414 down in KMOD 1/18/23, 1 Fatal

Flight tracking looks like he may have lost an engine after takeoff and lost airspeed on his way back to land.

N4765G
 
"Multiple parts of the plane had snapped."
Yikes.
 
Yep, as I expected... Aviation Safety Network, an online service that provides information on airliner accidents and safety issues, claimed that the Cessna 414 experienced engine problems shortly after takeoff from the Modesto airport and “tried to return to the point of departure when it crashed SE of runway 28R,” it wrote on Twitter.
 
I sure hope the guys that fueled the 414 didn't put jet fuel in it, it should have been able to fly on one engine with one aboard at near sea level, unless he lost BOTH engines due to fuel contamination.
 
I sure hope the guys that fueled the 414 didn't put jet fuel in it, it should have been able to fly on one engine with one aboard at near sea level, unless he lost BOTH engines due to fuel contamination.

That came to mind for me as well. Wouldn't be the first time a 414 was mis-fueled with jet A.
 
Well, I just spoke to a first-hand pilot\mechanic witness that watched the whole thing, and he said there was nothing wrong with the engines or the plane. Apparently, the pilot was having communication (not radio) issues and was returning to the field. He got slow and made a very steep turn onto the final, stalling it in.
 
The pilot killed in a plane crash near the Modesto Airport on Wednesday has been identified by the Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office as an 80-year-old Bay Area resident.

William Ellis of Lafayette was flying a Cessna 414 when for unknown reasons it crashed in a field east of the Mitchell Road bridge, north of the Tuolumne River.

The twin-engine plane is registered out of the Bay Area to a company that appears to charter and lease planes, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
 
Very sad, and when he turned around he was over plenty of flat farm land. I guess it’s that moment of what to do when you have an issue. Circle a landing spot might be key?
 
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