Good report - thank you!


wrote in message
...
OK guys. I guess it's time to post some of what we really know. I'm the
president of Southern eagles Soaring Club at LaGrange. We were not operating
Saturday and I was not at the field. The Civil Air Patrol had been operating
their L23 towed by their 172, for several hours from runway 3.

The Baron had been doing ILS low approaches to runway 31. They landed and
refueled. There were various reports of what the Baron was doing before it
crashed, including a missed approach from a practice ILS, a take off, and a
go around. With all these reports, you can judge for your self the accuracy.
Everyone agreed that they did not hear any radio calls from the Baron.

The 172 and L23 were stopped on runway 3, south of runway 31. They never
crossed the runway. The crews were very experienced, with 2 CFIG's in the
L23 and a retired Air Force pilot and now Delta Captain flying the 172. One
of the CFIGs is also a club member.

The crews saw the Baron at low altitude along runway 31. It pulled up very
nose high, rolled to the left from 100-200 feet, and crashed in an
approximate 60 degree nose down attitude. The front seat pilots were killed
on impact. The passenger in the back later died at the hospital.

We do not now, nor will we ever know what made the PIC take the action that
he did. They could have been flying simulated instruments, practicing single
engine, had an engine failure, or any of a number of things.

Since the names have been release, we do know that the two co-owners were in
the aircraft along with another pilot. Records show one of the co-owners was
multi-engine rated. No records on the other co-owner. The third person did
hold an ATP and instructors rating. We do not know the seating arrangement
or who was at the controls.

All the noise about a glider being involved was from one person that was
interviewed by two TV stations. He said the Baron was trying to avoid a
glider. It unclear as to his actually seeing the crash. The only glider
operating that day was sitting on runway 3 behind the tow plane.

Also to show the accuracy of the reporting, one of the stations reported the
Baron had flown from Panama City, FL to LaGrange that morning. They used a
screen shot from flightAware.com to confirm it. When we checked flightaware,
it did indeed show a flight from Panama City as being the last flight they
had recorded. Of course, That flight took place in October, 2013!

If any FACTS become available, I'll let you know. However, conjecture will
not accomplish anything and could hurt our sport.

Charlie