I got some really sad news tonight... the plane I had about half of my flight training in, as well as being my first solo aircraft, was destroyed on April 18th, taking with her the lives of the pilot and his passenger. Here is the preliminary report:http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=2...501X00490&key=1I know of at least a couple of you here on this forum have flown 8168N at Memley Aviation, so I wanted to pass along the sad news.I'm going to miss that sweet old girl. I also got word that Memley's Arrow, 4666J, was destroyed recently as well. The pilot survived. http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/174655.jpgThis is a picture of my first solo flight in 8168Nhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/174656.jpg

That really sucks Todd :(

I got an update with details on what happened with the two aircraft... here is a direct copy from the email:The Arrow was being rented by an instructor and his commercial student. They flew to Santa Monica and back, and when they returned the aircraft had damage to the upper wings (from a hard landing, where the rivets on the wing had come through the top of the wing). other damage to the craft was noted and the insurance company called it a total loss. However, the insurance company sold the remains to a mechanic from Oregon, and he got a ferry permit and flew it back north. Both instructor and student were okay, but they lied to the FAA and everyone else, saying that they didn't do any damage!The story on 68N was different. The 16 year old student pilot (who soloed 68N in February), was on a flight with his stepdad, who had 15000 hours. They left in the morning around 6:30, and never arrived at their destination. The winds were 100 knots at 10000 feet! The mountains to the east and south were obscured, and the tops were around 8000.Evidently, they were scud-running trying to get through the pass at Tehachipi, when they slammed into a mountain at 6700 feet MSL. With the tailwind (winds at the surface at Tehachipi was 70 knots), they slammed into the 45 degree sloped mountain at around 170 knots groundspeed. 68 was crushed into a total length of only 8 feet.

Another classic case of history repeating itself and personal minimums, I guess.

sad... very sad :(this is one thing I really like about my Garmin 496. The terrain page can be a lifesaver. I won't run into a mountain in FL, but if I ever fly on that side of the country, i'm sure it can be a life saver!

Until that mountain wave slams you into the ground.With that much wind it doesn't matter what terrain pages you have.