Hi,

Recently, James Robinson posted:

TaxSrv wrote:
James Robinson wrote:

No question, takeoff is a critical time in twins. Fatal
accident just east of Cleveland. Pilot was reported to be
trying to turn back to field following some sort of failure
soon after taking off.

(snip)

Media reports should the last place to pick out words to take
literally. I live 3/4 from this airport and am based there. Based
on winds, crash site, and a couple other factors, he was likely well
underway before reporting a problem. One media outlet here reported,
per a witness, that the plane was on fire before impact. If that's
accurate, it further doesn't sound like a problem more peculiar to
twins.

Yes, initial news reports can often be very wrong when they report on
air accidents, and one should always use caution in assuming the
initial reports are accurate.

That said, here is another that quotes the FAA as saying the aircraft
was at 4000 ft, 2 miles from the airport when it disappeared from
radar:

(snip)

It also identifies the aircraft as a Cessna 310. No report of an
in-flight fire, however.

I fly out of LNN regularly (today, in fact), so I'm pretty familiar with
the territory. Given that Azali was a commercial pilot, if this plane was
at all controllable at 4,000' 2 miles from LNN, there are many places to
set it down besides LNN and 2 freeways that would have been well within
gliding distance. I can only think that factors other than what has been
reported contributed to this catastrophe.

My sympathy to his family and friends.

Neil Gould - PP SEL