Posted on 05/06/2022 3:14:40 PM PDT by WhoisAlanGreenspan?
Four passengers escaped a small plane that crashed into a backyard and burst into flames in Texas after having 'engine' problems.
The aircraft - a Cessna 421C Golden Eagle - took off from the Hobby Airport around 2.15pm on Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
My time is in Barons and Aztecs. The 421 is many times more expensive than a King Air depending on avionics and cabin interior. It’s a very fast unforgiving airplane. I worked at several airports on the general aviation side for about 30 years. I owned my own plane for 25 years.
Funny that this terrified pilot is called that by the UK Daily Mail. I've flown with guys who were basically terrified pilots who worried about banking too steeply or descending too quickly, but none of them were called out by the Daily Mail. I'm not a pilot but I get a laugh here and there.
Most engine failures are due to lack fuel. 2 engines are no help when out of fuel.
The purpose of the second engine is to fly you to the scene of the accident.
I’ve also seen a Baron taxiing down the ramp after landing with the cement filled tie down tire and rope still hanging from the tail. I’ve seen pilots take off with their pilot tube covers still on. So much for airspeed? I’ve had to go rescue a Falcon pilot out on the runway because he left the nose wheel link lock pin for steering in his car glove box.
Twins are more likely to be flown in bad weather.
Per hour of operation light twin engine planes have a much worse accident rate than single engine planes
I just explained why statements like that are worthless.
To beat it to death: What percent of its hours is the average single flown on instruments in heavy weather?
What percent at night?
My twins were flown 50% at night during winter months and almost that much during the summer months....and IFR as required.
There are thousands of singles that have never been flown on instruments or at night....therefore the safety numbers are distorted. Twins flown only in daylight and “severe VFR” would have a much better safety record than they do now, but even then we have no idea what the numbers would be unless we took the numbers we have at present and sort out all night time and weather related crashes.
Maybe you could do that.
It is correct to condemn the pilot but that has no bearing on the relative safety of single vs twins.
Could have been fueled with jet-a instead of avgas. Will get you about 3-5 miles from airport. 421C is good airplane
I flew for 40 years, all of it in singles and light twins.
It is amazing how many people I knew personally, some were good friends, were killed over the 40 years.
Many in single engines as well as twins.
Circle approach at night below minimums, Instrument flight to summer home after fight with wife, jet fuel by inexperienced lineman (an Aerostar). two who died on bets they could roll inverted at field boundary and climb out, another roll on takeoff at an air show, another hammer head stalls in borrowed aircraft overloaded and out of CG....
I once counted them all up but that was so long ago I don’t remember how many....but every one of them single or twin were causes by pilot error or maintenance or fuel error. And yes, I even knew one who was so good he regularly flew a Lockheed Electra off a 1800 ft. grass field on a small ridge. But it did not end well the day he forgot to take the lock off the controls. That was the old Electra similar to the one Amelia Earhart flew.
And my point is every one of them would have been killed had he been in either a single or twin.
Another Aerostar owner, a business associate died in, could be blamed due to its characteristics on final but I had the unhappy experience of riding in the back seat once with him and swore never again, so even in that crash I declare pilot error.
Hobby Airport confirmed the crash, tweeting: We can confirm that a Cessna 421 C Golden Eagle had an emergency landing near Monroe Road and Fuqua Road.’ The crash did not interrupt the airport’s flight schedule.
Well, if I were at an airport, and I took off and saw a plane that had crashed out my window, I think I would say something and it would probably interrupt the flight schedule to keep planes from landing past the wreck.
Mexico registration.
Funny you brought up the fuel cap issue.
I was at I69 (Clermont County-Sporty’s Pilot Shop) getting my son a new knee board last weekend. A guy flew in with his mom in a 152. He checked the fuel upon landing but left the caps off-with the caps on top of the wings.
After shopping, they went back to the AC and preflighted, but the caps were never replaced. I was upstairs and ran down once they fired it up and flagged them down to put on the caps. I don’t think the guy realized how quickly the negative pressure will suck the fuel out.
Improved training and other corrective action measures have improved the safety of twin engine piston aircraft but insurers are still leery.
https://airfactsjournal.com/2011/12/50-years-ago-in-air-facts-double-trouble/
And you almost never make that mistake in a Cherokee or a 310 or...pretty much any low wing airplane.
Funny that.
I misstated his 4X number. The correction is: “One twin was four times worse than the average of the singles. The single-engine retractables were better than the twins, too, with the record of the worst retractable more than twice as good as the record of the worst twin.
The pilot’s combination of drag management chosen path of flight allowed him to get it on the ground before he ran into anything, so props to him for that. If he’d hit a house or powerline before touching down, there probably wouldn’t have been so many walking away.
I bet he is embarrassed to make it....
“We’re not going to make it!”
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