Cessna burning in Miami after striking car

Ed Haywood said:
OK but we're not talking about a Caravan crash. The wingspan of a 172 is 2 feet longer than a Citabria and 1 foot longer than a Cub.

Citabrias and Decathlons get heavy wings too. Keep flying and eventually it levels out.

Here is the link to the story about the Miami crash and NTSB report, btw: https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/fuel-valve-out-of-position-in-miami-bridge-crash/
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It has been a loooong time since I flew the mighty sky chicken, I can not say

But the ICW would have been a better choice than that bridge
 
“beach” would be my last choice if no other options. I’d take water,road or trees before a sandy beach. maybe trees/beach are tied for last. of course nude beach would be my number one choice.
 
eman1200 said:
“beach” would be my last choice if no other options. I’d take water,road or trees before a sandy beach. maybe trees/beach are tied for last. of course nude beach would be my number one choice.
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Because a nice smooth runway is scary, unless it's littered with naked bloody bodies?
 
Switching tanks, regardless of the airplane type, has always been my least favorite inflight task. The Cessna lever and detents seem a bit cheesy. I flew a Piper with an all black colored selector cover and lever.

If the the lever was placed out of position just before takeoff, how long do you suspect the engine would have run?
 
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TrueCourse said:
Switching tanks, regardless of the airplane type, has always been my least favorite inflight task. The Cessna lever and detents seem a bit cheesy. I flew a Piper with an all black colored selector cover and lever.
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Run one dry to a sputter and swap, it’ll make you feel better. It’s a non issue
 
Jackk said:
Run one dry to a sputter and swap, it’ll make you feel better. It’s a non issue
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Can confirm.

This doesn't sound like a fuel starvation issue with fuel being in line to a carb.
 
Jackk said:
Run one dry to a sputter and swap, it’ll make you feel better. It’s a non issue
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Just make sure and do it with a couple thousand feet below you. The pattern is not the place to change tanks....
 
Wonder if it had shoulder belts his 2 passengers were able to walk away one was most likely in the front right seat. Is it possible they braced themselves with something the pilot wasn't able to?
 
Racerx said:
Can confirm.

This doesn't sound like a fuel starvation issue with fuel being in line to a carb.
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Well, did the selector get out of position when the pilot moved or changed it as the engine acted up? Or was it mispositioned in the low altitude cruise flight, causing the problems? I don’t have the internal valve memorized, but partial mis-positioned could easily lead to less than full or ideal fuel feed. You could have fuel in the line to the carb, but not have enough flow to allow the engine to run properly.

I remember a Bonanza accident, a late fuel selector change near/in the pattern, ended up partially choked off. In this case, the pilot gave himself fuel starvation. The seemingly simple task of switching tanks calls for a touch of attention.
 
kell490 said:
Wonder if it had shoulder belts his 2 passengers were able to walk away one was most likely in the front right seat. Is it possible they braced themselves with something the pilot wasn't able to?
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I think you've hit on why shoulder harnesses are so important for pilots and front seat passengers in light aircraft. Without shoulder harnesses, these folks can be thrown into the instrument panel, and while the passenger has an opportunity to brace him/herself, the pilot cannot, because he/she is busy "doing pilot stuff" in order to increase the chances of surviving an off airport landing.

In my opinion, the tragic crash of the Collings Foundation B-17 at BDL/KBDL would have been just an accident involving minor damage to the airplane, if the pilots had been wearing their PROVIDED shoulder harnesses. The NTSB has issued their final report on the crash:

https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/100356/pdf
 
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