Plane crash in PHX

[Delta777LR]

Just read a report on Anet that a plane went down on a mountain in Phoenix tonight, no reports yet if it was a commercial aircraft or private plane or casalties...

http://www.kpho.com/story/16114716/plane-crashes-into-superstition-mountains

[steve1840]

Wow, that looked like one hell of an explosion in the web cam video link.

[PhilDernerJr]

NYCAviation:

VIDEO: Phoenix Plane Crash Caught on Webcam (http://nycaviation.com/2011/11/video-phoenix-plane-crash-caught-on-webcam/)

An outdoor webcam captured the impact of a small plane crashing into a mountain near Phoenix Wednesday night.
[Click to Read Full Article (http://nycaviation.com/2011/11/video-phoenix-plane-crash-caught-on-webcam/)]

[NIKV69]

Not good. I drove past those mountains on my way to Globe as I took a short cut out of PHX. I thought if could be CFIT but the pilot knew the area well and he may have had engine problems. R.I.P.

[PhilDernerJr]

The video indicates level flight into terrain, and if he had mech issues he would have declared emergency or SOMETHING. At least a pilot familiar with the area would know the minimum safe altitude, and where the dangerous heights are. And if he was unable to maintain it, again, declare emergency. Horrible tragedy. :(

[PhilDernerJr]

A poster on the NYCA facebook page said this, which may be interesting:


looks like that Twin Commander couldn't climb sufficiently (in accordance to the published Departure Procedure) & avoid the rising terrain. Pilot was increasing thrust on the engines but to no avail... possibly fuel starvation/fuel system failure, an imbalanced CG or perhaps an overload. Witnesses said the accident aircraft appeared to turn during the last several seconds before impact, which means the pilot was well aware of the situation he & his unfortunate passengers were in... they saw the massive peaks directly in front of them but couldn't gain enough altitude to clear them, which makes the accident all the more tragic. Regardless of the cause... all aboard the Twin Commander R.I.P

The airport was very close to the mountains. I wonder if it was a climb issue.

[NIKV69]

Could be, once I found out this guy was a local and most likely flew that route a few times I found it hard to believe it was CFIT. As for the climb issue looks to be 15 miles or so. I am not a weight and measure guy but 6 people with gear who knows. You would think he would have have not even flown near mountains like that with that load if he had any reservation about being able to climb fast enough. The abscence of ATC call may indicate he did lose awareness for some period of time and couldn't recover once he knew what was in front of him. Without a ATC emergency call or CVR we may never know.