Piper Malibu down Lake Norman, NC (14A)

RyanB

RyanB

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Sad…

I recall reading somewhere that Malibu’s have a fairly high accident rate, if true, why?

Not clear what happened yet.

www.wsoctv.com

Pilot dead after plane crashes into Lake Norman neighborhood

According to North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Randy Mysliviec of Mooresville was lined up to land his single-engine plane at Lake Norman Airport. He struck several trees before he could land and crashed into an abandoned house site.
www.wsoctv.com www.wsoctv.com
 
RyanB said:
I recall reading somewhere that Malibu’s have a fairly high accident rate, if true, why?
Click to expand...

Engine failures, not loss of control/handling-charteristics related.

The ol' lore is that these piston variants work too hard for the mission set, and fail well ahead of schedule. Then there's the back and forth Malibu/Mirage kerfuffle about the Lyco turbo running too hot and cooking cylinders if flown by the book, versus the lesser powered conti version. Then there was the further suggestion that it was owners not knowing how to work the red knob that gave the type the high engine failure rate.

I'm willing to buy it all in the aggregate, but for my money, they're just underpowered in climb for the mission profile (when adjusted for temperature management), and get run hard to the detriment of the piston mill.

As to the accident in question, unless the guy was coming down sans engine power, none of this lore appears to be relevant.
 
hindsight2020 said:
Engine failures, not loss of control/handling-charteristics related.

The ol' lore is that these piston variants work too hard for the mission set, and fail well ahead of schedule. Then there's the back and forth Malibu/Mirage kerfuffle about the Lyco turbo running too hot and cooking cylinders if flown by the book, versus the lesser powered conti version. Then there was the further suggestion that it was owners not knowing how to work the red knob that gave the type the high engine failure rate.

I'm willing to buy it all in the aggregate, but for my money, they're just underpowered in climb for the mission profile (when adjusted for temperature management), and get run hard to the detriment of the piston mill.

As to the accident in question, unless the guy was coming down sans engine power, none of this lore appears to be relevant.
Click to expand...
The Malibu flies like and glides better than a DA40. I have plenty of time in both. No bad habits to the airframe. Most accidents involve not balancing the 3 legged stool of making sure the pilot, the plane and the mission are on the same page. They are the most capable piston singles flying, and that sometimes lures pilots into situations and conditions that are above their pay grade. Not commenting on this specific accident, as there seems little info.
 
No idea what happened but it made me think of something I did, with 25 years of flying experience at the time.

Without going into detail, I decided to try a landing with a slightly different sight picture than normal. I almost killed myself and ended up with branches stuck in my landing gear. And the bushes I hit were 300 feet from the edge of the runway.

Sometimes we do stupid things and get away with it. Sometimes we don't.

In some situations there can be a very narrow line between aircraft control and crashing.
 
Lake Norman is a tricky runway to get into in a fast plane. I was scared going in there in the lancair. Big slope, shortish, trees on runway ends...
 
Hard to say his exact reason for the 180 and return to Lake Norman. He bypassed two much better airports for an Emergency landing.
 
Rockymountain said:
The Malibu flies like and glides better than a DA40. I have plenty of time in both. No bad habits to the airframe. Most accidents involve not balancing the 3 legged stool of making sure the pilot, the plane and the mission are on the same page. They are the most capable piston singles flying, and that sometimes lures pilots into situations and conditions that are above their pay grade. Not commenting on this specific accident, as there seems little info.
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Agreed, Malibu has near turboprop capability but is a lot more work to fly and properly care for. It is one of the nicest flying planes I’ve ever flown but proper engine management and care is key. I know a professional pilot friend of mine who has had zero problems with his while a local doctor with one has been through several engines. I often hear the doctor start his cold and let it run at was sounds like 2k rpm while he does all his flight planning. I’ve seen him do full power run ups without the cowling on, taxi in from a flight on a hot day and shut it down without letting it cool at idle. The older models require more understanding on pressurization. I’d guess most owners don’t go to recurrent training like they do for a TBM or Citation. Most of the final reports I’ve read on Malibu crashes are pilot error, not the plane.
 
I think this one may have been a Matrix. Registration is Lycoming powered and it didn't seem to fly very high.
 
FORANE said:
Lake Norman is a tricky runway to get into in a fast plane. I was scared going in there in the lancair. Big slope, shortish, trees on runway ends...
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From talking to folks, he didn't quite make it back to 14A. He crashed across the cove from the runway (in an undeveloped lot thankfully).

It looked like he was roughly in the vicinity of BZM VOR when he turned around (BZM is consistent with an IFR departure routing from here). Why he didn't land at HKY which has huge runways (comparatively) and was only a couple of miles from where he turned, I do not know. While 14A was (a part time) home for the pilot, there's not much there maintenance wise.
 
Preliminary report sure makes it sound like fuel starvation.
 

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Lndwarrior said:
No idea what happened but it made me think of something I did, with 25 years of flying experience at the time.

Without going into detail, I decided to try a landing with a slightly different sight picture than normal. I almost killed myself and ended up with branches stuck in my landing gear. And the bushes I hit were 300 feet from the edge of the runway.

Sometimes we do stupid things and get away with it. Sometimes we don't.

In some situations there can be a very narrow line between aircraft control and crashing.
Click to expand...
It would be nice to get some detail as it could prevent a future incident. Not sure what is meant by trying to land with a slightly different sight picture.
 
The aircraft impacted the ground over half a mile from the runway. The prop was not powered at impact.
 
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