A Good End to a Bad Day

Looks like the tree canopy dissipated lots of energy there! Not much left after the fire.
 
There was fuel in the airplane, not sure if there was fuel in the tank that was selected, but we will see. It was fascinating to watch how the fuel spread then the fire began and spread quickly. I am afraid if help hadn't been there immediately, this would have been a fatal.
 
Whew, those oak trees don't give. Lucky the pilot didn't get knocked out and got out instead. Must have been at too slow of an airspeed to continue climbing out (Vmc, stall?) and return for landing
 
According to Air-Nav, Foley only sells 100LL fuel. With 3700' likely not a whole lot of need for Jet A. The article does say he took off from Foley, glad he made it, luck played a role.
 
That's definitely avgas. Jet A does not burn very well and certainly doesn't spread that quickly. Research vapor pressure & flashpoint.

gasoline:
JetA:
 
sourdough44 said:
According to Air-Nav, Foley only sells 100LL fuel. With 3700' likely not a whole lot of need for Jet A. The article does say he took off from Foley, glad he made it, luck played a role.
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Don't be too sure about that.

I operate out of a 2400 foot field with at least two King Airs operating regularly. There are a fair number of other turboprops on-field. Plus at least a few Diamond Diesels.

But I also agree that that was a gasoline fire. Gasoline only explodes in movies or when heavily atomized at just the right ratio. The fire spread among spilled fuel on the ground.
 
I'll defer to you guys who are more knowledgable. I was just pondering what could have caused his engine trouble.
 
mscard88 said:
Whew, those oak trees don't give. Lucky the pilot didn't get knocked out and got out instead.
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I felt relieved when I saw the pilot being helped from the wreckage. Many years ago I happened to be at a crash scene about the same time as the woman seen in the video.

The pilot did a fantastic job with the hand dealt him and made the edge of a tree lined field. But back then there weren't many GA aircraft with shoulder harnesses, and he was unconscious in the plane. The damned post crash fire took him.
 
I know at least 3 or more pilots who were in crashes and burned, but returned to flying. All of them were at the airline I flew at and after recovering, one can only fly during the winter months. He was awarded a large sum of $$$ and never has to work but continues on to this day. Amazing guy. A couple of other guys at the airline but they were in GA crashes that were burned. All of them have amazing attitudes and even make jokes about their appearance. Knew a couple others who died in the crash and the fire got them.
 
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Can someone explain to me why most of these crashes end in fire when the Reno crash where fuel sprayed everywhere didn't?


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Swampfox201 said:
Can someone explain to me why most of these crashes end in fire when the Reno crash where fuel sprayed everywhere didn't?


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Not much in Reno will burn when sprayed with fuel. Not like a nice, tall oak tree. Also takes a spark in the right place at the right time, so part if it is purely luck. Lotsa planes crash and don't burn, too.
 
It's amazing how much the trees absorbed. Of course I've always heard that going into the trees is actually preferable to going into the water. You kind of see why in this clip.

The fire seems to be the ultimate life taker a lot of the time, and with a road involved, there's always likely to be a spark.
 
Hank, sorry you crashed your plane into a tree. Glad you made it out safe.
 
In Reno, the NTSB report spoke of that issue IIRC. Independent theories I heard were (don't recall which were substantiated if any):
-Boil-off cooling tank was behind the cockpit and contents may have suppressed the fuel on impact
-impact was such that fuel was blown out away from ignition source
-there was a stiff wind during the race and it may have blown fuel vapor away as well.
-most or all of the high-end unlimiteds run a special VP race fuel that IIRC is in the neighborhood of 160 octane. I am not sure if it is harder to ignite than normal 100LL or auto fuel, but I would guess so (or that it at least burns slower).

Having been about 60 feet behind the point of impact, I can tell you that my eyes burned afterward and my skin felt the same as a long day flying glow-fueled RC (methanol). Both my dad and I were eternally grateful that it didn't ignite, as we would have been one of the many, many more casualties than what happened.
 
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