On Mar 23, 4:15*pm, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:
No need to put them on the floor. The FAA allows us to allow
passengers to carry small children on the lap of an adult care taker
(parent, etc). It seems to me that if there was a W&B issue it would
have been more likely to have been an problem on take off. *Does the
CG shift rearward much on the P-12 as fuel is burned?


Part 135 regs don't allow us to seat anybody on the floor. Children
under two years can sit in an adult's lap. 7 of the 14 aboard were
kids but only one was under 2 according to the MSN update. IIRC the CG
does shift to the rear as fuel is burned. (been doing more Caravan
flying lately) This does sound more like a textbook stall/spin with
aft CG scenario. I have to wonder what the hell the pilot was thinking
putting all those aboard his airplane. We've flown right at max weight
and at the edge of the CG envelope, but we were always legal & safe.
This was a completely avoidable tragedy IMHO.