Citation hits a utility pole during an approach...

A couple years ago a Seneca (? - can't remember exactly) was parked on the ramp at my FBO. It had tree branches inside the engine cowls.

edit:

https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/R...=20160210X45108&AKey=1&RType=Summary&IType=CA

"The pilot reported that during a cross-country flight at night, he was attempting to deviate due to deteriorating weather. During which, he failed to maintain terrain clearance and the airplane contacted the top of a tree. The pilot subsequently landed the airplane uneventfully at an airport about 23 miles away from where the tree contact was made."
 
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Daaaaaaaaamn! Looking at the photos of the jet and the street scene... I'm in disbelief. They were a fraction of a second from hitting ground (and possibly ending everyone's life onboard), and the fact that the aircraft took that amount of damage and could still be flown is amazing to me.
 
What's really amazing is that the horizontal stabilizer didn't get knocked completely off. The Citation must be one robust aircraft.
 
Wondering if he was flying RNAV with a LNAV+V. That advisory glide slope can be tricksy.
 
Matthew said:
A couple years ago a Seneca (? - can't remember exactly) was parked on the ramp at my FBO. It had tree branches inside the engine cowls.

edit:

https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/R...=20160210X45108&AKey=1&RType=Summary&IType=CA

"The pilot reported that during a cross-country flight at night, he was attempting to deviate due to deteriorating weather. During which, he failed to maintain terrain clearance and the airplane contacted the top of a tree. The pilot subsequently landed the airplane uneventfully at an airport about 23 miles away from where the tree contact was made."
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Is that the same Seneca they have out there still?
 
labbadabba said:
Is that the same Seneca they have out there still?
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It buffed out.



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No (at least I'm pretty sure it isn't.)

I think the original was trucked back. I heard about it when it happened, then saw it after it was put back on the ramp while the insurance company tried to figure out what to do with it.
 
AKBill said:
Is a radar altimeter dependent on altimeter setting? I would think not.
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No, totally different. A radar altimeter measures altitude above the ground by timing how long it takes a beam of radio waves to reflect from the ground and return to the plane.

Which totally freaked me out one night over the mountains when it malfunctioned and suddenly started warning me I was 200 feet agl.....
 
Zeldman said:
No, totally different. A radar altimeter measures altitude above the ground by timing how long it takes a beam of radio waves to reflect from the ground and return to the plane.

Which totally freaked me out one night over the mountains when it malfunctioned and suddenly started warning me I was 200 feet agl.....
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That’ll get your attention!

There’s rumors of a TWA 727 in the late 80s turning out too soon on a missed approach into Gunnison and their radar altimeter actually reading 200’ AGL as they passed over the top of “W” Mountain just off of the south side of the runway.

If true, I wonder how long it took the cleaning crew to get the seats clean...
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Well it did help that the engines kept running. Not sure they would if a drone is ingested.
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This is the aviation equivalent of when your mom said "you're going to put your eye out with that thing" Yet as an adult I don't know many one eyed people.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Well it did help that the engines kept running. Not sure they would if a drone is ingested.
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They'd have to ingest two drones, one in each engine, for that to be much of an issue for a competent pilot.

Not that this particular pilot was competent...:rolleyes:
 
MauleSkinner said:
They'd have to ingest two drones, one in each engine, for that to be much of an issue for a competent pilot.

Not that this particular pilot was competent...:rolleyes:
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Dunno if he was competent or not. He did manage to recover the aircraft and land safely after impact with a telephone pole...
 
MauleSkinner said:
Key words..."impact with a telephone pole".
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Could happen to anyone. They put those damn poles up all over the place. Why if’n that pole wasn’t there he wouldn’t have hit it!
 
Zeldman said:
Yes it did. The fear needle pegged the scale for a couple of moments until I determined I was still at altitude and turned off the radar altimeter.
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The problem with old radalts in my experience is that this sort of thing is far more common than them actually working correctly. As such, I've developed a significant distrust of them and far prefer synthetic vision. They probably worked better when they were new but are complex instruments.
 
Hold the phone...

...pilot executed a go-around....

YHGTBFSM...
 
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That plane probably has a nice excess of power, that thing must have been real draggy after all that damage...
 
MauleSkinner said:
Having flown Citations, I find that statement humorous ;)
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The slowtation II was my first type rating. Great little training jet.

Of course I have flown cropdusters with higher gross takeoff weights since then and jets that carried the equivalent of several citations in fuel that really put the citation into perspective.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Ok, just wondering, because with that big chunk out of the nose I'd expect the thing to have a lot of drag.
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The relative drag that you'd get from it wouldn't be enough of an impact for a short flight at low altitude like that. I'm sure you'd notice a very decreased cruise speed at altitude and some odd handling characteristics when fast, but I'm not surprised that it was able to do the flight power wise so long as the wings and tail remained attached.
 
denverpilot said:
That’ll get your attention!

There’s rumors of a TWA 727 in the late 80s turning out too soon on a missed approach into Gunnison and their radar altimeter actually reading 200’ AGL as they passed over the top of “W” Mountain just off of the south side of the runway.

If true, I wonder how long it took the cleaning crew to get the seats clean...
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This one is sorta famous. Exposed one of the "secret but not secret" government installations.
 
There is only one approach to RWY 17, an RNAV with an LPV DA of gets you down to 250' AGL and an LNAV that gets you to 507' AGL. The VDP for the non-precision LNVA is 1.7 NM from the runway threshold and this guy managed to hit a utility pole at roughly 11' AGL 2 miles from runway. That puts him 496' below the MDA and his glidepath would have been somewhere near the stratosphere. One incompetent with six very fortunate passengers. I hope this guy never flys again. The utility category post was funny.
images
 
denverpilot said:
Ha. Didn’t know that. Funny when that happens.
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Ma Bell (Long Lines) supplied the secure com circuits to the facility. There was, IIRC, a microwave node there, too. Story is that the phone circuits were restored within 30 minutes of the time the plane hit them. The wreckage wasn't even cold.
 
Dave Theisen said:
Maybe he still had his altimeter set to pressure altitude.
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That's why I asked the question about radar altimeter. I thought he stated the radar altimeter did not scream foul (alert him that he was below 400ft AGL)
 
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