Single Engine down in Nashville - KJWN

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Pre-takeoff checklist
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Groundhog
Reports say it declared an emergency. Ended up about a 1.5-2.0 miles off the south end of John Tune.
 
Darn... They flew right over JWN right before they tried putting it down elsewhere? :(
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ArrowFlyer86 said:
Darn... They flew right over JWN right before they tried putting it down elsewhere? :(
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Looking at the track, he was too high to land as he went over. There are some impressive towers around Tune, to the Northeast (twin 1290’s) and a 1287 just southeast of the airport, could have added to the anxiety level.
 
FlyingElvii said:
Looking at the track, he was too high to land as he went over. There are some impressive towers around Tune, to the Northeast (twin 1290’s) and a 1287 just southeast of the airport, could have added to the anxiety level.
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Yeah, I've landed there a few times now. I do recall the towers off to the east... Seems like a 360 down to the rwy would have been prudent. Not sure if he had the engine issue at that point though...
 
In typical either: 1) intentionally false, or just 2) incorrect bad reporting, the local news is reporting that the pilot knew he would die because his last broadcast words were "We're not going to make it"...um, he is I'm sure referring to the fact he will not be able to glide to the airport. Sigh.

Backtracking the flight a bit, looks like this guy was cautious enough that he avoiding flying over Lake Erie, and actually flew all the way around even though it would have been much easier/quicker (and possibly glidable) to just go over.

Sad crash, RIP.
 
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The two towers are Northeast of the field. There's a single tower southeast but on the other side of the highway I think. The plane overflew the field at 1900 AGL, tall hills to the north and south and west of the field, but plenty of altitude to return. Wonder if we'll ever know what happened.
 
What I can’t figure out is why they flew directly over JWN but didn’t land. Unclear…

Sad.
 
RyanB said:
What I can’t figure out is why they flew directly over JWN but didn’t land. Unclear…

Sad.
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Hard to know, but at that time it would have been quite dark. If one is unfamiliar with the location and under stress of dealing with an emergency in the darkness I could see it happening easily.
 
It sounds like he was on a visual approach to the airport (landing south), didn’t see it well enough to continue descending while hunting for it, then AFTER overflying it, had the engine quit/fail.
 
So sad. RIP.

I finished by private there a little over 10 years ago, and I remember that runway being hard to spot at night amongst the ground lights, prisons, and highways. Loading an approach at night there just to help find the runway even when VFR would be a good idea.
 
TrueCourse said:
It sounds like he was on a visual approach to the airport (landing south), didn’t see it well enough to continue descending while hunting for it, then AFTER overflying it, had the engine quit/fail.
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If so, very similar to the Bonanza accident in Clearwater FL a few weeks ago.

How challenging is fuel management in a Lance?
 
Ed Haywood said:
If so, very similar to the Bonanza accident in Clearwater FL a few weeks ago.

How challenging is fuel management in a Lance?
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Not as challenging as an early pa32. Off-left-right. But it wouldn't be the first time a selector was in between left and right on a lance.

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This one must've made the national news, because I got a call from my dad this afternoon to make sure I was alive. Considering he's only seen my plane once I was impressed that he recognized the basic shape of a pa32.

Mismanagement of the fuel lever is possible. I turned mine off inadvertently once; fortunately I figured it out in time. Easy to do, particularly if the safety catch isn't adjusted just right, which is common after 50 years of service.

I've read conflicting info that he was headed to Tune and also that he diverted due to engine trouble. Possible it was running poorly and decided to quit right then. Or that he couldn't pick out the airport in all the lights and flew right over. That descent rate kinda suggests he had some power. A pa32 with a dead engine will fall out of the sky in a hurry.

Sad.
 
TipTanks said:
2 Adults, 3 small children. Damn, Damn, Damn. RIP. Hate this stuff.
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Especially frustrating knowing that we have the tech to save the lives with BRS, but very few plane types can have the BRS. :(
 
Ed Haywood said:
I'm mostly unaffected by crashes, other than seeing them as an opportunity to learn, but the kids always get me.
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Right, I always hope when I fly that all adults on board have considered the risk, and I will speak honestly of the risk to them... although they may not truly understand in some cases. Kids have no idea, and no choice.
(I am not saying this is the case) but if it turns out in any crash that there were things that could have been avoided, that makes even worse. All we can do now is try and learn from whatever happened here.
 
Registration changed over the summer, turns out it was a club plane. Have to wonder how many hours he had in it. Power off 180's really should be practiced, especially in a new plane that glides like a sewer cap.
 
Racerx said:
Registration changed over the summer, turns out it was a club plane. Have to wonder how many hours he had in it. Power off 180's really should be practiced, especially in a new plane that glides like a sewer cap.
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Where was that info found?

Carful with the badly written news. The airport it’s based at is owned and operated by the Brampton flight center. There are many private planes based out of there. And I think some news outlet has said he’s part of the flying club. Again the club field host private planes.

The registration is to a number company and address is out of an ups store so likely mail box. Suggest it’s not a plane belonging to the flying club. Although could be a private partnership.
 
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1:30pm Eastern: Departs Toronto area, 1 hour flight, for Erie, PA.

4:00pm: Departs Erie for Lexington, KY (KIOB), 2.5 hour flight.

7:20pm: Departs Lexington, maybe for Nashville, crashed 7:43pm.

I’m a new pilot like he was and what jumps out at me is that I’d be nervous about doing such a long cross country (a) all in one day and (b) that ends in night conditions. Especially with family on board.Why depart Toronto so late in the day?
 
Sudburian said:
1:30pm Eastern: Departs Toronto area, 1 hour flight, for Erie, PA.

4:00pm: Departs Erie for Lexington, KY (KIOB), 2.5 hour flight.

7:20pm: Departs Lexington, maybe for Nashville, crashed 7:43pm.

I’m a new pilot like he was and what jumps out at me is that I’d be nervous about doing such a long cross country (a) all in one day and (b) that ends in night conditions. Especially with family on board.Why depart Toronto so late in the day?
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Could be he intended to leave earlier. A lot of my XCs are planned as day trips and the last half hour winds up being at night.

Short time at Lexington was probably fuel and bathroom stop. But why did he climb to 10K for a 20 minute flight?

Looks like engine died 2 minutes after leveling off at 2.5K from long descent. That suggests he was running through landing checklist. Any items that could cause loss of power if done wrong? Switching tanks in dark cockpit?

I wish I could erase the picture of the family from my mind. F.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Could be he intended to leave earlier. A lot of my XCs are planned as day trips and the last half hour winds up being at night.

Short time at Lexington was probably fuel and bathroom stop. But why did he climb to 10K for a 20 minute flight?

Looks like engine died 2 minutes after leveling off at 2.5K from long descent. That suggests he was running through landing checklist. Any items that could cause loss of power if done wrong? Switching tanks in dark cockpit?

I wish I could erase the picture of the family from my mind. F.
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Is that airplane fuel injected? (I assume). The switch of tanks is the obvious one... keeping the mixture leaned, then panicking and not being able to restart? Seems like a long shot...
 
Ed Haywood said:
I wish I could erase the picture of the family from my mind. F.
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There was a fatal accident the week I started flight training that I actually responded to and trust me, it was horrible… but I don’t want to erase that from my mind because I always want to be sober about my flying.
 
Sudburian said:
1:30pm Eastern: Departs Toronto area, 1 hour flight, for Erie, PA.

4:00pm: Departs Erie for Lexington, KY (KIOB), 2.5 hour flight.

7:20pm: Departs Lexington, maybe for Nashville, crashed 7:43pm.

I’m a new pilot like he was and what jumps out at me is that I’d be nervous about doing such a long cross country (a) all in one day and (b) that ends in night conditions. Especially with family on board.Why depart Toronto so late in the day?
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I’d say this was a pretty routine flight for someone like me, and I usually don’t like how we are late and end up flying into the night. Basically you have to prepare yourself mentally to be “IMC” even though you are flying VFR so that you are ahead of the airplane. It’s easy to get behind things at night, clouds show up that you cannot see and you have to turn around (happened to me a few times), in between cities you cannot see anything and the sunsetting with the clouds and mountains creates an almost blinding false horizon, I experienced that on my recent xc trip and I didn’t like it one bit. But this pilot overflew the airport (what’s the airport elevation?), that’s the weirdest part of all and I’m wondering if he couldn’t see the airport and wanted to overfly it to circle or what. Given that airplane is a turbo is it possible it was cooled too quickly and quit or did he change fuel tanks? I don’t know anything about turbos. This story is scary and sad.
 
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