Cessna 414 down in Yorba Linda

That sucks. The aircraft went down about two blocks away from my ex-girlfriend's house. Yorba Linda is my home town.

Condolences to the families and injured.
 
I saw that plane on the ramp in Fullerton the last couple of days. I don’t know who owned or flew it, but it was tied down at General Aviation.

That part of Yorba Linda is just before the Corona pass, and some flight training occurs there (though most is over La Habra). I too wonder what happened.
 
Debris scattered over quite a large area, accounts saying the plane came down in pieces.
Screenshot_20190203-161404_Twitter.jpg
 
If any of you guys are racing fans, Graham Rahal had tweeted a video of it, I guess it was his and Courtney's neighborhood. And yes, debris all spread out.
 
Looks like the registration was put into pending Jan 2nd.
RIP to all. :(
 
rtk11 said:
Bummer - maybe someone just purchased this aircraft. Can I ask where they published the tail number?
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It can be seen in some of the pictures of the fuselage.

Screenshot_20190203-183518_Twitter.jpg
 
I heard that it possibly exploded or at least caught fire in flight.
 
One of the engines is up against the front of a house with the prop in the driveway quite a bit from the crash site.

This is all just up the hill from my house. We saw the smoke on the way home from church and thought it was just a house fire. When we got home the neighbors were all outside said they had heard a boom and thought it was thunder. It was raining at the time but it is unclear if there was any lighting at the time or if what they heard was the impact.
 
We were on the 57 in Fullerton right when this happened, there were some nasty clouds and heavy rain coming down.
 
414's are all part of that spar strap AD that affects most of the 400 series, right? Maybe this one slipped through the cracks and never had it, and then it gave up?
 
From all appearances the aircraft broke up in flight. The audio and video bits indicate a high speed dive out of the clouds, followed by an overstress of the airframe.

RIP
 
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Oh my God. I saw an article earlier today but didn't have the chance to read it, but my first thought was the typical "controlled flight into terrain" kind of thing. This is the first I'm reading that it might have broken up in flight. That's just horrible in the worst way. RIP to everybody involved.
 
Engines were loud, then really quiet, then extremely loud again. Anyone know what the weather was like down there today? Crazy and stupid sad. RIP


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Peter Anderson said:
Engines were loud, then really quiet, then extremely loud again. Anyone know what the weather was like down there today? Crazy and stupid sad. RIP


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It was pretty shifty IMC all day. Low ceilings throughout, some wind, lots of rain at times.
 
Just listening to the audio, it sounds very much like loss of control and a panic pull up at the end causing an in-flight breakup.

Very sad... RIP.

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Another view after the fact. Looks like part of an engine embedded in the side of a house around 1:20. Weather looks ****ty too.


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News reports say it happened at about 2145Z. Looks like there were some isolated cells of heavy rain. +RA is not very common in SoCal.

KFUL 032319Z VRB03KT 1 3/4SM +RA BR FEW017 BKN025 OVC030 13/11 A2988 RMK AO2 RAB2256 P0003 T01330111
KFUL 032253Z 27005KT 10SM BKN017 BKN022 OVC041 15/11 A2988 RMK AO2 RAB18E28 SLP117 P0000 T01500106
KFUL 032227Z 26005KT 10SM -RA SCT016 BKN036 OVC049 15/11 A2988 RMK AO2 RAB18 P0000 T01500111
KFUL 032208Z 29004KT 10SM FEW014 BKN020 OVC047 15/11 A2988 RMK AO2 T01500111
KFUL 032153Z 23006KT 10SM SCT022 BKN041 OVC050 15/11 A2988 RMK AO2 RAE2057 SLP118 P0000 T01500106
KFUL 032053Z 21004KT 9SM -RA FEW017 BKN065 OVC075 14/11 A2990 RMK AO2 RAB32 SLP124 P0005 60018 T01390111 56015
KFUL 032041Z 22003KT 2SM -RA FEW013 BKN032 OVC060 14/11 A2990 RMK AO2 RAB32 P0005 T01390111
KFUL 032033Z 22009KT 2SM -RA BKN013 BKN020 OVC060 14/11 A2991 RMK AO2 RAB32 P0003 T01440111
KFUL 032017Z VRB04KT 10SM SCT014 BKN020 OVC050 15/12 A2991 RMK AO2 T01500117
KFUL 031953Z 00000KT 10SM FEW010 BKN040 OVC048 14/11 A2992 RMK AO2 RAE23 SLP132 P0003 T01390111
KFUL 031915Z 00000KT 3SM -RA BR FEW010 BKN034 OVC043 13/11 A2993 RMK AO2 P0003 T01280111
KFUL 031906Z 00000KT 1 3/4SM RA BR FEW010 BKN021 OVC036 13/11 A2994 RMK AO2 P0003 T01280111
KFUL 031853Z 24007KT 3/4SM +RA BR SCT009 BKN021 OVC046 13/11 A2994 RMK AO2 RAB08 SLP139 P0010 T01330111
 
Todd82 said:
If any of you guys are racing fans, Graham Rahal had tweeted a video of it, I guess it was his and Courtney's neighborhood. And yes, debris all spread out.
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About 1.0 nautical miles from the Force hilltop estate.
 
I saw some local news footage from inside one house, the one where what's left of an engine came to rest on the porch. Looks like the engine hit and cratered the street in a glancing blow, then lots of fragments shotgunned the house. Inside the bathroom it almost looked like hurricane damage...several holes in the wall, and an alternator lying on the sink countertop. It really drives home the energy involved in the crash. A near-hit for a guy in the house, as he had left that bathroom just minutes before...

So sad for all involved.
 
Todd82 said:
414's are all part of that spar strap AD that affects most of the 400 series, right? Maybe this one slipped through the cracks and never had it, and then it gave up?
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The 414A is has the wing spar AD. The others it's just a SID (as I recall). I forget all the requirements for initial inspection/addition of spar strap/etc. etc., but the 414A has the longest wingspan of all the Twin Cessnas and so it makes sense it puts the most stress on the lower spar strap, particularly the inboard section. If that is found to be related to the issue, it's possible that the AD may need to get adjusted if the aircraft had fewer hours on it than currently prescribed. It's unlikely that it wasn't performed - this is a very high profile AD that I can't imagine any shop/A&P IA signing off an annual on without getting completed if it was required.

The aircraft also has an exhaust AD that I would argue is perhaps more prone to confusion as it's poorly worded, and probably more often overlooked. The exhaust can leak and cause engine fires in the vicinity of the main wing spar. Exhaust leaks can also shoot fire at the nacelle tanks (located directly behind the turbo, if the aircraft has nacelle tanks installed).

Note that this applies to the straight wing (414A), not to the tip tank (414).

mwagg737 said:
Just listening to the audio, it sounds very much like loss of control and a panic pull up at the end causing an in-flight breakup.

Very sad... RIP.
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One of the props noticeably overspeeds but I don't hear the other one. That makes it harder for me to ascertain which came first, the chicken or the egg. Everything sounds normal until it doesn't.

Extremely sad for all involved, especially the people on the ground. As pilots, we sign up for this risk when we push the throttles forward, even though we hope and try to prepare to make sure it's never us. It always tugs at me when passengers or people on the ground are killed.

RIP to all.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
One of the props noticeably overspeeds but I don't hear the other one. That makes it harder for me to ascertain which came first, the chicken or the egg. Everything sounds normal until it doesn't.

Extremely sad for all involved, especially the people on the ground. As pilots, we sign up for this risk when we push the throttles forward, even though we hope and try to prepare to make sure it's never us. It always tugs at me when passengers or people on the ground are killed.

RIP to all.
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I think the pop at the 23 second mark in that video is when something on that airframe let go.
 
James_Dean said:
I think the pop at the 23 second mark in that video is when something on that airframe let go.
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That's what I'm thinking as well. And at that point, it's all over. Ain't nothin' you can do about a wing falling off.
 
Listening to the engines in the security cam footage it does sound like there was a loss of control in flight which subsequently led to an inflight breakup.. sucks for all involved, especially the people on the ground
 
Heftiger said:
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I’ve listened to this a few times with the volume up and my eyes closed. Honestly, like someone already mentioned this sounds like a case of loss of directional control. Engines sounded normal with typical drag / thrust until the final “dive” which is when the wings and tail were ripped off.

Speculation like everyone else but honestly this audio clip, I believe, tells more than any of the videos that have video.
 
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