Lots of crashes in the news lately

I

ikold

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Ikold
Is there a spike up in the accident rate during the holidays? Seem to have seen lots of accidents on the news lately (the most recent being the one in Louisianna today). Winter weather combined with get there idis I suppose.
 
Lots’a people moving and shaking this time of year. I suspect there would also be a spike in roadway fatalities during the same time period as well.
 
The one at KLFT in LA was a Piper Cheyenne. Lost one of those super dependable PT-6's.
 
Not really. We have to track accidents for work and while it is a little blip in multi fatality crashes, over a 12 month period it’s not out of the ordinary unfortunately. I haven’t correlated data but it seems like there were on average 2- 3 fatal crashes per week, and probably another 4 or so serious accidents. In fact accidents tend to go down over the holidays because weather keeps (the wise) GA pilots on the ground more so than the rest of the year. The thing is the 1 or 2 fatalities in a small piston aren’t really big news, but I personally handled 3 this past year that, pardon the pun, flew below the radar. And that was just in my little territory.

Remember, there were weeks with terrible PC-12 losses, King Air losses, helo losses, among the piston losses that garner no attention.
 
Maxnr said:
The one at KLFT in LA was a Piper Cheyenne. Lost one of those super dependable PT-6's.
Click to expand...

Link to the NTSB final? Actually a post impact pic showing prop blades may be telling. I just haven’t seen any info yet that points to a direct cause.
 
Private pilots seem to fly more during holidays compared to other times in the winter. And it’s to go see relatives, I did it Thursday and came home today. I think there is more pressure on pilots to fly to grandmas house or to see the grandkids. Rusty skills, marginal weather, early darkness and get there itis, all up the risks. I’m not commenting on the pilot of today’s accident.
 
Just an increase in high profile crashes this week.
 
Bell206 said:
It happened this morning. You're a little premature on the final report.;)
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Yes that was the joke. They only mentioned it the “small plane crash” about 10 times during the LSU game that all my family was watching. Now I’m waiting for the questions when I talk to them next.
 
I lost a hangar neighbor last weekend. He owned a '63 C-182F, in the T-hangar just three doors up from mine. Chatted with him once or twice. Nice guy. :(

I pulled the Flightaware track and listened to the GYR tower recording.

Looks like he had just taken off from GYR runway 3 around 6:15 PM (after dark), and made a left downwind departure. He made 1-1/2 orbits over the Twin Lakes residential area about five miles south of the airport at about 3,000' (2000' AGL), then turned back toward GYR.

He called inbound and was cleared to land straight-in runway 3, #2 behind a Cessna that was on a left base. He acknowledged the landing clearance, and said he had the traffic ahead in sight. All transmissions were routine, in a cheerful voice, no indication of any problem.

Tower asked the Cessna ahead of 71U to make a full-stop instead of a T&G, because "the aircraft that was behind you appears to have gone into the ground half a mile south of the airport." When a Cessna trainer that had been sequenced behind 71U turned to final, the pilot reported seeing the glow of a small fire "by the power pylons." According to news reports he flew into high-voltage lines 1.5 miles south of the approach end of the 8500-foot-long runway.

n3371u-pylon-jpg.81406


Ironically, he was a consulting engineer for Tucson Electric Power Company.

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/12/cessna-182f-skylane-n3371u-fatal.html
 

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A Cheyenne is a "small plane" to the aviation dumb media.

It sounds like that crash was an engine loss, right after departure, in low vis. Awful combo.
 
Bell206 said:
Well, considering the grandson and D-I-L of the plane's owner died in the crash perhaps your family will see the humor in that?
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In hindsight my statement was not the most appropriate. The intention of my statement was to point out the folly in making factual statements “Lost one of those super dependable PT6’s” this early in the process. I preface this statement that the poster of that statement may have been aware of some additional information that I was not at the time of my posting.

I meant no I’ll will towards anyone involved in the crash and my primary purpose was to point out (in a non-confrontational - joking way) that he (or she) was making a factual causation statement when the NTSB final wasn’t released. I’m not one to be against speculating and I think it is very likely spatial disorientation or an engine failure was a factor in this, but at the time of my posting I was unaware of any factual conclusions.

Bell206 - Thanks for calling me out, this wasn’t the most appropriate way considering the context of the subject to inquire whether or not there was some factual information on the cause of the crash.
 
Probably no more than normal number of occurences, but sometimes it feels that way.
We lost a local pilot last week sadly, out of KEVV (Evansville IN, and TriState Aero) airport/FBO we visit often. We were actually flying not far away at the time of the incident.

Some interesting back stories about the owner's fleet, and maintenance... but I'll not go into that now. (this plane was rented at the time of crash). Myself and friends have flown planes in this fleet.

Never again.

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/12/piper-pa-28-140-cherokee-cruiser-n601fl_22.html
 
This hasn’t been a good weekend. These crashes always make me pause and question what I am doing. I think I read about the accidents in some manner hoping the accident was the result of some really bad decision making. This isn’t meant to disparage anyone - certainly not someone who died in a crash. But I believe in some fashion if I can look at a bad accident and say “I wouldn’t have done that” ( and I understand that’s wishful thinking in some cases) it somehow makes me feel safer. On the other hand when I read about an accident where engines quit on takeoff or short final or the plane and pilot are somehow victimized by a bad set of factors out of the pilots control, it makes me feel less safe. I don’t worry every time I fly but I do think in terms of accident chains as I preflight and plan my trip and try to make sure I’m not getting sloppy. Still, in the end, things can happen that we have marginal control over the outcome. Be safe out there.


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Geosync said:
Not really. We have to track accidents for work and while it is a little blip in multi fatality crashes, over a 12 month period it’s not out of the ordinary unfortunately. I haven’t correlated data but it seems like there were on average 2- 3 fatal crashes per week, and probably another 4 or so serious accidents. In fact accidents tend to go down over the holidays because weather keeps (the wise) GA pilots on the ground more so than the rest of the year. The thing is the 1 or 2 fatalities in a small piston aren’t really big news, but I personally handled 3 this past year that, pardon the pun, flew below the radar. And that was just in my little territory.

Remember, there were weeks with terrible PC-12 losses, King Air losses, helo losses, among the piston losses that garner no attention.
Click to expand...
Most of our little planes hold two or four people, and probably fly with no more than two 90% of the time. Having several planes with five, six, or perhaps a dozen passengers go down will rapidly inflate the fatalities, given how few are killed each year in GA crashes.
(I got holy heck for saying it at the time, but the additional loss of life in NYC due to certain events on a certain date 19 years ago was within the noise level of number of deaths in that city in a year.)
 
Kenny Phillips said:
Or lost fuel to it, which is perhaps as likely.
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Or lost oil to it. With only 4K to 5K flying hrs with PT-6's, I'm no expert. I once had three incidents of a leaking oil line on consecutive days. Got home the first time, got almost home the second. The third, left it on the deck. Also had a FOD incident. Engine began small surges. Got stronger. Got bad. Got it on the ground OK. Maint found that a small cowl fastener came loose and was "processed" by the engine. Damaged the inlet guide vanes.
I'm thinking that this may have been a Cheyenne 3 due to the number of seats. The operator that I worked for had one and I traveled in it once and a while.
Yes. No report yet from the NTSB. However, we in the unwashed masses don't need to be totally informed to make an opinion. We do take check rides and ride sims. Lets see. It was reported the A/C departed, turned back, lost altitude, hit an object on the ground, then clipped a building. Any other ideas other than OEI ? Why? I don't know.
The dependable PT-6 got it's start at P&W Canada in the late 50's when some folks took a look at a NG fueled ag irrigation water pump engine that normally ran for weeks at a time housed in a shack in a field. They developed it into the PT-6. Told to me at Flight Safety.
(Note my avatar. The BEll, Bell Agusta, Agusta Bell, Agusta Westland and now the Leonardo 609 with a pair of PT-6's)
 
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