plane crash in butte kills 17 mostly kids
- Thread starter Blu Du
- Start date
wow......RIP
Hmmm. Pilatus PC-12 Single engine Pratt-Whitney holds 9 passengers, could be configured for 12 in a pinch but 17? Probably scotched on fuel to fly the extra passengers, fuel light comes on 10 minutes out of Bozeman so he cancels IFR, tries to stick an impromtu VFR landing in Butte (non-towered, no help) starts doing steep bank turns getting set up, now his center of gravity is way aft because he's got no fuel in the wings and 16 kids in the back, he's never felt the plane behave like this, handling gets worse at slow speeds, turns and landing configurations with gear and flaps down. Probably finally stalled it around 90 knots. Just speculating but if he flew non-stop from CA with enough fuel to make it plus and hour reserve plus another 30 minutes for an alternate..... The passengers would have to weigh about 50#'s each to stay in the envelope. Pilot error is usually the cause of these kinds of crashes.
Sad...thoughts and prayers out to the families 
Bad deal for sure, but
The picture showed a tall fire,(
) which is not conducive to fuel exhaustion. Pilot error in some order is highly suspect.Sad.
N
Nelson
Well-known member
Yes definetly sad when children are involved that were so young. Thoughts and prayers for the families loss.
Anyone catch the Fed-Ex jet that crashed on landing in Japan and burst into flames? Pretty graphic showing the plane bouncing on the runway, Thoughts go out to the 2 pilots that lost their lives is that crash as well, thankfully it wasn't loaded with passangers.
Anyone catch the Fed-Ex jet that crashed on landing in Japan and burst into flames? Pretty graphic showing the plane bouncing on the runway, Thoughts go out to the 2 pilots that lost their lives is that crash as well, thankfully it wasn't loaded with passangers.
Sad forsure. All over the news here and everyone talking about it last night when we got back from sledding RIP.
R
RMK7SledHead
Well-known member
you know NOTHING of what happened in that airplane, or why it crashed. You have NO REASON to speculate that the pilot was an amateur or otherwise unqualified to be in charge of that plane. STOP making assumptions and accusations towards people. Let the professionals figure out what happened, until then, stop the peanut gallery comments. 14 people died...it was a horrible tragedy and accident, but so far, it is nothing more.
Actually, I feel that I am slightly qualified to judge what possibly happened in this accident. I have been flying airplanes since I was 16 years old. Got my private license on my 17th birthday. Became a flight instructor on my 18th birthday. I have a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering. I spent several years as a flight instructor under FAR 141 and a charter pilot under FAR Part 135 as well as being a Chief Pilot under both those parts. I spent a couple years as an agricultural pilot in California flying a Grumman Ag Cat. I spent several years as a Corporate Pilot flying a Cessna 340 and 421, a Beechcraft Baron, a Piper Cheyenne 2 and a Beechcraft King Air 200. The King Air is almost identical to this aircraft that crashed so I am very familiar with the limitations of that aircraft. One major difference of the King Air is that it has two PT6 Turbo Props instead of one. Great aircraft if you stay within the limitations.
I spent 25 years as an Airline Captain flying the Boeing 727/100 and 200, the Boeing 737/300-500-700 and 800 model, the MD-80 and DC-9/30 in addition to International flying in the DC-10/30. During my career as an Airline Pilot I was also a Check Airman giving intstruction to other pilots and I also was on the airlines "accident investigation team", we worked with the NTSB on various types of accidents, both airline and general aviation types such as the one that just happened in Montana which indeed is a very sad thing.
During my career I have logged over 25, 000 hours as a pilot in command of just about every airplane made in this country, both general aviation and commercial jets.
The following photo is of me a few years ago. The other photo is of me in my younger days next to the King Air 200 I used to fly for a guy named Howard Ruff in Utah. The photo was taken at the Provo, Utah airport. The last photo is of me and a friend of mine inside a DC/9-30.
I am sorry you don't feel I am qualified to make a comment about an aircraft accident. I am also sorry you are so upset about the accident, I think most people are including myself. It is difficult to understand why these things have to happen. The aircraft had more passengers on board than it is certified to carry and I would imagine that had something to do with it.
I am curious as to what your qualificiations are concerning this subject. Please elaborate for us as I would imagine others would be interested also. Thank you.
RMK7,
I mentioned that I also flew a Baron during my career at one point, here is a photo of it and myself many moons ago. I will throw in another that some might enjoy. It is the way to fish in Alaska.
I mentioned that I also flew a Baron during my career at one point, here is a photo of it and myself many moons ago. I will throw in another that some might enjoy. It is the way to fish in Alaska.
Early Monday morning in Narita, Japan, FedEx Flight 80 was involved in an accident. Sadly, both the Captain and First Officer lost their lives in this unfortunate event. We are all touched by this event and the harsh reminder that it brings regarding the fragility of life. Today, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the crewmembers who did not survive.
The CAL MEC Safety committee has been in touch with their counterparts at the FedEx MEC to offer any assistance that we can provide.
CAL MEC
Air Line Pilots Association
I think that you sir are qualified to make those statements. How do you jam that many bodies into an airplane of that size, get it to take off and expect it to land. Also, how uncomfortable must it have been to fly in that thing stacked up on top of each other.
agreed.
nice um friend by the way
Sad deal for sure. Guess we will wait for the offical word on what happened.
RMK700 is right - you know jack sh!t about the facts of this tragedy.
Let the investigators do their job.
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M
MPS
Well-known member
It's not rocket science that the pilot had too many people on that plane. So I will say the same thing about the dumb a$$ pilot! They had to have all kinds of gear for skiing on there too.
The Pilatus PC-12 is a single-engine turboprop aircraft designed and manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. It is certified for 12 persons on board and typically seats 6-9 passengers plus 1-2 pilots. The PC-12 has a range of 1,750-2,600 miles and cruises at approximately 300 miles per hour, according to Flight Aware, a Web site that tracks air traffic.
Triple, if the reports I have read so far are accurate then yes they must have had kids sitting in the aisle I would suspect and going on a ski trip would have meant lots of baggage (weight). I get really pissed when unqualified people make assumptions of pilot error without any facts but from what I have read so far and from my experience with this sort of thing I highly do suspect this to be a case of an inexperienced pilot combined with exceeding the limitations of the aircraft. There was a reason he decided to go to Butte instead of Bozeman. It could have been a weather situation or low fuel. Vertigo and loss of control may very well be a factor accompanied with inexperience in low visibility conditions, IFR conditions. Just because someone has an instrument rating does not mean they are current and experienced and SAFE.
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