Posted on 10/04/2021 7:19:49 AM PDT by Red Badger
A Romanian billionaire was killed — along with his wife, son and five other people — when the plane he was piloting crashed into a building in Italy on Sunday, local media reported.
Dan Petrescu, 68, one of the richest men in his home country, was operating a single-engine Pilatus PC-12 that was seen in flames before it slammed into an office building undergoing renovations in San Donato Milanese, a town southeast of Milan, authorities said.
The fatal wreck took place minutes after the plane took off from Milan’s Linate airport at about 1 p.m., according to aviation agency ANSV, which has opened an investigation.
The plane’s black box has been recovered, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported, citing deputy prosecutor Tiziana Siciliano.
In #Milan Italy, a private plane flying between Milan & italian island #sardinia has crashed into an office building killing all 7 aboard! Being flown by 30yr old Dan Petrescu a #German citizen born in Romania, a property tycoon worth a 3 billion euros!@W0lverineupdate pic.twitter.com/EZoZe0Gowm
— Victor 🇮🇳🇬🇧 (@cool_crusader) October 4, 2021 The billionaire’s 65-year-old wife, their son Dan Stefano, 30, and a child were also among the eight people aboard the plane who died in the wreck, according to Corriere and the AGI news agency.
Petrescu headed a major construction firm and owned a string of hypermarkets and malls.
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When my ex was taking flying lessons his instructor told him that almost every plane crash could be traced to pilot error.
While a twin engine has redundancies that may add to safety, it also adds complications when system begin to fail. It is statistically proven that while single engine aircraft failure may result in more unintentional landings/crashes, the survival rate of that is much higher than when a twin loses an engine and crashes. Flying a twin on one engine is a task due to asymmetric thrust and drag that can quickly lead to stall/spin if airspeed is not maintained.
Additionally, most of these accident both twin and single occur in piston driven aircraft. Piston engines have much higher failure rates than turbine aircraft. The Pilatus, the Cessna Caravan, and many other turbine aircraft are highly reliable, and when you do lose an engine, are pretty easy to dead stick to landing.
“The Swiss-made Pilatus 12 is the Mercedes of single-engine turboprops.”
Well, there ya go. The engine quit midflight or the electronics completely shut down or some such mechanical failure.
Witnesses said it was on fire as it went down...............
Early Pandora fatalities?
Witnesses said it was on fire as it went down...............
Obviously a center fuel tank vapor explosion.
Must have been a total electrical failure as there was no mayday call................
Never fly more than two people in a single engine piston aircraft.
Barnstormer rule of thumb since 1937....
4 is pushin it...
5 is a flyin coffin...
Even the military doesn`t do it except for old overpowered torpedo bombers
goes for turboprops as well
What is important is was he vaccinated?
LOL, textbook center fuel tank explosion. Happens to the best of them.
Yep. Classic Mercedes-Benz.
Witnesses sometimes arent reliable. I’d like to see video of the crash (not the crash site) before I believed it was on fire.
As one with several thousand hours in similar turboprop aircraft, while fire is a possibility, its not very likely. Catastrophic failure of these type of engines or aircraft in general is not very likely. Pilot error however, is quite common. Weather/visibility is a common factor.
Sabotage is likely as well......................
I guess some billionaires can acquire enemies over time...
Oohhh. Burn.
I disagree with your comment that complications are added when systems begin to fail. A twin engine aircraft supplies two sources of electrical power, two sources for hydraulics, two sources for pressurization, two sources of bleed air for deicing and secondary systems (such as door seals, hydraulic reservoirs, etc.).
I disagree with your comment that flying on one engine is a task due to asymmetric thrust. When a multiengine aircraft is certified by the FAA, the maximum allowable rudder pressure during single engine operations is 150 pounds. That would only occur during high power, low airspeed situations, like the initial phase of take off. Losing an engine in cruise, descent or landing is a non-event. In fact, it’s not even an “emergency” in the checklists in the later Boeing products.
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