Hey Guys,

 

Thought I would post this, there is very little information as this only happened last night..

 

A small 172 crashed not far from where I live. The personal connection I have to this particular accident is that the aircraft I have flown before.. Its a rental from the flight centre I belong to. Unfortunately the 4 people on board this aircraft did not survive. I personally did not know them but my condolences out to their families..

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/08/25/ontario-plane-crash.html

I'm sorry to hear that. It's always sobering for the local aviation community when things like this happen.

 

We had a similar thing happen here not too long ago. I knew the renter, but fate would have it that our rental aircraft was grounded for maintenance. The pilot, with his 5 year old granddaughter and wife, took a similar a/c from another local flight school. Unfortunately, his return trip from KCRE (North Myrtle Beach) ended with all three occupants killed -- obviously including the little girl, RIP. I had a conversation with the accident pilot about weather 2 days prior to the accident, and he wasn't night current (the crash happened at around 9:30PM).

 

Given the obvious terrifying nature of an aircraft accident, the odd thought of having conversed with the pilot a few days prior about something that would ultimately kill him, and the sorrow I felt for the child really shook me up. That personal connection can be a spooky, disheartening feeling.

Yeah bro... sorry to hear that too. And Zach... how tragic.

 

I understand the "personal connection" thing guys. I had a number of hours instructing in Saratoga N82419 (including flying some students to Sporty's Pilot Shop for an FAA Safety Seminar and flying once to Ohio for dinner with students / friends) until it was involved in a mid-air with an MU-2.

 

What was even "stranger", I was working as a Deputy Sheriff when the accident occurred and within hours of the crash, I was assigned to protect the MU-2 crash site. It crashed into the backyard of someone I knew... basically most of the aircraft was buried in his backyard with some pieces scattered into the next yard. No way to tell it was even an aircraft (no one survived).

 

I was relieved (from duty) around sunrise... went over to the Saratoga site and could completely see what the pilot was hoping to do... he clipped the top of a house, sheared off the top of a small tree, then impacted into a small brick wall at the back patio of a house. Had he been 20' higher or so at that point, he would have made a field just across the street. I remember standing in the burned out cockpit... the ADF sitting on the brick wall... reliving some great memories I had with that plane and thinking "no more"... walking inside the house that was partially destroyed by the ensuing fire (what a mess that was). Pilot was killed... his daughter and friend burned (poor guy burned terribly... talked briefly with him some years later). Pilot was returning from a maintenance shop I used to work at (can't remember actually working on that plane, but certainly could have). So surreal.

 

http://www.airdisast...sb/AAR93-05.pdf

 

-Rob

-Rob

 

That's terrible. I've seen first hand the aftermath of a fatal crash, but I didn't have a personal connection to it. Wow, that would be traumatic.

I can't imagine seeing the aftermath of something like that.. I agree with Zach, it would be very traumatic..

I don't know... more surreal than anything else... that and just a vivid example of what can happen.

 

Worse thing was seeing the guy that survived... how much he have had to suffer... I felt so bad for what he must have had to endured. You go up on a beautiful day and the next thing... immense tragedy.

 

Fit the classic profile of a mid-air collision...