PA32 down out of PDK

dwalt

dwalt

Pre-takeoff checklist
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DWalt
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Just about to post this.

Flew a PA32 in there yesterday. There is nowhere to land with a troubled engine.

Rest in peace. :(
 
Captain Eric Jackson with DeKalb County fire says the plane nearly hit two vehicles before crashing.
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If, indeed, the crash occurred without hitting any vehicles on the interstate, then kudos may be due to the pilot for that feat.
RIP, and condolences to the families of those who died.
 
Cpt_Kirk said:
Just about to post this.

Flew a PA32 in there yesterday. There is nowhere to land with a troubled engine.

Rest in peace. :(
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Yes, 285 is the only option, or maybe the railroad tracks behind the old GM plant that run parallel to the highway. Wonder if he tried to avoid cars and hit the median wall, but it looks like the prop was still turning when he impacted (both tips bent severely in the news footage I saw).

RIP.
 
Dennis McKim said:
Is the registry info at the FAA site up-to-date?
AW certificate shows as expired.
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=5802V
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First off, the Airworthiness Certificate does not expire. The Registration does.

Usually, the website gets updated when the FAA issues the renewed registration (ie, you see it is renewed before you get the paper in the mail).

Since it expired a month ago, two possibilities - they recently sold it and the new registration hasn't been processed yet or they sent in the renewal and the FAA hasn't processed it yet, which means it is expired, but that would be the last of their worries.
 
If that is the tail number than flight aware guesses a bunch.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Since it expired a month ago, two possibilities - they recently sold it and the new registration hasn't been processed yet or they sent in the renewal and the FAA hasn't processed it yet, which means it is expired, but that would be the last of their worries.
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Thanks.
 
Sad deal for sure.........:sad::sad::sad::sad::sad::sad::sad:

Hope it wasn't a misfuel deal...
 
News just showed NTSB on site.

Reporting plane was based out of Ashville, NC enroute to Oxford, MS.

Bad place for engine trouble for sure.

RIP.
 
Motorist Don McGhee, 48, said he saw the aircraft nearly hit a traffic light pole near the highway onramp.
"It looked like it was struggling. You could see him trying to get the nose of the plane up. It was edging up, and then it just dropped," McGhee said. "It was just a huge fire, just smoke and fire."

This was taken from one of the news articles.
 
May the rest in peace,condolences to the families
 
Looks like it came to rest with the wings ripped off and fuselage almost inverted.

Very sad.
 
Just learned that my buddy's friend was on board. She was flying with her fiance, his brother, and their father (who was the pilot). They were headed to see the third brother graduate tomorrow. Very very sad.

A friend at the field who saw the departure reported that the climb performance looked poor. Not sure what that's worth at this point though.
 
Not a lot of places to set an aircraft down in that vicinity. At least that's what was going through my mind last time I flew around there. Bad deal to be certain. RIP.
 
Glad to see all those people stop and not a one tried to put out the fire or help...
 
SkyHog said:
Glad to see all those people stop and not a one tried to put out the fire or help...
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Looking at the wreckage and the extent of the fire.....I don't think that behavior is unreasonable. No one near that airplane was going to change the outcome.
 
From the facebook video posted by the latinos.. I was impressed you could hear sirens and it looked like the crash was only a few seconds old..

Congrats to the first responders.......

My guess is the impact did all the occupants in even if there was no fire.

Still a very sad deal..:sad::sad::sad:
 
Very sad to say I took off from the same runway just a few minutes after and had to deviate round the smoke. We had noticed the smoke during run-up and then saw the fire on the interstate--assumed it was just a car fire. Wasn't until we got back an hour and a half later that we found out what had happened. Very sad around the airport today.

Captured from my GoPro...
2iut91t.jpg
 
N801BH said:
My guess is the impact did all the occupants in even if there was no fire.:
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From the pictures of the wreckage that I've seen, I would say you are probably correct. Very compact pile of metal for what used to be a Cherokee 6.

Very sad for all involved.
 
I'm sorry to hear that. It's always harder when it hits close to home.

dwalt said:
Just learned that my buddy's friend was on board. She was flying with her fiance, his brother, and their father (who was the pilot). They were headed to see the third brother graduate tomorrow. Very very sad.

A friend at the field who saw the departure reported that the climb performance looked poor. Not sure what that's worth at this point though.
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SkyHog said:
Glad to see all those people stop and not a one tried to put out the fire or help...
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You've clearly never driven on I-285. Running across that highway is a death wish. Getting creamed to help people already dead helps nobody.
 
olasek said:
Something amiss ... from CNN's TV report I clearly saw a 2-blade propeller lying on the freeway, this was has 3-blades. The camera paused on the propeller long enough that I was even scratching my head trying to figure if it was rotating... Are you positive it is the aircraft?
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Yup......
The prop on the ground had 2 blades left 120 degrees apart... ya gotta look close...
 
olasek said:
Something amiss ... from CNN's TV report I clearly saw a 2-blade propeller lying on the freeway, this was has 3-blades. The camera paused on the propeller long enough that I was even scratching my head trying to figure if it was rotating... Are you positive it is the aircraft?
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To me it looked like a three bladed prop with one blade broken off. I thought I saw the third blade by itself in one shot.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
johnxreid said:
Very sad to say I took off from the same runway just a few minutes after and had to deviate round the smoke. We had noticed the smoke during run-up and then saw the fire on the interstate--assumed it was just a car fire. Wasn't until we got back an hour and a half later that we found out what had happened. Very sad around the airport today.

Captured from my GoPro...
2iut91t.jpg
Click to expand...

Ya gotta admit.... The pilot flew a PERFECT, straight out departure...
 
SkyHog said:
Glad to see all those people stop and not a one tried to put out the fire or help...
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What would a motorist use to put out a fire fueled buy 50 gallons or more of burning avgas?

As others have said, not a lot of options for an emergency landing in the Atlanta metro area, it's either buildings or trees. Probably the biggest open area you'd find is an athletic field, which would most likely be surrounded by tall trees. I-285 was probably one of his only choices, and it's always busy, I wonder if the airplane collided with a vehicle on the roadway. We had a freight dog make an emergency landing on Ga. 400 in 1998, the pilot survived, but one of the motorists she hit did not.

So sorry for the loss of life.
 
I'm minutes up the road. Hollow feeling in my stomach. :(
 
mikeinbama said:
I gotta tell ya, I don't know what the NTSB will be able to get from that, there is little to nothing left.
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Just depends on what the issue was. If it was engine internals, maybe. Fuel or flight controls, probably not.
 
Very sad. Wonder if it was a fuel issue or some mechanical failure. Looked like the airplane had just arrived into PDK about 45 minutes prior.
 
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