Bearhawk down 10/29 out of KWBW

benyflyguy

benyflyguy

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benyflyguy
WBW is a bit challenging: it sits in a valley (I get terrain alerts) and runway has no taxiway, so requires a taxi back on full stop landings, unhelpful training traffic doing pattern work makes it a stressful experience.
 
Are you guys time traveling or does 10/30 mean something else?
 
Salty said:
Are you guys time traveling or does 10/30 mean something else?
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Posted late last night actually early this morning and check my calendar for the date and realized I did that wrong. Not sure how to edit title but it was on the 29th
 
Central PA I believe.
 
North east PA. Local paper (behind a paywall) cited a witness saying they saw a flock of birds fly toward the plane and she saw the plane ‘quickly jerkrd’ then fly for a moment then she heard a bang.
 
Given the plume in the video (I agree it looks suspiciously like a contrail) a snap sound and wreckage pattern, you wonder about a G loading wing snap or something like that, if and only if, the witness is correct. Could have compromised the cabin. YouTube calls it a in flight fire but the smoke in the video looks more like fuel vapor than fire, which burns with a different color. Fire certainly would have people thinking of jumping. Off to watch Dan’s preNTSB report. ——Ok back again. Dan doesn’t have much here. Parallax needs two lenses and I’ve never seen an iPhone have it. Looks like two wing tanks that are opened up to me (if not a contrail). I’m waiting for more info.
 
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https://www.aviation-safety.net/wikibase/300307

Photos of accident airplane:

774c10e06f8cb899f23971a9dab5505b2714572c
 
That video looks just like an ordinary jet contrail, and not at all like a small plane coming down.
 
I have had a couple of close encounters with large birds. He could have been turning, and flew into a bird or birds, producing a structural failure. He may also have pulled a lot of G's trying to avoid the birds.

Geese, in particular, fly quite fast, and if they are turning, will be in front of you unexpectedly. Illogically, I have had many buzzards turn rapidly toward me. The eye witness report of large birds sent chills up my spine.

I agree with others that the trail is fuel from damaged tanks or tanks.

The person who seemed to jump may have resulted from so severe structural failure that he was not secure any more.

Very sad event.
 
geezer said:
I have had a couple of close encounters with large birds. He could have been turning, and flew into a bird or birds, producing a structural failure. He may also have pulled a lot of G's trying to avoid the birds.

Geese, in particular, fly quite fast, and if they are turning, will be in front of you unexpectedly. Illogically, I have had many buzzards turn rapidly toward me. The eye witness report of large birds sent chills up my spine.

I agree with others that the trail is fuel from damaged tanks or tanks.

The person who seemed to jump may have resulted from so severe structural failure that he was not secure any more.

Very sad event.
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This time of year the geese are flying lower and just moving around or swirling. It’s weird. Like test flights/avionics check lol. The bigger flocks that head north havent moved out yet. They are typically higher
 
geezer said:
... I agree with others that the trail is fuel from damaged tanks or tanks. ... Very sad event.
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I'd bet a good lunch that it's just a contrail, and there is zero video of the actual accident airplane in distress. Look at it closely on a big screen.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
I'd bet a good lunch that it's just a contrail, and there is zero video of the actual accident airplane in distress. Look at it closely on a big screen.
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100% contrail

It reminds me of that time everybody freaked out that a contrail from an A380 flying into LAX looked like a missile launch from an offshore sub. Perspective is tricky, especially when flattened into 2 dimensions.
 
As for the video, are we looking at the same one? In the one I saw the plane was going straight down like a lawn dart yet Kenny is saying there is no video of the plane in distress.
 
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FlyingTiger said:
As for the video, are we looking at the same one? In the one I saw the plane was going straight down like a lawn dart yet Kenny is saying there is no video of the plane in distress.
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A bunch of us only see a contrail.
 
The part that seems odd to me is the pilot presumably removing himself from the airplane. The aircraft appears to have been functioning correctly (camshaft intact, compression on all 4 cylinders, magnetos producing spark, etc.) This is right in my neck of the woods and I plan to do my complex training toward commercial at KWBW. I'm just not sure how to reconcile the pilot departing the aircraft. The investigators found no indication of fire.
 
flyingpreacher said:
I'm just not sure how to reconcile the pilot departing the aircraft. The investigators found no indication of fire.
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I've seen a lot of people questioning this, but not a lot of consideration that the pilot's departure from the craft may not have been intentional.
 
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MFE said:
I seen a lot of people questioning this, but not a lot of consideration that the pilot's departure from the craft may not have been intentional.
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I don’t Disagree, but that makes it even stranger. Witnesses saw him buckle up, but the buckles were intact and unbuckled when the plane was found.
 
flyingpreacher said:
I don’t Disagree, but that makes it even stranger. Witnesses saw him buckle up, but the buckles were intact and unbuckled when the plane was found.
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My own guess? Violent in-air event + belts not tightened down properly = ejection
 
MFE said:
My own guess? Violent in-air event + belts not tightened down properly = ejection
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Or he unbuckled to reach for something and induced a control movement. It's been known to happen. Can you imagine what the backseater went through?
 
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