Piper Apache Down In Bloomington, IL

[Brock Boss]

http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/111005/new_20051110022.shtml
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/update11101.html

Word is that he was 20 miles SE of KBMI and encountered a "rough
engine."
He did a 180 and headed back towards Bloomington which put him almost
in line with rwy 29.
I drove past the crash site going to work this morning and it looked
like he was slightly south of the extended centerline to rwy 29. Looks
like he just barely missed some power lines. I'd say the crash site is
maybe a 1/4 mile from the end of the rwy. Much of the wreckage had
either been burned off or been taken to a hanger by then.
Had this happened on the approach to rwy 20 it would have been about
150yds or less from my apartment and some housing developments.
Luckily, not so much for the pilot, the crash occured on the
undeveloped side of the airport, out in the country.

Oddly enough, FlightAware shows the flight as arrived.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N4319P

Brock Boss

[A Lieberman]

On 10 Nov 2005 18:18:46 -0800, Brock Boss wrote:

> Oddly enough, FlightAware shows the flight as arrived.
> http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N4319P

Couple of things based on my experience on following my own flights with
flightaware.

If you cancel IFR in the air, the website reports you arrived at the time
of the cancellation and the green tracking line terminates.

If you drop below radar coverage on your approach, then flightaware will
show you arrived. This happened to me, when I arrived at a non radar
towered airport. The green tracking line dropped where center turned me
over to the tower which was still 5 miles from the runway threshold.

Those that have not seen this site, really need to check it out. I was
amazed at the speed of updates. I filed IFR and hung up the phone and in
less then two minutes, my flight showed up on the website as a scheduled
departure. When you register for free, the website refreshes every minute
with your altitude and ground speed, and the graphic updates accordingly.

For those interested in following this poster, I am flying Saturday from
KMBO to KBWG to 2G2 on Saturday. You can follow along at
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N1943L. Planning to file my flight plan
tomorrow with an anticipated departure time of 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. Saturday
morning

Allen

[Jay Beckman]

"Brock Boss" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/111005/new_20051110022.shtml
> http://www.pantagraph.com/news/update11101.html
>
> Word is that he was 20 miles SE of KBMI and encountered a "rough
> engine."
> He did a 180 and headed back towards Bloomington which put him almost
> in line with rwy 29.

Brock,

Do you know the area well enough to know what his options might have been
either straight ahead or within only 90 degrees left or right?

I wonder was making a 180 the best decision?

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Arizona Cloudbusters
Chandler, AZ

[Brock Boss]

> Brock,
>
> Do you know the area well enough to know what his options might have been
> either straight ahead or within only 90 degrees left or right?
>
> I wonder was making a 180 the best decision?
>
> Jay Beckman
> PP-ASEL
> Arizona Cloudbusters
> Chandler, AZ

I grew up about 30 miles SW of Bloomington so I'm very familiar. Our
plane is based at KAAA and I've taken lessons here at KBMI.
Looking at my Chicago sectional here, the 180 was probably his best
shot. There are a couple of private strips that he was closer to but it
was dark by then and there's no way he could have found them unless he
was familiar with the area. He was approaching the halfway point
between Champaign/Urbana(KCMI) and Bloomington. I suppose he could have
continued to Champaign. Another option might have been to put it down
on I-74(which runs from Bloomington to Champaign) but that stretch of
Interstate doesn't have very many exits or large enough towns that
would illuminate the road very much. Kind of a dead patch of
interstate.
He was very close to making runway 29 here at Bloomington.
I'll post more info as I find it.

Brock Boss

[Michael Ware]

Hey Brock, Lincoln is my home town, I live in Columbus, OH now. Been back to
AAA a few times.
This may be a dumb question, but, that's flat farm country. Most crops are
off. It's an Apache, so he's go night-vis equipment, I assume. Why not just
set it down in a field?

--
Hello, my name is Mike, and I am an airplane addict...

"Brock Boss" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>Our plane is based at KAAA and I've taken lessons here at KBMI.
......
> Brock Boss
>

[B-Rad]

Piper Apache...fixed wing, not AH-64...



"Michael Ware" > wrote in message
.. .
> Hey Brock, Lincoln is my home town, I live in Columbus, OH now. Been back
> to
> AAA a few times.
> This may be a dumb question, but, that's flat farm country. Most crops are
> off. It's an Apache, so he's go night-vis equipment, I assume. Why not
> just
> set it down in a field?
>
> --
> Hello, my name is Mike, and I am an airplane addict...
>
> "Brock Boss" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
>>Our plane is based at KAAA and I've taken lessons here at KBMI.
> .....
>> Brock Boss
>>
>
>

[Michael Ware]

OHHHHh jeesh, never mind guys, it's a PIPER Apache. I was thinking helo.

"Michael Ware" > wrote in message
.. .
> Hey Brock, Lincoln is my home town, I live in Columbus, OH now. Been back
to
> AAA a few times.
> This may be a dumb question, but, that's flat farm country. Most crops are
> off. It's an Apache, so he's go night-vis equipment, I assume. Why not
just
> set it down in a field?
>
> --
> Hello, my name is Mike, and I am an airplane addict...
>
> "Brock Boss" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
> >Our plane is based at KAAA and I've taken lessons here at KBMI.
> .....
> > Brock Boss
> >
>
>