Bonanza Explodes in Midair over Colorado

I did scan the threads before posting, and there's no way I would have caught that one. The wording of that thread title made my head come from together.
 
Dav8or said:
I'm not sure if you can believe the "eye witness" in the story, but possibly this was not a midair explosion, but rather a midair break up. The "revving engines" and steep bank angles might suggest aerobatics.
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I thought it sounded like a fight or struggle in the cockpit. Has anyone ever tried to hijack a Bo before?
 
But none of this explains the "coming from together". I think there was a struggle in the cockpit.
 
Listed as a C35. Service ceiling on mine is supposed to be 18000. Never been patient enough to climb over 11500. Even with an E-225...

Maybe a home made Turbo job?
 
Pilawt said:
One of those named in the 2013 article is still listed as the registered owner ...

Sac's right. Wow.
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I vaguely remember that news story. It was almost 3 years ago and said it was "seized". How did the owner get it back? Or, did the new owner simply not re-register it? Not an owner, don't know how all the paperwork comes together.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
I'm gonna call.....hypoxia, tail icing........boom, boom.
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Hypoxia sounds about right from the altitude graph. I think the plane just stalled and went into a spin. Perhaps the pilot woke up and tried to recover and ended up pulling the wings off or something.

The altitude graph does not suggest a struggle in the cockpit.
 
Matthew said:
I vaguely remember that news story. It was almost 3 years ago and said it was "seized". How did the owner get it back? Or, did the new owner simply not re-register it? Not an owner, don't know how all the paperwork comes together.
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Just because a vehicle is seized from you, doesn't mean you can't get it back. I just making crap up, but there may have been a plea bargain where the pilot got all his charges dropped in exchange for ratting out his friends. Then, once released, he could get his plane back by just paying the storage fees. It may also be possible that they just didn't have enough evidence to connect him to the trafficking and possession charges. He may have just been "chartered" and "had no idea what was in those duffle bags".
 
checkout the overlay on his track.....appears to be a short jaunt into precip. No way of telling if he was in it or it was below him....but.
 
That guy sure was high

too soon?
 
colojo said:
I did scan the threads before posting, and there's no way I would have caught that one. The wording of that thread title made my head come from together.
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Is that the same as "my head asplode" ? :D
 
Dav8or said:
Just because a vehicle is seized from you, doesn't mean you can't get it back. I just making crap up, but there may have been a plea bargain where the pilot got all his charges dropped in exchange for ratting out his friends. Then, once released, he could get his plane back by just paying the storage fees. It may also be possible that they just didn't have enough evidence to connect him to the trafficking and possession charges. He may have just been "chartered" and "had no idea what was in those duffle bags".
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or he actually worked for DEA and the "clients" found out? More than "my head" asplode? Yeah, more "too soon" ... sorry
 
"Revved" its engine. Reported by someone on the ground? That's pretty odd.

Runaway prop, prop failure, unbalanced engine/separation leading to in-flight breakup?

The word "explosion" leads to outfreaking.
 
I would also think a Bo @ 18K would be a pretty small dot in the sky, especially if there was weather.
 
wsuffa said:
Might well have been over the mountains, making AGL a lot lower.
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Ground elevations west of Meeker are generally in the 6,000 to 8,000' range.
 
petrolero said:
"Revved" its engine. Reported by someone on the ground? That's pretty odd.

Runaway prop, prop failure, unbalanced engine/separation leading to in-flight breakup?

The word "explosion" leads to outfreaking.
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ifly4fun said:
I would also think a Bo @ 18K would be a pretty small dot in the sky, especially if there was weather.
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"Revved" engine at 18k and it was observed with specificity on the ground. Gotta love self-important expert "witnesses". (not)

Lots of possibilities here, we'll see what NTSB can piece together.
 
Waking this thread up...

The prelim NTSB still doesn't have a whole lot...

http://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/NTSB.Aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20160115X22543

This page however has some interesting photos from the ground crew mopping up.

Impressive how little space a Bo takes up when it's piled into the front basket of a sno-cat in pieces.

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2016/01/accident-occurred-january-14-2016-in.html

(Folks probably thought I was kidding when I said we didn't want to have to go looking for Bryan near Angelfire, NM if he had to pull the chute there, because it's a PITA to go find crap in the forest... the photos show an EASY recovery area...)

I'll post a link to the ATC audio (can't hear the pilot, only the ZDV controller) here in a sec... gotta switch devices.
 
Here's the audio.

Sure sounds looks and sounds like hypoxia got him, to me.

http://youtu.be/OSPZQBZjm2Q

The history of the airplane and pilot being involved in a drug bust in Kansas earlier is fascinating -- how wasn't he in jail and the airplane impounded?
 
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