KS family die in plane crash

[RoyJackson]

I'm sure most of you have read of this incident:
Kansas Family Of 6 Killed In Plane Crash In Polk County, Florida Swamp (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

A family from Kansas whose aircraft crashed in Polk County, FL.

Looking at the pictures of the crash site...this looks like it should have been a survivable crash. The fuselage was fairly intact...even the aircraft's windshields were intact.
The articles I've read indicate the aircraft broke up in flight (parts and one body being found miles from the crash site)...just doesn't look like that from the pictures.
If you view the video on the link, the tail wing and part of the right wing are missing...but loosing either should have resulted in more damage I would think.

I'm going to guess here...and I might be way off base (since they haven't identified which parts were found 3 miles from the accident)...but I'm guessing the boy whose body was found far from the accident site may have opened the passenger cabin door which then broke off and sucked him out. The door may have damaged the tail as it flew aft.
But still...the fuselage looks pretty good, considering.

Any of you pilots want to add?

[grsthegreat]

Roy, the aircraft is a Pilatus PC-12, pressurized turboprop aircraft, so it is possible that if the door opened at high altitude someone could get sucked out i guess. I'm not sure at what altitude this accident occurred.

These aircraft started to roll out in the mid 1990's, and are a beautiful airplane. Id love to own one if i won the lottery.

I would withold all speculation till the NTSB review is completed. there are 1000's of these aircraft in use, and have a great safety record.

I actually sat in one at our local airport a few months ago.....their a beautiful aircraft.. They come with 2 doors. a passanger and a standard cargo door.

I feel real sorry about something like this happening..... what a tragic loss of life.

[rsewill]

Looking at the pictures of the crash site...this looks like it should have been a survivable crash. The fuselage was fairly intact...enven the aircraft's windshields were intact.

Very tragic.

Not a pilot but my guess the plane's forward velocity was minimal and that it plummeted down in a tight spiral, belly down, at least in the end. Still quite a hard impact.

[RoyJackson]

Roy, the aircraft is a Pilatus PC-12, pressurized turboprop aircraft, so it is possible that if the door opened at high altitude someone could get sucked out i guess. I'm not sure at what altitude this accident occurred.

These aircraft started to roll out in the mid 1990's, and are a beautiful airplane. Id love to own one if i won the lottery.

I would withold all speculation till the NTSB review is completed. there are 1000's of these aircraft in use, and have a great safety record.

I actually sat in one at our local airport a few months ago.....their a beautiful aircraft.. They come with 2 doors. a passanger and a standard cargo door.

I feel real sorry about something like this happening..... what a tragic loss of life.

I read about the aircraft model as I was reading the first article about the crash.
Apparently, it started breaking up at cruise altitude of about 26000 feet.

As I'd written, it surprised me how little damage there was...compare the wreakage to the crash in Lagos for example (I know that's an apples to oranges comparison)..most accidents (including the two crash sites I was at when I was in the Navy) left very little recognizable as an aircraft. Left very little recognizable as people too.

I can't really say I have any interest in owning an aircraft, but if I did I think I'd prefer two engines.

This post also responds to rsewill's post...

[LazySusanFarms]

The Bramlage family was much loved in Kansas. The plane supposedly came apart at 26,000 feet. The right wing detached or something and one of the boys was ejected from the plane and was found a considerable distance away. Plane turned left and fell.

[Stick895]

A friend who is a pilot and I talked with a couple of pilots with this A/C at an airport a couple years ago. They spoke highly of the A/C and it's ease of flying and speed. Inside it was very nice. Personally I just can't see someone, even a kid A) opening the door at 26,000 ft or B) being able to open a door at those altitudes and speeds. It appears to me most of the rear stabilizers separated. But WTF do I know

[RoyJackson]

A friend who is a pilot and I talked with a couple of pilots with this A/C at an airport a couple years ago. They spoke highly of the A/C and it's ease of flying and speed. Inside it was very nice. Personally I just can't see someone, even a kid A) opening the door at 26,000 ft or B) being able to open a door at those altitudes and speeds. It appears to me most of the rear stabilizers separated. But WTF do I know

It really depends on how the door is latched. Even just unlatching the door could be enough if the aircraft is pressurized.
This is all speculation, of course.

One reason I wrote this thread is we recently has a fatal aicraft accident fairly close to my area. I can't recall the aircraft type, but it was a twin engine general aviation type bird.
In this case, the aircraft ran out of fuel (IIRC). Again, the aircraft was relatively intact and it was suprising the pilot didn't survive the impact.

[MHarryE]

Polk County Sheriff reported that part of the left wing, about 6 feet of the right wing, and the horizontal stabilizer were found a good distance from the main portion of the plane. Lots of speculation about what might have happened. Saw that the plane's registration was changed 3 weeks prior to the crash - possibility the pilot might not have had a great deal of experience. Will probably take a lengthy NTSB investigation to get to the root cause of the accident. PC-12 pilots have said the airplane is extremely rugged so finding it relatively intact after a possible flat spin is very possible. They also say the doors are rigidly secured with warnings showing on the instrument panel if they are not properly closed so a door blowing off during climb is very unlikely. Also, all the doors are present in the photos of the crashed aircraft.

As to the 2 engines - pilots say that in the event of a single engine falure on a twin, the remaining engine will always have enough power to get the plane to the scene of the crash. Lots of things need to be done correctly when you lose an engine on one side and your power balance is completely skewed. Not so significant on a large airliner where they generally have an abundance of power and continually train for the worst case scenerio - lose an engine at lift-off - but even they can screw up.

[inmaestro]

As a pilot, I've seen the Pilatus but never flown one. As stated earlier, speculation is all we have at this point. I doubt if the door was opened in flight...most pressurized planes make that difficult if not impossible by design. Any Pilatus pilots want to weigh in? My guess is some kind of loss of control (severe turbulance?) causing the aircraft to exceed it's structural limits, thus breaking up in flight. Again, just guessing, but after losing parts of the airframe, the explosive decompression would render the occupants unconscious in seconds. The wounded craft may have spiraled in like a whirlygig, leaving the fuselage appear somewhat intact, but not likely survivable impact. Tragic in any case.

[chim]

......................One reason I wrote this thread is we recently has a fatal aicraft accident fairly close to my area. I can't recall the aircraft type, but it was a twin engine general aviation type bird.
In this case, the aircraft ran out of fuel (IIRC). Again, the aircraft was relatively intact and it was suprising the pilot didn't survive the impact.

Back in the late 60's - York US 30 Dragway? Ran my stock '64 Chevelle there a few times.