Piper Arrow down - Page AZ

Rgbeard

Rgbeard

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rgbeard
A different news article identifies it as a PA-28R.

https://www.abc15.com/news/state/plane-crashes-near-page-arizona-investigation-underway

PAGE, AZ — An investigation is underway after a plane crashed in the Page, Arizona, area on Wednesday night.

Officials say a single-engine Piper 28 aircraft went down west of Page.

At about 5:30 p.m. the Coconino County Sheriff's Office responded to the Paria Plateau area, west of Page.

Deputies from the Page and Fredonia substations responded to the area for reports of a private aircraft crash involving one death and one survivor.

CCSO recieved a call from the Page Airport reporting that a plane originating from San Martin, California had crashed while heading toward the Page Airport.
 
I knew the pilot Jim. We were on the same home field in San Martin E16 for a while. He was a good and decent guy, well respected and well liked. He was perennially elected president or a board member of our local airport pilots Association.

His wife survived the accident with multiple injuries and is in the hospital.

He owned the business many of us have probably frequented for aviation sheepskin covers. The products were very popular and Jim treated customers well.

Devastating and surreal when hear about someone you know in an accident. Jim was a solid and real guy.

Prayers for his wife Uta.
 
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@NordicDave Thank you for telling us a little about the pilot and his passenger. I hope the passenger quickly and fully recovers, both physically and mentally. As always, I hope we can learn something from this tragedy and help prevent it from recurring.

Kathryn’s Report: http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2021/09/piper-pa-28r-200-n3906x-fatal-accident.html

FlightAware gives about 3.8 hours en route before it drops off, which seems to be well before the end of the flight. FlightAware’s information ends near Colorado City, which is about 75 nm west of Page. The reports all say that the crash happened near Page. That adds about 0.6 hours at the speeds they were getting over the ground, for 4.4 hours total in the air.

My experience is all in the -180 but the -200 should be the same plane with 20 extra horsepower. I flight planned 10 gph at 65% power and really burned closer to 9. The plane has tabs marking 36 gallons and full tanks would be 50 gallons. In the climb I burned 12-14 gph depending on engine cooling needs. Add the fuel burn to climb all the way up to 11,500 where they spent most of the flight, and fuel exhaustion is a possibility. The picture isn’t great, but it looks like a forest. If he had to glide it in without power over a forest, it does look like he flew the plane all the way to the crash.

Their route is curious. They approached the mountains, then curved around the west edge to get around the south end, and then up the east side before heading back toward their destination. Maybe they planned a more direct flight, realized the mountains were more in the way than originally planned (could be due to winds, DA, or who knows what else), and rather than fly over uncharted territory by turning direct to the destination after going around the south end of the mountains they flew north to intercept something like their original route.
 
Some comments on Kathryn's Report say that the crash was on the Paria Plateau, which is about 6500 feet high and at least 11 miles west of Page.
 
That's so sad. Somehow it becomes more 'real' when I've flown the same model aircraft. I know why he might have chosen to own one, for example. They're not the fastest aircraft, or most glamorous, but they fly well. No surprises, no weird characteristics. Hope his wife recovers and doesn't have any permanent physical harm.
 
There's a large fire in his original path that started on Sept 20. It's filled the southern valley here with smoke. TFRs for forest fires usually go up to the 9,000 - 11,000 MSL range, but I'll bet the reason for diversion was the smoke plume.

Edit: Looks like it started Sept 9, but has really picked up this week. 62,000 acres and 5% containment. We didn't notice the smoke until this week.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7841/
 
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Kenny Taylor said:
There's a large fire in his original path that started on Sept 20. It's filled the southern valley here with smoke. TFRs for forest fires usually go up to the 9,000 - 11,000 MSL range, but I'll bet the reason for diversion was the smoke plume.

Edit: Looks like it started Sept 9, but has really picked up this week. 62,000 acres and 5% containment. We didn't notice the smoke until this week.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7841/
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That makes sense. Even a small grass fire here yesterday had me diverting to avoid the gigantic smoke plume.
 
iamtheari said:
@NordicDave

My experience is all in the -180 but the -200 should be the same plane with 20 extra horsepower. I flight planned 10 gph at 65% power and really burned closer to 9. The plane has tabs marking 36 gallons and full tanks would be 50 gallons. In the climb I burned 12-14 gph depending on engine cooling needs. Add the fuel burn to climb all the way up to 11,500 where they spent most of the flight, and fuel exhaustion is a possibility. The picture isn’t great, but it looks like a forest. If he had to glide it in without power over a forest, it does look like he flew the plane all the way to the crash.
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I have about 35hours in a 200hp arrow, it had 72gal
Usable. I don’t remember what the tabs were. I do know a full load of fuel put the CG way forward so you might have to make your passenger ride in the back if you filled it past the tabs and don’t have much weight in the luggage area or back seat.

aside from that it was about the same 11-12gph in cruise.
 
MrAnderson said:
I have about 35hours in a 200hp arrow, it had 72gal
Usable. I don’t remember what the tabs were. I do know a full load of fuel put the CG way forward so you might have to make your passenger ride in the back if you filled it past the tabs and don’t have much weight in the luggage area or back seat.

aside from that it was about the same 11-12gph in cruise.
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Good point, I forget about the planes with extended fuel. I don't know if this was one of them, but I can't say it wasn't.
 
iamtheari said:
Good point, I forget about the planes with extended fuel. I don't know if this was one of them, but I can't say it wasn't.
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Hershey-bar-wing Arrows (1967-76) carried a maximum of 50 gallons, 36 gallons at the tabs. Taper-wing Arrows (1977 and up) carry 77 gallons (72 usable), 50 gallons at the tabs. The accident aircraft here was a 1975 PA-28R-200, so it was 50 gallons max.
 
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