Young Eagles Mid Air

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CTLSi
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Young Eagles Mid Air

Post by CTLSi »

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Last edited by CTLSi on Sun Nov 30, 2014 11:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
Merlinspop
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Re: Young Eagles Mid Air

Post by Merlinspop »

Oh, God. My heart aches for all involved.
- Bruce
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FastEddieB
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Re: Young Eagles Mid Air

Post by FastEddieB »

Among the worst things I can imagine.

I have flown about 18 young people spread over three Young Eagles events.

It has always both surprised and gratified me that parents are willing to put their trust in a complete stranger. And in my case let their kids be strapped into a contraption marked EXPERIMENTAL.

Another poster on another site put forth this is only the second such fatality during a Young Eagle event, with over a million missions flown. So, statistically, these things remain pretty darn safe.

Still, what a tragedy.
Fast Eddie B.
Sky Arrow 600 E-LSA • N467SA
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MrMorden
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Re: Young Eagles Mid Air

Post by MrMorden »

awful.
Andy Walker
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mcurcio1989
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Re: Young Eagles Mid Air

Post by mcurcio1989 »

I was pretty bummed to hear about this. The young eagles is such an awesome concept and I just can't imagine what the parents of that 14 year old are going through.

Oddly enough it sounds like the pilot of the searey had another searey go down a couple years ago at sun n, fun. Apparently a searey had an emergency landing with an inoperative elevator. Then as the rescue boat was towing them in this D'Angelo guy had a bolt holding one of his struts shear off and collapse the wing on climbout. Both him and the passenger avoided serious injury.
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snaproll
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Re: Young Eagles Mid Air

Post by snaproll »

Preliminary Accident Report follows:

NTSB Identification: ERA14FA459A
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, September 27, 2014 in Lancaster, NY
Aircraft: CESSNA 172M, registration: N9679H
Injuries: 2 Fatal,2 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.

On September 27, 2014, about 1020 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172M, N9679H, and an experimental amateur-built D'Angelo Searey XLS, N89KD, collided in midair approximately 2 mile southeast of the Buffalo-Lancaster Regional Airport (BQR), Lancaster, New York. The Cessna departed controlled flight after the collision, descended vertically in a spiral, and was destroyed by impact forces at ground contact. The Searey entered a descending right turn, and performed a forced landing to a thicket of low brush, and was substantially damaged. The commercial pilot and passenger on board the Cessna were fatally injured. The private pilot and passenger in the Searey were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for either airplane, each on local personal flights which departed BQR at 1009 (Seareay) and 1012 (Cessna), respectively. Both airplanes were participating in an Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Young Eagles event, and the flights were conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

Several witnesses provided statements, and their accounts were consistent throughout. They each said their attention was drawn to the sound of the airplanes and/or the sound of collision. The airplanes were both traveling westbound as one airplane overtook the other, or was on top of the other, before one airplane (Cessna) was seen to "tip" or "roll" inverted before it descended vertically in a spiral. The second airplane (Seareay) descended in a 180-degree turn and the sound of the engine was increasing and decreasing, "revving" or "sputtering" throughout the descent.

Preliminary radar information provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that both airplanes were assigned discrete transponder codes. The data depicted both airplanes traveling westbound on roughly the same ground track. The Cessna was at 1,774 feet and 90 knots groundspeed and the Searey was further west, at 1,575 feet and 70 knots groundspeed. As the Cessna approached the Searey from the east, it descended slowly to 1,625 feet. At the same time, the Searey climbed slowly to 1,625 feet. For the last few seconds of the Cessna's flight, both airplanes were depicted at 1,625 feet, and in close lateral proximity. Radar contact with the Cessna was suddenly lost in the vicinity of its accident site, while a descending right turn was depicted for the Searey.

The 1054 weather observation at Buffalo International Airport (BUF), 5 miles west of the accident site included clear skies, calm winds, and 10 miles visibility.

The Cessna came to rest on flat, wooded terrain and all major components of the airplane were accounted for at the scene. The airplane came to rest nose down with the engine buried beneath the instrument panel in the initial impact crater, and was severely deformed by impact forces. The leading edges of both wings were uniformly crushed aft in compression. Control continuity was established from the cockpit area to all flight control surfaces. Both propeller blades displayed similar twisting, bending, leading edge gouging and chordwise scratching.

The Searey came to rest upright in a dense thicket. Examination of the airplane revealed that the trailing edge of the right wing flap displayed a series of parallel slash marks, and the structural tubing was severed, and the fracture surfaces were smeared. The structural cable between the wing strut and the empennage was still attached at each end, but missing a section about 5 feet in length in the middle. The two severed ends displayed features consistent with overload separation. The empennage displayed a vertical opening and parallel slash marks.
CTLSi
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Re: Young Eagles Mid Air

Post by CTLSi »

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