Fatality...

[jshawley]

Apparently this evening a 172H, 1614F, from out of town (update: Virginia) went down north of SGF. I've gleaned a little from an inside source: Pilot only, not in contact with ATC. Witnesses: "Loud, revving like a motorcycle;" "High-pitched whine like an engine winding up."

News reports that SGF Approach didn't even see a primary on their radar. There was no evidence of a fire. Video from the night coverage shows nothing but pieces.

Here's the story from KYTV-3
http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-small-plane-crashes-near-walnu-01032011,0,6523798.story

 

[flyer]

I saw this on the news here in KC last night. Wonder what happened.

 

[Dr. O]

I can predict with confidence that the final report will contain the words "pilots failure to maintain directional control of the aircraft"?

When you hear bystanders who know nothing of flying say things like, engine winding up, high pitched sound, like a motorcycle; those sounds have nothing to do with an engine turning 2400 rpm... He got the leans, forgot to fly the instruments, and stuffed it straight into the ground... And likely ripped off some aerodynamically required parts on the way down... Panic kills...

denny-o

 

[GJEwing]

Wow, that's crazy but it made (me) rethink !!!

 

[jshawley]

Followup news report just now at 10:00pm:

Pilot had, at 6:30pm, phoned home to VA to report he had refueled; plane went down ~7:00pm. Don't know *where* he refueled--not reported in the news. Purportedly en route from VA to Cuba, MO; however, Southwest MO is somewhat out of the way (96 nm), west of the route of anywhere, VA and Cuba (KUBX). So, I dunno what is accurate... But no sign of fire.

Sigh.

 

[rottydaddy]

Looks like he was definitely not in control at the end- that's one seriously totaled airplane.
I have no idea what the weather was like, but I know it was after dark, and the most important thing I've learned from my very little night time is that even a good VFR night can require good instrument-flying habits. Black hole effects, false horizons, perspective illusions, the leans... it's very different from day VFR, innit?

As for the reported sounds, I'm also always dubious of "layman" eyewitness reports, but if he went in nose-down with full power, the engine/prop may have over-revved, and that would probably sound rather unusual.

 

[Dean]

Looks like he was definitely not in control at the end- that's one seriously totaled airplane.
I have no idea what the weather was like, but I know it was after dark, and the most important thing I've learned from my very little night time is that even a good VFR night can require good instrument-flying habits. Black hole effects, false horizons, perspective illusions, the leans... it's very different from day VFR, innit?

As for the reported sounds, I'm also always dubious of "layman" eyewitness reports, but if he went in nose-down with full power, the engine/prop may have over-revved, and that would probably sound rather unusual.

This part of Missouri is very populated and there are security lights at almost every farm, so night VFR flights are pretty easy around here. The main concern around here at night are towers, but most of them are less than 1000' with a few exceptions around Fordland where they are over 3000' and a few other tall towers scattered around the state.

 

[Dean]

Followup news report just now at 10:00pm:

Pilot had, at 6:30pm, phoned home to VA to report he had refueled; plane went down ~7:00pm. Don't know *where* he refueled--not reported in the news. Purportedly en route from VA to Cuba, MO; however, Southwest MO is somewhat out of the way (96 nm), west of the route of anywhere, VA and Cuba (KUBX). So, I dunno what is accurate... But no sign of fire.

Sigh.

Boy, if he was headed to Cuba he must have been asleep to over fly it that much. And if he had refueled at 6:30 he had to be in the Lebanon area, not very many places to refuel within 30 minutes of the crash site.

 

[jshawley]

Boy, if he was headed to Cuba he must have been asleep to over fly it that much. And if he had refueled at 6:30 he had to be in the Lebanon area, not very many places to refuel within 30 minutes of the crash site.

Agreed, Dean. The whole KOLR news report was confusing. I suspect he had refueled at Cuba, and was still heading west. Dunno.

I do know that the wx was incredibly clear (and it was last night too, from M17 to GLY and back). Could see the city of SGF right after getting in the air. Could even see M17's rotating beacon once in the air at GLY.