Two fatal aviation accidents today
Two significant fatal aviation accidents occurred today. These add to a string of accidents over the past few months. There were two with no fatalities: Continental off the runway in Denver (many injuries), and USAirways in the Hudson River. Then there was the Colgan Air (Continental Connection) accident in Buffalo killing all aboard and two more today that were fatal for everyone.
First, a Pilatus PC-12 crashed in Montana with reportedly 17 people onboard, including many children.
Second, a FedEx MD-11 (the type I flew for 7 years before switching to the DC-10 last year) crashed in Tokyo killing both pilots.
It's generally bad form to speculate as to the causes of accidents until the full investigations are complete. Indeed, there is only a tiny fraction of the information available to me right now, and its reliability may be suspect. But based on the news reports, there might be some preliminary clues.
First, in the Pilatus accident, the reports indicate there were 17 people, including many children onboard. If that number is accurate, there were at least 8 people without seats / seatbelts and potentially an overload situation. In airline configuration, the PC-12 holds 9 passengers and has two pilot seats. The pilot appears to have made a destination change from Bozeman to Butte for unknown reasons. If the airplane was overloaded, it may not have achieved the planned fuel economy (pure speculation on my part; could have been weather or anything), hence the stop slightly short of the destination. Witnesses reported the airplane nose-diving into the ground suggesting a stall (though I suppose structure or flight control failure could have been a factor). If I were a betting man, I'd bet on a hefty overload as the most significant cause which is really a function of pilot error.
Second, in the MD-11 accident, video is available online of the accident unfolding. Tragically, this appears to be the third very similar accident in MD-11's. There was a FedEx MD-11 accident in Newark in 1997 which totalled another of their MD-11's but, luckily, resulted in no fatalities. And then, there was a China Airlines MD-11 accident in Hong Kong in 1999 which claimed the lives of three passengers. In both of those accidents, landing difficulty resulted in nose down elevator inputs close to the ground (in the FedEx case after an initial bounce) followed by significant nose up elevator inputs. The video of this accident makes it look almost identical to the Newark accident. In all three cases, the spar broke and the airplane wound up upside down and on fire.
It's a sad day in aviation history. Regardless of what the investigations show, we can remind ourselves now not to exceed aircraft limitations and not to try to 'save' a bad landing in any airplane.
May the deceased rest in peace...
V-
First, a Pilatus PC-12 crashed in Montana with reportedly 17 people onboard, including many children.
Second, a FedEx MD-11 (the type I flew for 7 years before switching to the DC-10 last year) crashed in Tokyo killing both pilots.
It's generally bad form to speculate as to the causes of accidents until the full investigations are complete. Indeed, there is only a tiny fraction of the information available to me right now, and its reliability may be suspect. But based on the news reports, there might be some preliminary clues.
First, in the Pilatus accident, the reports indicate there were 17 people, including many children onboard. If that number is accurate, there were at least 8 people without seats / seatbelts and potentially an overload situation. In airline configuration, the PC-12 holds 9 passengers and has two pilot seats. The pilot appears to have made a destination change from Bozeman to Butte for unknown reasons. If the airplane was overloaded, it may not have achieved the planned fuel economy (pure speculation on my part; could have been weather or anything), hence the stop slightly short of the destination. Witnesses reported the airplane nose-diving into the ground suggesting a stall (though I suppose structure or flight control failure could have been a factor). If I were a betting man, I'd bet on a hefty overload as the most significant cause which is really a function of pilot error.
Second, in the MD-11 accident, video is available online of the accident unfolding. Tragically, this appears to be the third very similar accident in MD-11's. There was a FedEx MD-11 accident in Newark in 1997 which totalled another of their MD-11's but, luckily, resulted in no fatalities. And then, there was a China Airlines MD-11 accident in Hong Kong in 1999 which claimed the lives of three passengers. In both of those accidents, landing difficulty resulted in nose down elevator inputs close to the ground (in the FedEx case after an initial bounce) followed by significant nose up elevator inputs. The video of this accident makes it look almost identical to the Newark accident. In all three cases, the spar broke and the airplane wound up upside down and on fire.
It's a sad day in aviation history. Regardless of what the investigations show, we can remind ourselves now not to exceed aircraft limitations and not to try to 'save' a bad landing in any airplane.
May the deceased rest in peace...
V-