Mooney down in a "frightening" crash...

Hopefully the vehicle's crumple zones did their job on behalf of the occupants of the car. I don't think frightening is hyperbole from the perspective of a pedestrian motorist being struck in that manner by a general aviation aircraft wing. You can see the threshold of an airport across the highway. Wonder if the power loss occurred on takeoff or arrival.
 
Owner of car calling insurance man: No really, I got hit by an airplane. Really. No, I wasn't drinking. Really. I wasn't. Really. Really. No this is not your worthless brother-in-law.....
 
Forum cop to the rescue!

Thank goodness, I'm on the job. Without me, the place would descend into a spiral of despair.

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...
The dead rising from the grave!
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

You're welcome!
 
Looks like the Mooney roll cage did it's job, that cabin stayed intact.
Looks like next to no frontal impact for the fuselage...seems like the wings shearing off dissipated most of the crash energy.
 
See?
This is what happens when you forgo the "crowded highway practice" after you get your cert. You misjudge your landing and hit a car.
Please, people. Practice, practice, practice until you can set a plane down between any vehicle at any speed.
Stop making GA look bad.
 
CFI at W00 confirmed it was a rejected takeoff gone bad, with plane off departure end of runway, through the ditch, stopped on highway, which was then hit by car, removing the left wing and pushing the right wing into the Jersey wall.

"WooHoo, that sucked, but we're stopped, unhurt, and the plane's mostly intact!"

 
Wow. The embankment looked pretty undisturbed from the helo video. I guess it glided through and bunny hopped into the highway. Reality can be stranger than fiction it seems.
 
A rejected takeoff,that didn’t go well, glad there where no fatalities .
 
Forum cop to the rescue!
Maybe, but that's a good thing. There is a reason we have the mishaps forum and if people forget, or are unaware, it is the right thing to do to remind them.
 
I drive by there all the time. That approach/departure course is no worse than my home field, KANP.
 
I drive by there all the time.

How have you not hit a plane yet!?!?! ;)


I wish they would include the number of successful flights in/out of that airport since that guy lived there, not just 3 mishaps.... then compare that to the number of texting driver mishaps on that stretch of road.

If so, they many want to turn that stretch of road into an airport.
 
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And the rest of the story.... The airport is likely to close (not directly a result of this crash)....

https://wtop.com/prince-georges-cou...se-cited-potential-crashes-as-one-reason-why/
That's a real shame, there's a well-established Mooney Service Center that operates out of there. 2400 feet just isn't much for an aborted takeoff unless you're really on your game. It would take something seriously amiss to make me abort a takeoff from there. Better to get in the air and deal with it there than get run over by a tractor trailer.
 
That's a real shame, there's a well-established Mooney Service Center that operates out of there. 2400 feet just isn't much for an aborted takeoff unless you're really on your game. It would take something seriously amiss to make me abort a takeoff from there. Better to get in the air and deal with it there than get run over by a tractor trailer.
Not to mention the power lines just west of the field and the radar tower....
 
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Owner of car calling insurance man: No really, I got hit by an airplane. Really. No, I wasn't drinking. Really. I wasn't. Really. Really. No this is not your worthless brother-in-law.....

First thing I thought of when I saw this pic back in 2000. Only it wasn't "I got hit by an airplane." It was "dude, I just T-boned a B737, am I covered?"
 
Not to mention the power lines just west of the field and the radar tower....

Which wouldnt have closed the airport. Resurgence of the market for flimsy cardboard houses and the death of the owner did.
 
The power lines are not a factor.

They were there the first time I flew from Freeway Airport, 60 long years ago, this October. It made money until 9/11. The closure for many months was a financial disaster. I was at the hearings when Stanley Rodenhauser testified to the magnitude of his losses during the shutdown, and begged the Government to allow him to reopen his only income source. Not a plane moved at Freeway until 10/6/2001, just the same as the other airports near Washington DC, and on that day, flights were one way out. Anyone who flew out did not return until the next year. All planes that did not fly out that day were marooned until the next year. Those restrictions put Suburban out of business, they also were unable to recover to a profitable level of activity.

The current very restricted flight direction and altitude is far better than completely closed, but the airport is still a loser as a going business. The Federal Government has not compensated any airport for the continuing losses from the current flight restrictions.

Stanley put the wheels in motion to develop the real estate long before he died. The principal question is when rezoning will allow a profitable use of the land.

I have known 3 generations of Rodenhausers, and have enjoyed the relationships that have resulted. I strongly desire that Freeway Airport continue to exist, but recognize that without a reasonable profit, that cannot happen. The employees are working hard to keep the losses as low as possible, and flight training continues, but the airspace is very unfriendly. The Federal Government does not care that they are putting Freeway out of business, that will just make their job less complicated with one less source of airplanes to watch.

As a sidelight if you type Rodenhauser into the FAA pilot search, nearly half of the names are related to Stanley, and learned to fly at Freeway. Four of them are people that I personally knew. Nearly half a century ago, I took my instrument and commercial check rides with the DPE at Freeway. I was never based there, but I believe Freeway ranks as the second most visited airport in my logbooks.

I miss Stanley, he was a good friend, and he had an adequate airport until 9/11.
 
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Which wouldnt have closed the airport. Resurgence of the market for flimsy cardboard houses and the death of the owner did.
The power line and radar tower are not related at all to the potential closure.

The comment about the power line was related to the options if one had to put it down. The power lines and radar tower are both close enough to reduce (not eliminate, but reduce) options available. That's all.

The rezoning request is related to the face that the airport is losing money. Selling it for development would raise cash. Apparently the NIMBYs have come out in force opposed to that, too.
 
The power lines are not a factor.

The current very restricted flight direction and altitude is far better than completely closed, but the airport is still a loser as a going business. The Federal Government has not compensated any airport for the continuing losses from the current flight restrictions.

I'm surprised that the post-9/11 flight restrictions are the issue here. For one thing, they've been in place for 18 years now. But also w00 is a busy place. I got my training there during 2016-17, and it wasn't unusual to have to book an instructor a month in advance. On weekends it was common to have 3 planes in the pattern, plus other students coming/going from cross countries. But I don't run an FBO, so maybe there are other factors that kill the economics.
 
I'm surprised that the post-9/11 flight restrictions are the issue here. For one thing, they've been in place for 18 years now.
Yeah. If it's the SFRA, then why has the flight school at GAI been growing?

But also w00 is a busy place. I got my training there during 2016-17, and it wasn't unusual to have to book an instructor a month in advance. On weekends it was common to have 3 planes in the pattern, plus other students coming/going from cross countries.

It still is. I started renting there in in 2013, IR 2017, now working on the commercial. The schedule is always full.
 
The differences between Freeway and Gaithersburg are many.

I did not intend to progress into a rant, but the difference between the close in airports and GAI are the reason that I no longer fly in this area. I live between CGS and WOO, they are my natural choice for convenient flying. In the morning, GAI is an hour or more of tough driving unless i use the country roads, I have been a member of TSS, an outstanding club at GAI, but the logistics do not work for me.

GAI is government owned, and heavily subsidized through the initial disruptions. The losses at Freeway came straight out of Stanleys pocket.

The road to Freeway is a disgrace, but there is no pressure for the PG gov to improve it, there is little political influence there.

Gaithersburg is owned by a County Revenue Authority, and the County Council is dedicated to getting the most out of their investment. The roads and nearby facilities are great. Even though the distance is twice as far, the drive time is roughly equal to downtown DC

Getting zoning approval for new buildings at Freeway is near impossible, NIMBY is alive and well, has been for years.

GAI is twice as far from the White House, the daily impact on flying is less.

WOO is much closer to Andrews AFB, and presidential events there do not impact GAI.

I do not think GAI closes every time a presidential helicopter arrives at the white house. These sudden, unexpected shutdowns drive owners to airports further from the white house and such disruptions.

The initial altitude restriction is 1500 feet MSL, not AGL, less than 500 feet above pattern altitude. GAI is 3500 feet, the chance of getting a violation at GAI is negligible. For training flights, the instructor sees to it that you are not worrying about that.

Trainees are not aware of some of the shutdowns, as the instructor simply opt for some ground school instead of flying, the student may be unaware the airspace is closed.

Arriving at the airport with an approved flight plan and finding you are not leaving until an unknown time occurs can be a disaster if yur trip is business. One such closure lasted until 3 PM, but the FAA would not predict when it would lift. I had a flight scheduled that morning, and an IFR flight plan in the system. I just could not pick it up at the airport prior to departure. Unpleasant surprise, made my day. At 3 pm, I was at home, and the plan for the day canceled, but no one called to tell me that I could now fly. The only way to find out was to call and try to open the plan, and get an affirmative answer. I had quit calling at noon.

GAI was not closed that day, a more than subtle difference that serious users of the airspace plan to avoid by avoiding the impacted airports.

Returning to home, I was "locked out for a sort time, then directed to FME, required to land and wait for a person from Homeland Security to come from BWI and inspect the plane and search my wife and me before we could continue to CGS, my vase at that time. The total "flight time" from in the air at the east end of the Bay Bridge to CGS was well over an hour. To Freeway would have been the same.
 
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First thing I thought of when I saw this pic back in 2000. Only it wasn't "I got hit by an airplane." It was "dude, I just T-boned a B737, am I covered?"
First thing I thought of was "Filler up and wash the windshield". Maybe I'm showing my age.
 
And the rest of the story.... The airport is likely to close (not directly a result of this crash)....

https://wtop.com/prince-georges-cou...se-cited-potential-crashes-as-one-reason-why/
Bah. GA is vanishing. Well you know, except leased Jets, jet shares, big $$$ stuff.

I hate it... When I started flying, most of those circled Rs on the sectional, weren't.

You could hopscotch all over some states in 20 mile hops if you wanted to. From town to town, town to farm, farm to farm.

The cost of flying is off the chain. The fun nearly squoze out of it.

I'll still fly again. But sheesh, I miss the good old days that really weren't all that long ago... Back when $100 hamburgers were a hunnert bux... Now, they're more like one fitty, two hunnert.

Dayum.

Charlie<<<feeling grumpy
 
Bah. GA is vanishing. Well you know, except leased Jets, jet shares, big $$$ stuff.

I hate it... When I started flying, most of those circled Rs on the sectional, weren't.

You could hopscotch all over some states in 20 mile hops if you wanted to. From town to town, town to farm, farm to farm.

The cost of flying is off the chain. The fun nearly squoze out of it.

I'll still fly again. But sheesh, I miss the good old days that really weren't all that long ago... Back when $100 hamburgers were a hunnert bux... Now, they're more like one fitty, two hunnert.

Dayum.

Charlie<<<feeling grumpy
You “squoze” a chuckle out of me.
 
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