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 ...
You forgot Patsy Cline.
Jim Reeves
John Denver (thankfully.)
There was an accident involving a Lear flying into Batten Field in Racine. It was a clear and moon lit night, the weather was fine. The plane was being controlled out of the Mitchel Field (MKE) tower and disappeared off the Milwaukee radar three miles off Wind Point in Racine. It crashed in Lake Michigan with most of Mack Truck's Board of Directors, no survivors.
I only had the opportunity to ride in ours a couple of times and really enjoyed it even with the cramped quarters (I'm 6'4").
Regards,
GtG
No, no. Wings was Paul McCartney's demise, not aircraft.
“If a plane at 28,000 feet begins a nose dive at 600 mph, isn’t there still at least 2 minutes of sheer terror and panic before the plane hits the ground?”
If it was a 45 degree angle from 28,000 feet at 600 MPH, it would be just about exactly 45 seconds of flight until impact.
To answer another question posted, there wouldn’t have been any unusual G-forces before impact, just the deck of the plane slanted at a 45 degree angle.
That picture clearly proves a relatively flat impact, like a spin.
It did NOT hit nose-first at a 45 deg angle.
No way.
BTW: "Air Disasters" on The Smithsonian Channel is a fascinating documentary series. Each show traces a particular investigation.
Good information. Thanks to all for your insghtful posts.
And then there's the actress, Carole Lombard
Sadly, the list is too long to recall everyone.
Something just isn't adding up, unless the altitude was from sea level, not above ground leve, and they were over high plains or mountains. At 28,000 feet, and assuming, as reported, they were at a 45-degree angle the entire time, they should have landed approximately 28,000 feet away from where they began the nose-down, 45-degree angle dive (right triangle - Pythagoras' theorum - with a and b being equal due to the 45-degree angle). As it was, they only reportedly landed about 1.5 miles away from where they initially started the dive. The image of the crash site, plus the reported numbers just don't add up.
How could I have forgotten: Glenn Miller
Otis Redding & the Bar-Keys
I spend a considerable amount of (working) time in general aviation, and have developed a sick sense of humour about it. That said, the aircraft I use are exquisitely maintained, and the pilots are excellent. I have seen other GA operators where neither of these are the case. They frighten me.
Of all of the tragic deaths from plane crashes, even though I was a young kid at the time, that one to me was the most devastating.
Also, note the crash wreckage was just dumped nearby in a trash site where ANYONE (including me) went thru it.
yep, allot to this one.
Yeah, he was really something.
I suspect you can get a Lear for pocket change when its engines have zero hours left before major overhaul.
This seems to be the case with the T-39/Sabreliner.
Fortunately, he had Wings.
“My guess, cabin pressure issue, auto pilot off.
If the old captain vapor locked, the co pilot could take over. So doubt that.
28,000 ft is where things get real quick and dangerous in terms of altitude. Makes sense to me if the cabin didn’t pressurize, then that’s about where everybody would pass out. If auto pilot is on, plane keeps going till fuel runs out, like Payne Stewart. Auto pilot off, quickly out of control. BOOM!
(highly experienced pilot guess)”
Yeah, without any additional information, that’s the scenario that I’d bet money on.
“I suspect you can get a Lear for pocket change when its engines have zero hours left before major overhaul.”
Engines run out and close to a 12 year - the price will be whatever Dodson or White Industries will pay for scrap.
I’m not kidding.
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