Posted on 12/12/2012 8:58:28 AM PST by BenLurkin
The small plane carrying Mexican-American music superstar Jenni Rivera plunged in a nose-dive from more than 28,000 feet and hit the ground at more than 600 mph, Mexico's top transportation official said.
Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Mexico's secretary of communications and transportation, offered a Mexican radio station the first detailed accounts of the moments leading up to the crash that killed Rivera and six other people aboard the Learjet on Sunday.
The plane practically nose-dived," Ruiz told Radio Formulate. "The impact must have been terrible."
Ruiz said the 43-year-old aircraft hit the ground 1.2 miles from where it began falling and that it plummeted at a nearly 45-degree angle. The plane left Monterrey around 3:30 a.m. Sunday after a concert performance. According to authorities, controllers lost contact with the U.S.-registered plane about 10 minutes after takeoff.
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
Hope they had their seat belts on.
If we are thinking of the same crash, didn't they think everyone was dead on board before it crashed?
Just curious, and know nothing about aviation. But if the plane left the airport 10 minutes earlier and was just 60 miles from where it departed, how could it have been at 28,000 feet, traveling at 600 mph so soon? Do the small jets climb faster than commercial jets?
At 600mph, does the cockpit need to even be locked to keep anyone out? I doubt anyone is able to fight gravity and make it to the cockpit.
Yes, the plane lost pressure.
I remember that. A fighter from Eglin AFB was already in the air and they directed it to check on the plane.
He flew beside it for a while and reported everyone seemed to be dead on it. I think it then flew for a long time before going in.
Fuel was my first thought, too.. But age might be factor. Does anyone know what would happen if most of the 6 on board suddenly moved to one end of the plane or the other? There’s no ‘gliding’ in a Lear Jet. They fall like a rock when they lose power, just like that F/A-18 over San Diego that landed on a house. I’d rather be in a Cessna or other old school ‘floater’.
At that altitude, wouldn’t the Lear be cruising/autopilot?
& then to descend at that speed into nosedive? If engines were running, then what else might possibly be the cause?
Pure terror those last few minutes/seconds...
Wow, just checked and the rate of climb for the Learjet 25 is 6050 ft/min! Could have easily been at 28000 feet in 10 minutes.
That is a myth, every aircraft that has not been structurally compromised, has a glide coefficient and minimum air speed to give a minimum decent rate. Now granted some have a better glide ratio than others BUT ALL AIRCRAFT CAN GLIDE. Now if a wing was ripped off than no gliding, just falling....
Easy to say now, I know, but I think I’d opt for a couple nightmarish minutes over two-to-twenty in the nursing home.
Anyway God bless the victims and families.
No way that was 13 years ago. Time has gone completely alinear for me.
That is not correct, looked it up.
The best glide distance with engines windmilling is obtained with a clean airplane configuration and with a glide speed of 160 to 170 knots. At this speed, the Learjet 25 glides approximately 26 nautical miles for each 10000 feet of altitude loss. This is a glide ration of 16 to 1 and is based on a wings level glide with gear and flap up and a gross weight of 11000 to 12000 pounds.
It was the Payne Stewart incident. Cabin lost pressure, knocking everyone unconscious. I believe the idea is everyone would have asphyxiated before the plane crashed.
Was the pilot’s name Angel or Achmed? RIP Jenni Rivera—she was a cutie in life.
32 seconds
28,000 feet/ (600mph X 5280ft /3600 sec) =1/(1/31.82) = 31.82 seconds
I calculate about 32 seconds, assuming the rate of descent was constant, but that's still plenty of time if one is conscious. Plus, if it was dark and you could see the ground, the anticipation would be unbearable. The physical pain would be insignificant, but the psychological pain must've been horrible.
I would never ride in a Lear. There is a reason pilots I know call them "land darts".
That's the speed that it's estimated Payne Stewart's plane hit at, and it was out of fuel.
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