Posted on 06/22/2019 7:40:54 AM PDT by BenLurkin
A small, twin-engine plane used for skydiving crashed in the Hawaiian island of Oahu on Friday, killing all nine people aboard, authorities said. Names of the victims weren't immediately released.
The King Air plane burst into flames upon hitting the ground near the Dillingham Airfield around 6:30 p.m. local time. The airfield will remain closed until further notice, officials said.
There were six employees and three customers on the flight, said Tim Sakahara of Hawaii's Department of Transportation, citing preliminary information.
Witnesses said the plane appeared to have problems during takeoff, noticing that it was unsteady on the runway.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
I can get them up in the air, landing is sketchy :)
Yes. Add the weight of the plane, with fuel; and, the weight of all the people and cargo. As for balance, every plane manual has a chart that lists the center line for weight and balance. There may even be a decal on the interior of the plane. The problem here may be both weight and balance. If the plan crashed tail first or nose first, balance was a big part of the problem.
looks like it belly flopped.
THey do, with moment arms and weights to factor together, well documented in the manual and addendum to the specific a/c with its on-board paperwork. That said, it's often not used in practice, if the flight weights are worked out once, and then flown basically with the same data every flight.
In the 210 I fly, I rarely *need* to do the W&B, being lightly loaded, with assured center-of-gravity within limits.
Why I like flying the Cessna Caravan for jumps.
short runway, you throttle up and are committed, things go south and there is no place to go.
you’d roll off over the water if you could
**** happens
The pilot of a small plane is responsible for getting an reasonably accurate weight of passengers and cargo, before estimating how much fuel to put on. I know condensation in fuel tanks is an issue, which is why most small ac are topped off after flying somewhere. But ac (equipped with both main and auxilary tanks) used for such varied load requirements, it is best to only top off main tanks after a flight. That way the pilot can decide if he can add more fuel if weight and balance numbers allow more.
Obviously you have never reviewed studies of ‘ski-jump’ runways.
gotta do a walk around check
no but I have been on them. I am not an aviator I Tried it, wanted to be a bush pilot.
Skeery ****
Terrible.
My dad flew a Caravan back in the early 90’s. (air cargo contracted to UPS) He said it was just a big 172. Maybe even easier to fly, since it took stronger crosswinds to make landings as much work. And of course the turbine was simpler in some ways (no carb heat, lol).
One night the ground crew at Louisville missed the doorway when they were backing the conveyor in the doorway. Oops!
Basic Physics. If you don’t have sufficient lift without the ramp, you sure won’t have it with the ramp as the ramp will slow you down!
In fact military studies for the design of land-based jets had them leaving the ramp BELOW minimum speed for level flight.
I don’t condone it but they do it LOL
My point is it was a short runway.
a good landing is one you walk away from. a great landing you walk away from and they can use the plane again!
And sometimes the theory is to stop you from hitting the sea.
Flying some of these places is scary with chickens and goats.
Strong evidence it was a take off weight problem. I would not have gotten on that plane with that many people on board. The plane is not that big. Any more than five + equipment would have been my limit.
9 is a lot for that plane
I always wanted to fly the dehaviland DC9
Just a Mule
**wanted to be a bush pilot.**
Me as well. We had a grass strip on the farm, and would sometimes keep a Piper Tri-Pacer there when the co-owner didn’t need it at the local airport.
As a small boy of about 7 or 8, I would sometimes ride with my dad when he would take jumpers (2 at a time) up in the TeePee, with the right front door and seat removed. I would sit on the floor beside my dad and watch the guys step out on the landing gear, while holding on to the wing strut, then watch them let go and vanish. Dad would stand it on it’s right side in a really tight turn (which all but glued me to the floor while inches from the open doorway) and watch them fall.
Dad would then power to an idle, and dive for the ground. We would almost always be down before the chutists. It was a wild ride for that 7 yr old.
As a teenager in southern Mercer County, IL, I would give the neighborhood farm kids a ride, and we would literally barnstorm the barnyards and fields around there. When by myself, I enjoyed doing my reproduction of George Peppard’s character in the Blue Max, doing an “in the trees” dogfight with an imaginary foe.
I mimmicked the crop dusters enough to decide that that job could become boring. Through it all I smashed a LOT of bugs in the process. But most importantly, i survived.
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