the approach was going well,then something happened to cause the deviation and crash. The Feds will figure it out. Condolences to the family.
 
Kind of sounds like some kind of elec/avionics failure at the worst possible time. Lightning strike? Not good.
 
They arrived just after frontal passage while ceiling and visibility were near their worst. A few hours before or after and all may have turned out different. Sorry for the loss of a husband and wife.

The front had just passed his departure point allowing vfr at 3500' then 5500'(better tailwind) and here was the METAR and TAF for the destination before takeoff. Not too bad at the time.

SPECI KBHM 150216Z 16007KT 4SM -RA BR BKN036 BKN048 OVC060 07/06 A2975 RMK AO2 P0008=

TAF KBHM 142329Z 1500/1524 25012KT 3SM RA OVC030 FM150200 31015G23KT P6SM OVC015 FM150900 33010KT P6SM SCT015=

Lots of SPECI's issued before and after the crash.

This one was issued while they were enroute...

SPECI KBHM 150336Z 31007KT 5SM BR BKN006 BKN014 OVC023 08/07 A2979 RMK AO2 RAE34 CIG 004V010 P0003=
 
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Condolences to the family. I flew into BHM for the first time last fall, it was VFR. I was suprised to see so many ridges/hills in close proximity to the airport.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Condolences to the family. I flew into BHM for the first time last fall, it was VFR. I was suprised to see so many ridges/hills in close proximity to the airport.
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I'm based out of BHM and it's not the easiest to get into. You have ridges to the south, and towers to the SW. You basically have to come in at about 3000 and then get down pretty quickly.

Sad story. My buddy lives in a neighborhood not far from the crash and is a coporate pilot. He went outside when he heard the plane come over and told his wife, that's too low. When he heard they had dissapeared off radar he called in where he last heard it. Weather was UGLY at that time.
 
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