Ameriflight PA-31 Accident - Arizona

[skypilot6]

I dont feel comfortable posting the full name yet.

I understand

 

[scooter2525]

Here is a few pics I took while flying that specific bird. Flew 27.0 in it. RIP fellow aviator.

 

[MikeD]

I understand

FAA called our Ops center at Riverside with info about the flight and last comms, who then called us down in TUS looking at the possibility of a launching a helo.

 

[block30]

:'( Sad to hear. Freight doggin' is a challenging line of work to say the least. God bless.

 

[Inverted]

Cool pics Scooter. that plane wasn't at OAK when I got there.

 

[scooter2525]

Cool pics Scooter. that plane wasn't at OAK when I got there.

The last flight I had in it was 06-2009

 

[EIR]

RIP
OOTSK

 

[mikecweb]

I'll have to look it up tomorrow, or maybe Mikecweb can help in this, but basically, from what we were told, and the NTSB reports we saw, there was a BE-58 flown by an Airnet pilot. He encountered wake turbulence on short final, crashed, and caught fire. Due to CFR not knowing what was on the plane, they kept their distance. He survived for several hours after, but finally succumbed to his injuries. Granted, I am going off of knowledge from indoc from 2005, and may have some details wrong...

What I do remember vividly, and what they were trying to preach, was to make sure your HAZMAT paperwork was good to go so CFR would not do it again. It may have been a little bit of a wives'-tale to make sure we did our paperwork, but I will never forget thinking about a poor guy being burned to death eventually due to wake turbulence, and possibly a paperwork problem.

If that was what actually happened, Id be very surprised. Only in the sense that (as a CFR firefighter who still does it on contract basis), while HAZMAT would be a high concern with an aircraft accident, rescue ops have always topped that as one of the "risks of the game" in terms of exposure. Fight the fire from uphill/upwind to the max extent possible, and that solves most of the problems off the bat...at least enough to effect the rescue of one person, especially if there is no complex extrication requirement. That's just why Im mildly curious of the details......every accident is a learning event from the CFR side of things, just as it is for the aviation side of things.

Here is a link to the NTSB investigation:
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20001211X09877&key=1
From what i remember it was the first or second night the guy was flying by himself.
I never heard the story about them not fighting the fire due to HAZMAT on board. I could see that being a wives-tale from Airnet instructors to get you to do your paperwork.
The full narrative mentions the CFR noticed possible HAZMAT while fighting the fire.

 

[ppragman]

That wreckage is pretty gruesome, at least he probably didn't feel much. Tailwinds from here on out I guess, it's a crying shame.

 

[MikeD]

I never heard the story about them not fighting the fire due to HAZMAT on board. I could see that being a wives-tale from Airnet instructors to get you to do your paperwork.

The full narrative mentions the CFR noticed possible HAZMAT while fighting the fire.

Probably was a wives tale. The NTSB report doesn't specify whether the pilot survived the impact. And the HAZMAT suspicion description doesn't extend to if it affected firefighting/rescue efforts. That suspicion could have been from observed smoke and/or flame color by arriving units.

 

[Inverted]

I still don't want to post the full name of the pilot, but he has been identified and news articles have been updated.

 

[SA227driver]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/20121219arizona-missing-plane-search-continue-today-abrk.html

 

[Falcon10]

Rip. Tailwinds and blue skies.

 

[pezpilot]

Very sad. RIP.

 

[woutlaw]

That's just sad news. Condolences to his family, friends and co-workers.

 

[ghoster]

RIP, sad

 

[CFIT99]

RIP Clear Skies and Tail Winds OOTSK

 

[HVYMETALDRVR]

RIP

 

[scooter2525]

Any updates?

 

[Boris Badenov]

There but for the Grace of the Sky Bully and all that. Seriously, though, might just as well have been me a few times. RIP, Doggy. With any luck there's a great big popcorn machine in the sky.