3 dead in midair plane crash in Wyo.

esw2005

Well-Known Member
ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. - Two single-engine planes collided Sunday above a remote area a few miles from an airport in southwestern Wyoming, killing all three people aboard, authorities said.

Local officials received 911 calls of an "explosion in the sky" shortly after noon, said Detective Dick Blust, a spokesman for the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department.

Scorched debris was scattered over 5 acres northwest of the airport.
One of the planes was a Cirrus SR22 that took off from Polson, Mont., with two people aboard, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plane was headed to the Rock Springs airport and had been communicating with regional air traffic controllers, who cleared it for approach to the airport.

The airport does not have a control tower, according to its Web site.

The other plane was a Cessna 172 with only the pilot aboard, he said. It was not communicating with controllers, a common practice among private pilots flying in clear weather, Gregor said.
Preliminary information showed the Cessna pilot was a student and had been practicing in the Rock Springs area at the time of the crash, he said
 
A copy and pasted news story.

What do you think about this article? What are your opinions/thoughts?


I personally wonder how it could have been avoided (other than the pilots being more attentive). The no-contact plane was probably not on radar when the clearance was given for the other to approach/land (either flying under radar or not being tracked since he hadn't spoken with ATC). I'm wondering if ATC should have been able to tell he was there, or if there was no way they could know.

Can anyone in the industry shed some light on how this might have happened?
 
its tough to tell, theres not much information there.

Tough to say, like you say not much there but once cleared for the approach at a facility without radar approach service usually you're handed off to the UNICOM frequency, and you're on your own to see and avoid. I'd be curious to know what the last traffic advisory was. I thought rock springs was a class D though. (edit, nope: http://skyvector.com/#38-10-2-7712-3435 )
 
What do you think about this article? What are your opinions/thoughts?


I personally wonder how it could have been avoided (other than the pilots being more attentive). The no-contact plane was probably not on radar when the clearance was given for the other to approach/land (either flying under radar or not being tracked since he hadn't spoken with ATC). I'm wondering if ATC should have been able to tell he was there, or if there was no way they could know.

Can anyone in the industry shed some light on how this might have happened?

The report stated that the cirrus was IFR, cleared for a visual approach and switched to advisory with a caution of multiple targets in the vicinity of the airport. Not much else the controller can do especially if the targets were primaries with no alt. readout. It comes down to the guy flying VFR to see and avoid in my opinion. Who knows if the other acft was even monitoring CTAF as well.

HD
 
I don't think the student pilot has his transponder set to altitude. I say this because if he did he would have not only showed up with ATC but also on the Sirrus traffic avoidance technology.

I have a friend with a SR22 and that plane alerts of traffic.


I hate hearing things like this. I know it's rare but it sucks!
 
I have a friend with a SR22 and that plane alerts of traffic.


if it's similar to the alert system on the CNX-80 GPS it only works in enhanced areas, I can't remember the specifics but the one I flew behind only worked in the mode-c ring. Anyway point being it needs to be supported by the ATC system and in rock springs that service probably isn't available.
 
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