Albany, NY fatal Bo crash, Aug 15

denverpilot

denverpilot

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A friend who knows the pilot posted some photos on FB yesterday and has visited him in the hospital.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Albany-developer-dies-in-plane-crash-Westerlo-3789753.php

The passenger was fatal and we've been messaging back and forth on FB for a day or so. I asked today why this was fatal, the photos show a mostly intact Bo.

Pilot friend who knows the crash pilot said he saw the wreck up close (strangely it also pulled out in front of him on a road on a flatbed being towed off to CT while he was on the way to the hospital to visit his friend today... talk about bad timing...) and the panel appears to have smashed it's way rearward pretty badly.

Just sharing because it's one of the few accidents I've seen where the cabin looks intact from afar and most of the airframe, and there was a fatality and a critical.

The link above was just from Google because it has good photos showing how the airframe is wedged between two trees.

And of course the eerie...

" "This used to be an emergency landing field before they put all of these houses in," Little said."

Photos he shared...

4b94241c-3567-49e3.jpg


4b94241c-3571-e6c0.jpg
 
Nate, thanks for the post. Very sad for sure. I too was wondering with what appeared to be a very intact fuselage how a fatality occurred. Very sad.
 
AdamZ said:
I too was wondering with what appeared to be a very intact fuselage how a fatality occurred.
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Vertical velocity at impact? That's how folks get hurt when the plane is stalled before impact. Another is lack of upper body restraint resulting in head impact on the panel.
 
Ron Levy said:
Vertical velocity at impact? That's how folks get hurt when the plane is stalled before impact. Another is lack of upper body restraint resulting in head impact on the panel.
Click to expand...

Yeah Ron, I had asked him about shoulder harnesses which is what prompted the Doc to say it was the panel coming at them that got them. (He's a Math Doc, not a medical doc.)

Looking real carefully at the area on the bottom of the aircraft behind the firewall you can see where it "hinged" and rotated it looks like, to me, especially in the flatbed photo. Ripped the structure upward there...

There's gaps between the firewall and the external aluminum sheet there that indicate a twisting toward the rear.

Just guesses on all our parts. Definitely odd. As you say, could be vertical speed or angle that the nose hit, to smash the stack over like that. You can also see the panel through the side window there in the flatbed photo, way too far aft on top, can't see the bottom of course.
 
Ron Levy said:
Vertical velocity at impact? That's how folks get hurt when the plane is stalled before impact. Another is lack of upper body restraint resulting in head impact on the panel.
Click to expand...

yeah makes a lot of sense. Sad!
 
Looking very carefully at the side view on the trailer, the firewall invaded the cabin significantly. Not much one can do for surviveability when the cabin is compromised.
 
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Hard to tell from the pic but it looks like they came to a stop against the tree, and that is never good.
 
Had another GA crash today by Brookhaven Airport (HWV) out on Long Island.
 
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