Mooney drops into my backyard

This has special interest for me because I own a Mooney (that should
take care of the on-topicness). I guess I could put this in
r.a.piloting, but i don't know anyone over there, and I just wanted to
share this with some friends...

About 3:00 this afternoon, a Mooney M20M dropped out of a low overcast,
hit a tree, and ended up in a pond in my back yard. There are
conflicting reports about whether there are 1 or 2 fatalities. My
interpretation is that they recovered 1 body, but the flight plan says
there were 2 aboard.

The crash site is about 100 yards from my deck. The plane is completely
submerged, but I can guess its position by the location of the police
raft and divers that were in the area. I arrived home from work about
6:00 to find news helicopters overhead and crime-scene tape stretched
across my yard.

From the news reports and the visible damage to the tree, I estimate
that the flight path must have been directly toward my house. If it
hadn't gone into the pond, it might have gone into the house. Nobody
would have been home.

Apparently the pilot reported some kind of trouble. Given the weather,
he would have had to be on an instrument flight plan. I think the
ceilings were something below 1000 ft., so when he broke out, he
wouldn't have had much time to select a landing spot. Unfortunately, he
was over a fairly densely populated suburban area.

As I write this (10 PM) there are generator light stands lighting up the
whole area, but most of the rescue/recovery people have left. I think
the remaining crew are just guarding the scene overnight. They don't
seem to be looking for the second body, if there is one. My belief is
that they have concluded there was only one person aboard. I guess I'll
be serving coffee to the NTSB folks in the morning.

Sorry for the downer. I'd much rather be relating a story about my most
recent $100 hamburger.

Here are some news stories:
WRAL story: http://www.wral.com/news/3263882/detail.html
WTVD story and pictures:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/news/050...lanecrash.html
NBC 17 story: http://www.nbc17.com/news/3263998/detail.html
News & Observer story:
http://www.news-observer.com/front/s...-3165256c.html


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sorry to hear the news Dave... always hate when planes go down..

But make sure to collect or file with their insurance company for damage to
your lawn for all the heavy equipment that will be on it to lift the plane
out of the pond and fuel/oil contamination of the Farm Pond.. if it is
completely within your property line..

BT

"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...
This has special interest for me because I own a Mooney (that should
take care of the on-topicness). I guess I could put this in
r.a.piloting, but i don't know anyone over there, and I just wanted to
share this with some friends...

About 3:00 this afternoon, a Mooney M20M dropped out of a low overcast,
hit a tree, and ended up in a pond in my back yard. There are
conflicting reports about whether there are 1 or 2 fatalities. My
interpretation is that they recovered 1 body, but the flight plan says
there were 2 aboard.

The crash site is about 100 yards from my deck. The plane is completely
submerged, but I can guess its position by the location of the police
raft and divers that were in the area. I arrived home from work about
6:00 to find news helicopters overhead and crime-scene tape stretched
across my yard.

From the news reports and the visible damage to the tree, I estimate
that the flight path must have been directly toward my house. If it
hadn't gone into the pond, it might have gone into the house. Nobody
would have been home.

Apparently the pilot reported some kind of trouble. Given the weather,
he would have had to be on an instrument flight plan. I think the
ceilings were something below 1000 ft., so when he broke out, he
wouldn't have had much time to select a landing spot. Unfortunately, he
was over a fairly densely populated suburban area.

As I write this (10 PM) there are generator light stands lighting up the
whole area, but most of the rescue/recovery people have left. I think
the remaining crew are just guarding the scene overnight. They don't
seem to be looking for the second body, if there is one. My belief is
that they have concluded there was only one person aboard. I guess I'll
be serving coffee to the NTSB folks in the morning.

Sorry for the downer. I'd much rather be relating a story about my most
recent $100 hamburger.

Here are some news stories:
WRAL story: http://www.wral.com/news/3263882/detail.html
WTVD story and pictures:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/news/050...lanecrash.html
NBC 17 story: http://www.nbc17.com/news/3263998/detail.html
News & Observer story:
http://www.news-observer.com/front/s...-3165256c.html


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BTIZ wrote:
sorry to hear the news Dave... always hate when planes go down..

But make sure to collect or file with their insurance company for damage to
your lawn for all the heavy equipment that will be on it to lift the plane
out of the pond and fuel/oil contamination of the Farm Pond.. if it is
completely within your property line..

Thanks, BT, good advice. I think all the heavy lifting will be on community
property that belongs to the neighborhood association. Dave


BT

"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...

This has special interest for me because I own a Mooney (that should
take care of the on-topicness). I guess I could put this in
r.a.piloting, but i don't know anyone over there, and I just wanted to
share this with some friends...

About 3:00 this afternoon, a Mooney M20M dropped out of a low overcast,
hit a tree, and ended up in a pond in my back yard. There are
conflicting reports about whether there are 1 or 2 fatalities. My
interpretation is that they recovered 1 body, but the flight plan says
there were 2 aboard.

The crash site is about 100 yards from my deck. The plane is completely
submerged, but I can guess its position by the location of the police
raft and divers that were in the area. I arrived home from work about
6:00 to find news helicopters overhead and crime-scene tape stretched
across my yard.

From the news reports and the visible damage to the tree, I estimate
that the flight path must have been directly toward my house. If it
hadn't gone into the pond, it might have gone into the house. Nobody
would have been home.

Apparently the pilot reported some kind of trouble. Given the weather,
he would have had to be on an instrument flight plan. I think the
ceilings were something below 1000 ft., so when he broke out, he
wouldn't have had much time to select a landing spot. Unfortunately, he
was over a fairly densely populated suburban area.

As I write this (10 PM) there are generator light stands lighting up the
whole area, but most of the rescue/recovery people have left. I think
the remaining crew are just guarding the scene overnight. They don't
seem to be looking for the second body, if there is one. My belief is
that they have concluded there was only one person aboard. I guess I'll
be serving coffee to the NTSB folks in the morning.

Sorry for the downer. I'd much rather be relating a story about my most
recent $100 hamburger.

Here are some news stories:
WRAL story: http://www.wral.com/news/3263882/detail.html
WTVD story and pictures:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/news/050...lanecrash.html
NBC 17 story: http://www.nbc17.com/news/3263998/detail.html
News & Observer story:
http://www.news-observer.com/front/s...-3165256c.html


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News==----

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--
Dave Butler, software engineer 919-392-4367

On Tue, 04 May 2004 08:03:22 -0400, Dave Butler
wrote:

Thanks, BT, good advice. I think all the heavy lifting will be on community
property that belongs to the neighborhood association. Dave

Then the Association as a group should probably due something to ensure
they are "made whole" after the recovery efforts are complete.


Ron (EPM) (N5843Q, Mooney M20E) (CP, ASEL, ASES, IA)

Dave Butler wrote:

This has special interest for me because I own a Mooney (that should
take care of the on-topicness). I guess I could put this in
r.a.piloting, but i don't know anyone over there, and I just wanted to
share this with some friends...

Are you OK, and your family? I don't know how badly it would shake me and
my family to witness a small plane crash, not to mention one on our own
property and of the type we fly in. Best wishes to all of you, and
sympathies to the families of the victims.


All the best,


David

David Megginson wrote:
Dave Butler wrote:

This has special interest for me because I own a Mooney (that should
take care of the on-topicness). I guess I could put this in
r.a.piloting, but i don't know anyone over there, and I just wanted to
share this with some friends...


Are you OK, and your family? I don't know how badly it would shake me
and my family to witness a small plane crash, not to mention one on our
own property and of the type we fly in. Best wishes to all of you, and
sympathies to the families of the victims.

Yes, thanks. There were no injuries on the ground. There are some neighbors who
were at home at the time who were understandably shaken. Nobody was home at my
house. My wife, an aerophobe, seems to be taking it rather well. As for me, it's
closer to a crash scene investigation than I really would like to be. Since the
aircraft is so similar to the one I fly, I think it enhances my tendency to
mentally play back probable scenarios.

It's got to be tough for the families of the victim(s). Last I knew, they had
still recovered only one body, although for some reason (flight plan?) they seem
to think there were 2 people aboard. I haven't seen any identification of the
plane or the people involved.

Dave

Dave Butler wrote:

Yes, thanks. There were no injuries on the ground. There are some
neighbors who were at home at the time who were understandably shaken.
Nobody was home at my house. My wife, an aerophobe, seems to be taking
it rather well. As for me, it's closer to a crash scene investigation
than I really would like to be. Since the aircraft is so similar to the
one I fly, I think it enhances my tendency to mentally play back
probable scenarios.

I don't know if it will help the constant replaying or not, but here's the
prelim:

http://www.faa.gov/avr/aai/B_0504_N.txt

Here's the accident description from the above:

ACFT ABORTED AN APPROACH AND CRASHED DURING VECTORS FOR THIRD ATTEMPT TO
LAND, TWO PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, ACFT WAS DESTROYED,
RALEIGH-DURHAM, NC

Here's the reported weather at the time:

RDU METAR 031915Z 03009KT 2 1/2SM BKN008 OVC018 11/11 A2991

and here's the last clearance:

MAINTAIN 3000, TURN RIGHT HDG230

I am obviously forming my own conclusions from this information, as will any
other pilot reading it, but I'll keep them to myself until we have more
information. Take good care of your family, and give your kids some extra
hugs today.


Best wishes,


David

I know no one wants to speculate, but 2 1/2 and 800 doesn't sound that
bad.



"David Megginson" wrote in message
ble.rogers.com...
Dave Butler wrote:

Yes, thanks. There were no injuries on the ground. There are some
neighbors who were at home at the time who were understandably shaken.
Nobody was home at my house. My wife, an aerophobe, seems to be taking
it rather well. As for me, it's closer to a crash scene investigation
than I really would like to be. Since the aircraft is so similar to the
one I fly, I think it enhances my tendency to mentally play back
probable scenarios.

I don't know if it will help the constant replaying or not, but here's the
prelim:

http://www.faa.gov/avr/aai/B_0504_N.txt

Here's the accident description from the above:

ACFT ABORTED AN APPROACH AND CRASHED DURING VECTORS FOR THIRD ATTEMPT
TO
LAND, TWO PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, ACFT WAS DESTROYED,
RALEIGH-DURHAM, NC

Here's the reported weather at the time:

RDU METAR 031915Z 03009KT 2 1/2SM BKN008 OVC018 11/11 A2991

and here's the last clearance:

MAINTAIN 3000, TURN RIGHT HDG230

I am obviously forming my own conclusions from this information, as will
any
other pilot reading it, but I'll keep them to myself until we have more
information. Take good care of your family, and give your kids some extra
hugs today.


Best wishes,


David

It is if there were a mechanical problem causing loss of power. Pop out at
800 in the middle of a densely populated area and quick, find a place to put
it down. But we won't know until the investigation, if then.


"Otis Winslow" wrote in message
...
I know no one wants to speculate, but 2 1/2 and 800 doesn't sound that
bad.



"David Megginson" wrote in message
ble.rogers.com...
Dave Butler wrote:

Yes, thanks. There were no injuries on the ground. There are some
neighbors who were at home at the time who were understandably shaken.
Nobody was home at my house. My wife, an aerophobe, seems to be taking
it rather well. As for me, it's closer to a crash scene investigation
than I really would like to be. Since the aircraft is so similar to
the
one I fly, I think it enhances my tendency to mentally play back
probable scenarios.

I don't know if it will help the constant replaying or not, but here's
the
prelim:

http://www.faa.gov/avr/aai/B_0504_N.txt

Here's the accident description from the above:

ACFT ABORTED AN APPROACH AND CRASHED DURING VECTORS FOR THIRD ATTEMPT
TO
LAND, TWO PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, ACFT WAS DESTROYED,
RALEIGH-DURHAM, NC

Here's the reported weather at the time:

RDU METAR 031915Z 03009KT 2 1/2SM BKN008 OVC018 11/11 A2991

and here's the last clearance:

MAINTAIN 3000, TURN RIGHT HDG230

I am obviously forming my own conclusions from this information, as will
any
other pilot reading it, but I'll keep them to myself until we have more
information. Take good care of your family, and give your kids some
extra
hugs today.


Best wishes,


David

"Otis Winslow" wrote in message
...

I know no one wants to speculate, but 2 1/2 and 800 doesn't
sound that bad.


Speculation is about all we can do.