Mooney down at ORF

Fearless Tower said:
By all appearances, it hit the ground relatively wings level, but inverted, again still pointing in the direction of the approach path. I could be wrong, but it sure as heck looks to me that they were inverted already prior to entering the trees.



Seems a lot like a low level upset perhaps caused by turbulence/wind.
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Or more specifically, wind shear. Mooneys are sensitive to approach speeds so you need to approach at 1.3 Vso or less, that's about 18 knots above a stall, given the high winds (75 knots), a wind shear drop of 20+ knots is very possible, wing drops, just don't have time to recover.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Some interesting/better photos of the crash site in today's Virginia Pilot paper.

Good perspective of where the wreckage sits in relation to the airport. The airplane came to rest about 2000' from the runway. It is exactly abeam the threshold and pretty much aligned with the intended runway (23), but obviously upside down. The nose and spinner are intact (no apparent indication of hitting nose first). The leading edge of both wings show significant crush points (obviously from the large trees) with equal crushing on both sides. Wingtips broken off and next to wreckage.

By all appearances, it hit the ground relatively wings level, but inverted, again still pointing in the direction of the approach path. I could be wrong, but it sure as heck looks to me that they were inverted already prior to entering the trees.

Seems a lot like a low level upset perhaps caused by turbulence/wind.
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Good point, turbulence can cause some severe upsets, if you are already low you stand no chance, especially if you hit the stops on the gyro. The best thing about glass is you can't tumble an AHRS.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Some interesting/better photos of the crash site in today's Virginia Pilot paper.

Good perspective of where the wreckage sits in relation to the airport. The airplane came to rest about 2000' from the runway. It is exactly abeam the threshold and pretty much aligned with the intended runway (23), but obviously upside down. The nose and spinner are intact (no apparent indication of hitting nose first). The leading edge of both wings show significant crush points (obviously from the large trees) with equal crushing on both sides. Wingtips broken off and next to wreckage.

By all appearances, it hit the ground relatively wings level, but inverted, again still pointing in the direction of the approach path. I could be wrong, but it sure as heck looks to me that they were inverted already prior to entering the trees.

Seems a lot like a low level upset perhaps caused by turbulence/wind.
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Agreed.... The vertical Stabilizer, cleanly sheared off, laying right next to the wreckage is a telling sign of that possibility...:sad::sad:
 
Considering the plane was owned by a non IR pilot, I wonder how well tended to the gyros and such were. You can get away with a weak gyro in smooth conditions, but let it get rough and they just can't keep up.
 
Fearless Tower said:
I suspect this wasn't even a legal flight....ie did not have legal alternate mins.
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Do we really know that? Is that the forcast from before he left when he did his flight planning? Even if it was, maybe his legal alternate was not ORF, but he figured he would try ORF on the way?
My don't know those answers, I'm just saying it's possible.
 
Kritchlow said:
Do we really know that? Is that the forcast from before he left when he did his flight planning? Even if it was, maybe his legal alternate was not ORF, but he figured he would try ORF on the way?

My don't know those answers, I'm just saying it's possible.
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No, and I did not claim that was a fact, just a suspicion. What I can tell you is that the weather we had here that night/morning was not a surprise.

Lot of stories in the paper the last couple days about the pilot. Interesting guy. Larger than life character. Based on the description of his girlfriend and other friends, it is possible he thought he was invincible/over-confident in his abilities. I have no idea if that is the case, but could explain how a pilot might get himself into such a situation.
 
Fearless Tower said:
No, and I did not claim that was a fact, just a suspicion. What I can tell you is that the weather we had here that night/morning was not a surprise.

Lot of stories in the paper the last couple days about the pilot. Interesting guy. Larger than life character. Based on the description of his girlfriend and other friends, it is possible he thought he was invincible/over-confident in his abilities. I have no idea if that is the case, but could explain how a pilot might get himself into such a situation.
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The reason the Bonanza was a Doctor Killer wasn't the Bonanzas earning, it just happened to be the planes doctors bought.
 
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