Clearwater FL crash into mobile home park

Ed Haywood

Ed Haywood

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Big Ed
Watching mess on local news. Big fire, several homes destroyed. No info on aircraft type yet. Looks like a bad one.
 
KCLW 020115Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 12/06 A3013 RMK AO2

Dark, but weather seems to be about perfect. Lots of planes in the sky.

According to the first glimpse of ADS-B data, the flight path was pretty normal across the state, likely on autopilot. The aircraft passed really close to the crash site, then kind of meandered to the NW, near CLW, not really in the pattern. Then came back around, climbed a bit and slowed, made a descending left turn, then straightened out and dove sharply straight ahead, increasing speed until the impact site.

The accident site is a mobile home park next to the bay, about halfway between CLW and PIE.
 
Ongoing incident not much info available yet.
 
I flew about an hour earlier on other side of the bay. Weather was CAVU.

Alignment with CLW runway makes me think it was an attempted landing. Maybe not able to identify runway from surrounding lights, went around, ran out of gas and fumbled the tank switch?
 
^^^ Odd.
Looks like left downwind, but instead of turning NE for base turned south and then west away from the airport. When the report stated Clwr Mall I thought PIE, plane was miles from CLW.
 
tobnpr said:
^^^ Odd.
Looks like left downwind, but instead of turning NE for base turned south and then west away from the airport. When the report stated Clwr Mall I thought PIE, plane was miles from CLW.
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Winds in the area were NW and favored runway 34.

FAA says destination was CLW and pilot reported engine failure.

I think he tried straight in approach to 34, was not lined up, went around, ran out of gas and failed to switch. Clearly he had fuel because the fire was big.

I'm not an IFR guy. Someone who is, where is the IAF for runway 34 approach? Looks to me like he was turning to line up for another straight in approach when he went down.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Winds in the area were NW and favored runway 34.

FAA says destination was CLW and pilot reported engine failure.

I think he tried straight in approach to 34, was not lined up, went around, ran out of gas and failed to switch. Clearly he had fuel because the fire was big.

I'm not an IFR guy. Someone who is, where is the IAF for runway 34 approach? Looks to me like he was turning to line up for another straight in approach when he went down.
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There are no IAPs to CLW. Nothing about the final several minutes of the flight path would be indicative of IFR work, anyway.

Fire could be remaining fuel but could also be combustibles on the ground? Gas hookups, etc.
 
Ed Haywood said:
I flew about an hour earlier on other side of the bay. Weather was CAVU.

Alignment with CLW runway makes me think it was an attempted landing. Maybe not able to identify runway from surrounding lights, went around, ran out of gas and fumbled the tank switch?
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If we are going to guess at least make it an interesting story.

I think they took a minute to find the target amongst all the light pollution.

I wonder what the people in that house did to the pilot to get them so upset…
 
Damn, what a shame.
As bad as I feel for the pilot I feel even worse for the residents. Just minding your own business.
 
LiveATC has the recording. He tells ATC he'll need to switch freqs to activate the runway lights and then cancels IFR. Comes back on the frequency to report the engine failure. Based on the track, looks like he missed the airport and was starting to go around when whatever happened, happened.
 
I have rented out of KCLW and trained for my multi out of there. It isn't the easiest airport to find in the daytime, much less at night. No IAPs. It's right traffic for rwy 34, maybe when he was having issues he decided to divert to PIE instead.
 
2 dead on ground, plus pilot. News reports say pilot reported he could not see the airport and had engine trouble. Apparently there is a LiveATC recording out. Anyone have a link?
 
farangutan said:
I have rented out of KCLW and trained for my multi out of there. It isn't the easiest airport to find in the daytime, much less at night. No IAPs. It's right traffic for rwy 34, maybe when he was having issues he decided to divert to PIE instead.
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I had a plane hangared there for a few years about 20 years ago. Don't recall any issues locating it, but I don't think I ever flew at night.

Crash happened at 7:06 local. 15 minutes earlier and he still would have had some ambient daylight to help.
 
I'm based out of Brooksville. I've only landed at CLW once. It is hard to see in the daytime, I can understand difficulty at night. KCLW is only about a mile NW of KPIE's airspace and also only about a mile West of the 1200ft shelf of the Tampa Bravo. However, I assume since he had been IFR he had clearance through those. Sad situation!
 
Croomrider said:
I'm based out of Brooksville. I've only landed at CLW once. It is hard to see in the daytime, I can understand difficulty at night. KCLW is only about a mile NW of KPIE's airspace and also only about a mile West of the 1200ft shelf of the Tampa Bravo. However, I assume since he had been IFR he had clearance through those. Sad situation!
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The setups with airspace like that certainly complicate things when you’re lost and looking. That could explain the left turn away from a right-traffic runway as well as staying fairly low throughout the maneuver.
 
I fly up and down that coast fairly often. I have an A36, and my plan on an engine out and not near an airport is to ditch gear up in the water. If he had done this the water in the intercoastal waterway is only 2 miles west of KCLW, is fairly calm protected water, and there are plenty of lights there to see what your doing. That probably would have saved 3 lives.
 
Croomrider said:
I fly up and down that coast fairly often. I have an A36, and my plan on an engine out and not near an airport is to ditch gear up in the water. If he had done this the water in the intercoastal waterway is only 2 miles west of KCLW, is fairly calm protected water, and there are plenty of lights there to see what your doing. That probably would have saved 3 lives.
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Old Tampa Bay was about 1200’ from the crash site.
 
I saw a CCTV video on the news tonight (I think it was ABC) that showed the plane coming down. Looked really fast at about a 45 degree angle. :oops:
 
Petrus_829 said:
A friend of our family, Mary Ellen Pender (54), was killed on the ground. She had stayed behind at a friend's place to help clean up after a day of golf, the kind person that she was. RIP
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God be with her, her family, and all of the victims. I'll second CLW being difficult to pick out visually even in the daytime. Witness accounts say they went down at high speed. Night disorientation, power loss (for whatever reason), stall, and loss of control?
 
According to local news, the pilot reported being unable to locate CLW, then reported loss of power. Track is consistent with that.

99% odds it was fuel exhaustion in one wing and failure or inability to switch to the other. Could be he lost control while trying to work the selector.

There was a Bonanza accident in Lakeland a few years ago where exactly the same thing happened. Ran out of gas in one wing on final approach, tried to switch tanks but had a problem and came down in an industrial park a mile short of the runway. I recall some discussion of known issues with older Bo fuel tank selectors.

LiveATC tape is out there. Anyone found it?
 
The sharp angle of descent and increasing speed, as shown by ADS-B data, doesn’t really indicate a stall/spin. Maybe an accelerated stall at the end if he attempted to pull sharply out of that dive, but there’s no evidence of that. The descent and impact had a lot of energy, as noted by the pilot of the other aircraft that observed the accident. The ADS-B data seem to bear that out.

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it, putting myself inside the cockpit, but the energy, the angle of that dive doesn’t make a ton of sense for an engine-out scenario unless maybe there was distraction, spatial D, or some other mechanical issue in play.
Ed Haywood said:
LiveATC tape is out there. Anyone found it?
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Yes, someone made a condensed version of it and it’s posted at LiveATC under “interesting recordings.”
 
So to sum up. Missed airport (known). Engine issue (known). Fuel exhaustion from missed tank change (guess). Spatially disoriented during all these events from task over saturation (guess). This sounds like the cascade of events no one sees coming but should.
 
Flying Keys said:
Yes, someone made a condensed version of it and it’s posted at LiveATC under “interesting recordings.”
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Thanks. Not a lot there, but does confirm the basic scenario. He lined up for a straight in approach to runway 34 at CLW. Attempted to land, could not see airport, diverted to Albert Whitted, then reported he was losing his engine.

Where is tank selector on a Bonanza? Would pilot have to bend over and drop head below panel to operate?

Nose would drop into a dive if he didn't retrim for best glide and relaxed back pressure when he bent over. V35 is famously slick, and he was at 1400 AGL. Wouldn't take long if he fumbled with the lever.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Where is tank selector on a Bonanza? Would pilot have to bend over and drop head below panel to operate?
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Oh you betcha, left of your calf and down. Leans special at night. Hell just fumbling with it when in a panic cuz the engine is sputtering will give you a run for your money. I reckon most people will want to visually eyes-on/read the selection if the engine is already quitting, as opposed to the more typical doing it by feel and assuming it's correct since the engine isn't quitting in the first place. A prolonged head movement in the former case, trying to read/verify the selection with crap readability at night and in a hurry, with an airplane slowing and naturally pitching down to last trimmed speed, I can totally see the channelization and spatial D loss of control from that ergonomics dumpster fire. No ground rush either to end game it peripherally, like one could in daytime. Game over.

In fairness to the fanbois, most all spam cans are ergonomics nightmares for 2024 standards. At least in EAB I suppose you could exercise some personal discretion if you don't like where the damned thing is; at least you couldn't really say the government forced you into it. But hey more "fac-built safety standards" FTW amma right? I digress.
 
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hindsight2020 said:
most all spam cans are ergonomics nightmares for 2024 standards.
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Yessir! It’s not just a nice-to-have, either. Poor ergonomics can be deadly (ask John Denver). “Left of your calf and down” means it’s not just hard to reach, but can’t be seen in the dark. Sounds the same as a Cherokee.

Putting a fuel selector where it’s not easily visible and selectable from both front seats is nuts. I’m okay with my Musketeer’s location on the floor between the seats, though I had trouble reaching it prior to installing inertia-reel shoulder harnesses, but the Grumman Tiger is much better. On the panel, between the seats, pointing to the fuel gauge of the selected tank.
 
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ateamer said:
That’s why Fuel Selector - Fullest Tank is on my Approach checklist, done at top of descent, or no later than five miles out. One less thing to do when time and altitude is tight.
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Same here, and I don't want to be switching tanks in the pattern anyway. If something goes wrong with flow from the new tank, my plane will run just long enough to empty the carb bowl and I could be very low with no options at that point. Best to make the switch while I still have altitude to deal with a problem.
 
Half Fast said:
“Left of your calf and down” means it’s not just hard to reach, but can’t be seen in the dark. Sounds the same as a Cherokee.
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Yes, it is similar to a Cherokee. I wonder if the pilot did switch to the fullest tank as part of his before landing checklist, but did not get it all the way into the detent.
 
Gilbert Buettner said:
Yes, it is similar to a Cherokee. I wonder if the pilot did switch to the fullest tank as part of his before landing checklist, but did not get it all the way into the detent.
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I wouldn't be surprised to learn that. I flew rental Cherokees and Warriors for a while, and I can recall it being a bit awkward and needing to check carefully that I had the tank fully selected.
 
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