Cessna Twin Explosion and Crash Yesterday

[shivers9]

Just saw the news video about the Cessna Twin that seems to explode in mid air and crash in to a California housing area killing 5 people yesterday. The view that I saw looked much like the plane had explosives or something go off as it was coming out of the sky. I don't recall ever hearing of anything like fuel tanks exploding in the air on a small plane like this. I guess parts of the plane are spread over a 4 block area. Just wondering what you guys think? The only info they had was that it had just departed a near by airport and thunderstorms in the area.

[JRBarrett]

10 minutes ago, shivers9 said:

Just saw the news video about the Cessna Twin that seems to explode in mid air and crash in to a California housing area killing 5 people yesterday. The view that I saw looked much like the plane had explosives or something go off as it was coming out of the sky. I don't recall ever hearing of anything like fuel tanks exploding in the air on a small plane like this. I guess parts of the plane are spread over a 4 block area. Just wondering what you guys think? The only info they had was that it had just departed a near by airport and thunderstorms in the area.

A JetBlue A320 departing out of LAX yesterday was struck by lightning, and had to return. That’s not a common event for Southern California. That could be a possibility - but AVGAS is very flammable, and it was an older Cessna 414... If there was a fuel leak, or broken fuel line, that could cause the apparent in flight “explosion”. As could structural failure. Corrosion in spars and other load-bearing parts of an aircraft is always a possibility in older airframes. 

Very sorry there was loss of life on the aircraft, and on the ground. Hopefully the NTSB investigation will shed some light on what may have gone wrong, but it will probably be quite some time before that is completed.

[Adrian123]

Waiting on the final NTSB report.

[Guest John_Cillis]

The worst civil aviation crash near me that I remember was the crash into Sun Valley Mall, where an aircraft was trying to land at Buchanan Field in Concord, CA, the pattern went right over the mall.  I visited that mall often to Christmas shop but my guardian angel kept me home in Napa that holiday season.  The aircraft crashed into the center of the mall, near the Macy's.  I waited some time before returning to the mall, I was employed by an employer, Hotel Information Systems, a short distance away and I'd go to the mall sometimes for lunch.  But I always paused at Macy's and did a silent mediation for those that were lost and injured there.

John

http://articles.latimes.com/1985-12-24/news/mn-20817_1_bay-area-shoppers

[Paraffin]

Speculation on pprune is that it might have been losing control in IMC and then structural failure from pulling G's to avoid the ground. The fuselage on the ground has both wings detached, and there are lots of bits and pieces scattered on the ground in the surrounding area before impact. 

[fppilot]

Ummm. There is a prolific California 414 owner with numerous videos on youtube. Believe he recently sold one 414, then acquired and re-equipped another.  Anyone have the reg number of the 414 in the mishap?

[MartinRex007]

19 minutes ago, fppilot said:

Anyone have the reg number of the 414 in the mishap?

N414RS, according to Flightaware the registration is pending so the new owner wasn't listed yet?

 

[fppilot]

OK. Not a match for the two tail numbers of 414's in his videos.  Believe he just sold one, which is what caught my attention.  The youtube pilot goes by the handle of Air Wagner and the two tail numbers in his videos are:

N82TR
N8134Q

[Howellerman]

I too saw it on the news, and almost as importantly, heard it from a recording on some guys Ring system. It looked like it came straight down through the overcast, and based upon the pitch of the turbines, one of them blew. You could see the airplane/engine "explode" about 200 feet AGL, and the engines were just screaming. My first impression, given the stated age of the pilot (75) was a medical issue where he lost control and there being nobody else on board to recover.

I believe the house destruction was from the engine, since I saw of copter photo of a mostly intact fuselage. And it could have been much worse: the family was known for hosting epic Super Bowl parties and there were a lot of people in attendance.

Sad. I won't soon forget that sound...

[fppilot]

1 hour ago, Howellerman said:

It looked like it came straight down

 

1 hour ago, Howellerman said:

I saw of copter photo of a mostly intact fuselage

Guess we will have to wait for the investigation.

[overspeed3]

I believe that I read a news account that the pilot was 75 years old...  Can it be determined if that was a factor? 

[charliearon]

Been hearing a lot of airplane crash reports on the news involving us older folks.  I think I'll stick to computer flying😉

[Adrian123]

19 minutes ago, charliearon said:

Been hearing a lot of airplane crash reports on the news involving us older folks.  I think I'll stick to computer flying😉

lol. Learned that years ago. The Wiley Coyote syndrome. Nobody dies.

[eslader]

18 hours ago, JRBarrett said:

but AVGAS is very flammable

Not in the way most people think of flammability. You can drop a lit match into a bucket of regular 87 octane pump gas and the gas will just extinguish the match. Avgas is a little less flammable than that, at 100 octane. Something needs to be 250+ degrees F before gasoline will ignite by itself.

Fuel vapors can be problematic in the right circumstances (such as those in the cylinder - you have to atomize fuel in the cylinder and then hit it with a big spark before it will flash over), so if you have a poorly-insulated plug wire that's sparking to the cylinder head, *and* you have a fuel leak that's releasing vapors near the spark then you can potentially have a problem. But if the vapors are being blown away from an errant ignition source by the 100+mph apparent wind over the plane, that wouldn't be a biggie either.

 

[Les Parson]

17 hours ago, Adrian123 said:

Waiting on the final NTSB report.

That's the smart and appropriate thing to do.