A Sad Accident

Greetings All,

Thought I'd pass on that there has been a horrific crash this past
Sunday (7 Oct). There was a Caravan used for skydiving, with 10 people
aboard, traveling between Star Idaho and Shelton Washington. The
airplane went down in the general vicinity of White Pass, a 4500 foot
mountain pass on US 12, located on the boundary of Yakima and Lewis
Counties, in the South Central Washington Cascade Mountains. According
to local news, no survivors have been found. I am acquainted with
several skydivers and some of the other folks at the aircraft owner,
Skydive Kapowsin. I hope that none of the folks I know are involved.

Here are some links to the story.

http://www.herald-republic.com/page/dis/290013970261411

http://www.herald-republic.com/page/dis/290013901892319

Pass on as you see fit.

Rick

On Oct 9, 10:52 am, RL Anderson wrote:
Greetings All,

Thought I'd pass on that there has been a horrific crash this past
Sunday (7 Oct). There was a Caravan used for skydiving, with 10 people
aboard, traveling between Star Idaho and Shelton Washington. The
airplane went down in the general vicinity of White Pass, a 4500 foot
mountain pass on US 12, located on the boundary of Yakima and Lewis
Counties, in the South Central Washington Cascade Mountains. According
to local news, no survivors have been found. I am acquainted with
several skydivers and some of the other folks at the aircraft owner,
Skydive Kapowsin. I hope that none of the folks I know are involved.

Here are some links to the story.

http://www.herald-republic.com/page/dis/290013970261411
http://www.herald-republic.com/page/dis/290013901892319

Pass on as you see fit.

Rick

Do you have any idea what the weather was like at the time of the
crash? Why was he so low? Was he scud running?

I was thinking that if it had been an engine failure at altitude, the
passenges would have bailed out with their chutes, given that they
were experienced skydivers.

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Oct 9, 10:52 am, RL Anderson wrote:
Greetings All,

Thought I'd pass on that there has been a horrific crash this past
Sunday (7 Oct). There was a Caravan used for skydiving, with 10 people
aboard, traveling between Star Idaho and Shelton Washington. The
airplane went down in the general vicinity of White Pass, a 4500 foot
mountain pass on US 12, located on the boundary of Yakima and Lewis
Counties, in the South Central Washington Cascade Mountains. According
to local news, no survivors have been found. I am acquainted with
several skydivers and some of the other folks at the aircraft owner,
Skydive Kapowsin. I hope that none of the folks I know are involved.

Here are some links to the story.

http://www.herald-republic.com/page/dis/290013970261411
http://www.herald-republic.com/page/dis/290013901892319

Pass on as you see fit.

Rick

Do you have any idea what the weather was like at the time of the
crash? Why was he so low? Was he scud running?

I was thinking that if it had been an engine failure at altitude, the
passenges would have bailed out with their chutes, given that they
were experienced skydivers.


The tail section was not with the main wreckage and as of last night had not
been found. In-flight break-up? That would explain the three missing
jumpers too.

--

*H. Allen Smith*
WACO - We are all here, because we are not all there.

All we have is press reports at present, and you know how reliable they are.
Comments from the skydivers club indicate that on a cross-country like this
they would take off their chutes and use them as pillows. Last two radar
hits indicated a vertical speed of 7000 fpm, which is not conducive to
leaving the airplane, to say the least.

The tail was found some distance from the main wreckage; the Caravan has
icing issues. Related? I can't say.

Bob Gardner

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Oct 9, 10:52 am, RL Anderson wrote:
Greetings All,

Thought I'd pass on that there has been a horrific crash this past
Sunday (7 Oct). There was a Caravan used for skydiving, with 10 people
aboard, traveling between Star Idaho and Shelton Washington. The
airplane went down in the general vicinity of White Pass, a 4500 foot
mountain pass on US 12, located on the boundary of Yakima and Lewis
Counties, in the South Central Washington Cascade Mountains. According
to local news, no survivors have been found. I am acquainted with
several skydivers and some of the other folks at the aircraft owner,
Skydive Kapowsin. I hope that none of the folks I know are involved.

Here are some links to the story.

http://www.herald-republic.com/page/dis/290013970261411
http://www.herald-republic.com/page/dis/290013901892319

Pass on as you see fit.

Rick

Do you have any idea what the weather was like at the time of the
crash? Why was he so low? Was he scud running?

I was thinking that if it had been an engine failure at altitude, the
passenges would have bailed out with their chutes, given that they
were experienced skydivers.

In article ,
"Bob Gardner" wrote:

All we have is press reports at present, and you know how reliable they are.
Comments from the skydivers club indicate that on a cross-country like this
they would take off their chutes and use them as pillows. Last two radar
hits indicated a vertical speed of 7000 fpm, which is not conducive to
leaving the airplane, to say the least.

A jumper in freefall is descending at around 12000 fpm so the speed
alone wouldn't be a big deal...and out of control airplane could make it
hard to get out.

Freefall is a lot different than being pinned in a pile of bodies in the aft
end of the cabin by acceleration forces. I doubt that they were even able to
move, once the dive began.

Bob Gardner

"Dale" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Bob Gardner" wrote:

All we have is press reports at present, and you know how reliable they
are.
Comments from the skydivers club indicate that on a cross-country like
this
they would take off their chutes and use them as pillows. Last two radar
hits indicated a vertical speed of 7000 fpm, which is not conducive to
leaving the airplane, to say the least.

A jumper in freefall is descending at around 12000 fpm so the speed
alone wouldn't be a big deal...and out of control airplane could make it
hard to get out.

In article ,
"Bob Gardner" wrote:

Freefall is a lot different than being pinned in a pile of bodies in the aft
end of the cabin by acceleration forces. I doubt that they were even able to
move, once the dive began.


I understand that, IF they were out of control. I descended at
3000-4000fpm in a 206 and kept the engine warm. It wouldn't be
unreasonable to think they could reach 7000fpm without being out of
control...although it does sound like a spiral descent with inflight
breakup. I'm reading they found the tail section some distance away.
Not the way I want to die.

On Oct 9, 1:32 pm, "Bob Gardner" wrote:
All we have is press reports at present, and you know how reliable they are.


That's true. However I live in Seattle metro area and the weather
that day was very bad. It was one of those northwest winter stormy
days where you can pretty much expect bad icing over the Cascades, and
very non-VFR conditions over the mountains. Just about the only way
to safely fly over the Cascades on those days would be IFR in known-
ice certified airplanes with a lot of power.

Wind + lots of moisture in the airmass + mountain range = uplift and
very bad icing.

Story on icing conditions possibly being behind the crash:

http://www.ktvb.com/news/regional/st...1554abe71.html

writes:

Story on icing conditions possibly being behind the crash:

http://www.ktvb.com/news/regional/st...1554abe71.html

That story reads as if it were written by Cessna's competitors. It makes it
sound as if it's Cessna's fault if someone crashes after flying into icing
conditions. It creates the impression that an airplane that cannot fly
continuously in icing conditions is somehow defective and that the
manufacturer needs to warn pilots about the dangers of the aircraft.

This is very different from the notion of it being a very bad idea for any
pilot to flying into icing conditions, with or without an airplane certified
to enter them (and continuous flight in icing conditions is not the same as
being able to tolerate them briefly).

Someone either wants to direct all blame away from the crew or wants to damage
the reputation of Cessna.