Its back on Foxnews.com now. Confirmed 17 dead but the model of plane isn’t in this one. The info in the current story is below. Sounds like maybe a weight shift/stall?
“An eyewitness to the crash told The Montana Standard the plane was doing steep angle turns and then went into a nose dive.
“All of a sudden the pilot lost control and went into a nose dive,” said Kenny Gulick. “He couldn’t pull out in time and crashed into the trees of the cemetery.””
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,510082,00.html
Considering the story clearly states that it was a twin engine, and the picture is a single engine ....
“All of a sudden the pilot lost control and went into a nose dive,” said Kenny Gulick. “He couldn’t pull out in time and crashed into the trees of the cemetery.””
Not trying to make light of a bad situation, but a red flag just went up.
This forum is saying it is a 9 passenger plane, but 17 people died.
An old joke went this way.. A cessna 172 crashed in a cemetery and so far the officials HAVE FOUND 300 BODIES. (it was a French joke).
Now I see that this plane crashed in a cemetery.
Sorry if this offends, but a flag is waving....
....Bob
I guess the death toll is now in question. Hold tight.
Not sure why he was doing steep turns, maybe a circling approach to the airport (if the weather wasn't good). Or maybe just a close-in visual pattern to land.
But, stall speed increases rapidly as bank angle steepens. If he was already slow, you get a stall on one wing, while the other wing is still generating lift. The result is a spin. Recovery takes 1500-2000 feet under the best of circumstances. If you aren't higher than that above the ground, it's over.
Stall-spin accidents happen most often on the turn from base to final (90 degree turn), because you are already low (500 feet AGL) and slowing to landing speed.
If he was making a visual approach, that would explain why he was making the turns: a standard pattern entry and landing downwind leg, base leg, and final approach (two 90 degree turns). If he makes a crosswind entry to the pattern, that adds one more 90 degree turn.