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Losing an old friend
Some of you may remember my first airplane, N9636B. It was a 172RG and
I had many hours in it. I frequently talked here about my experiences with it. I was curious as to what it was doing now and did a search on the plane. To my shock, I learned that it crashed near Catalina Island on September 5, killing two ATP rated pilots, one of them an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector flying his EBC requirements and the other an examiner. Very experienced guys, I would guess. The accident report is he http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...09X01430&key=1 N9636B was a good airplane, except for the perennial problems I had with the gear until I replaced the hydraulic pack. After that it flew flawlessly. I understand that the people who bought it from me had used it as a trainer and that it had suffered a gear up landing that required a complete engine teardown and overhaul. Well, now I suppose I will always wonder what happened to the plane. :-( |
#2
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Losing an old friend
"cjcampbell" wrote in message oups.com... Some of you may remember my first airplane, N9636B. It was a 172RG and I had many hours in it. I frequently talked here about my experiences with it. I was curious as to what it was doing now and did a search on the plane. To my shock, I learned that it crashed near Catalina Island on September 5, killing two ATP rated pilots, one of them an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector flying his EBC requirements and the other an examiner. Very experienced guys, I would guess. The accident report is he http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...09X01430&key=1 N9636B was a good airplane, except for the perennial problems I had with the gear until I replaced the hydraulic pack. After that it flew flawlessly. I understand that the people who bought it from me had used it as a trainer and that it had suffered a gear up landing that required a complete engine teardown and overhaul. Well, now I suppose I will always wonder what happened to the plane. :-( Had a similar experience. The last airplane I flew in for test purposes in the flight test community was an F14A at Strike Aircraft Test Directorate at Patuxant River Naval Air Station. It was the #619 engine test bed aircraft being used for flight testing the TF30 engines. Several weeks after I had left Pax, I got the word this aircraft was lost while being flown by a friend of mine experimenting with flat spin modes. Both DD Smith and his RO got out all right, but the spin was so bad, the front cockpit was way out in front of the spin axis and DD was -7g's. He couldn't reach the curtain and just barely got a grip on the seat handle in front of the seat. Pete Angelina in the back was luckier. He was much closer to the spin axis and had an easier ejection. The bird went into the Chesapeake Bay and was a total loss of course. I has a special affinity for that old bird. Even today I can recall where the paint was chipped on the panel. Such is life. Some days you eat the bear. Some days the bear eats you. Dudley |
#3
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Losing an old friend
"cjcampbell" wrote in message oups.com... Some of you may remember my first airplane, N9636B. It was a 172RG and I had many hours in it. I frequently talked here about my experiences with it. I was curious as to what it was doing now and did a search on the plane. To my shock, I learned that it crashed near Catalina Island on September 5, killing two snip My condolences C.J. I would be traumatized if that happened to me. Joe Schneider N8437R ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---- |
#4
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Losing an old friend
cjcampbell wrote: Some of you may remember my first airplane, N9636B. It was a 172RG and I had many hours in it. I frequently talked here about my experiences with it. I was curious as to what it was doing now and did a search on the plane. To my shock, I learned that it crashed near Catalina Island on September 5, killing two ATP rated pilots, one of them an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector flying his EBC requirements and the other an examiner. Very experienced guys, I would guess. The accident report is he http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...09X01430&key=1 N9636B was a good airplane, except for the perennial problems I had with the gear until I replaced the hydraulic pack. After that it flew flawlessly. I understand that the people who bought it from me had used it as a trainer and that it had suffered a gear up landing that required a complete engine teardown and overhaul. Well, now I suppose I will always wonder what happened to the plane. :-( The two people who were killed were Doug Ledet, former Green Beret, founder of Circle Air Aviation in Hawaii, and FAA safety inspector; and Masahiro "Masa" Mitsutomi, the owner of M.I. Air and DPE, who was the guy who bought the plane from me. According to FAA spokesmen in the news reports about it M.I. Air had an excellent reputation and was the kind of place where FAA inspectors preferred to go for their training. The water is 250-300 feet deep there, but no trace of the plane or Mitsutomi's body was ever found. Apparently there are a lot of strong, shifting currents in the area. News reports refer to it as a "mystery plane crash," because it is completely unexplainable. Mitsutomi's wife, herself a pilot, said he was the kind of guy who could fly a Volkswagen. She believes that something catastrophic must have happened to the plane, such as hitting a flock of birds or total airframe failure. I do know that the plane had a gear-up landing sometime after I sold it and that the engine had to be torn down and overhauled, but apparently M.I. Air had a reputation for extremely well-maintained aircraft. |
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Losing an old friend
Interesting DJ,
CJ wrote: The water is 250-300 feet deep there, but no trace of the plane or Mitsutomi's body was ever found. I believe the fisher aulled Mitsutomi's body abourd, it was Doug Ledet that was missing and presumed to have sustained fatal injuries. Was there a May Day call? In the report it stated that the weather was VFR and no flight plan was filed"Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed"), but in the following paragraph, it saids that "According to the operator, the pilots filed an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan to Catalina due to weather considerations" The report also saids "The proposed itinerary was to fly from Redlands Airport (L12), where he rented the airplane, to Avalon Airport, and then return to Redlands.", but you said Misutomi bought the plane from you. Why would he need to rent it if he owned it? I'm confused... Shame about your plane and the pilots. Monk |
#6
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Losing an old friend
Flyingmonk wrote: Interesting DJ, CJ wrote: The water is 250-300 feet deep there, but no trace of the plane or Mitsutomi's body was ever found. I believe the fisher aulled Mitsutomi's body abourd, it was Doug Ledet that was missing and presumed to have sustained fatal injuries. The news report I read said it was Ledet that the fisher recovered. Was there a May Day call? In the report it stated that the weather was VFR and no flight plan was filed"Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed"), but in the following paragraph, it saids that "According to the operator, the pilots filed an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan to Catalina due to weather considerations" That would be typical for that area. The cloud cover may have burned off while they were at Catalina and so they cancelled the return flight plan. Also, being IFR while coming back might have made it inconvenient to practice aerial maneuvers along the way. The report does not mention any weather conditions for the return flight. The report also saids "The proposed itinerary was to fly from Redlands Airport (L12), where he rented the airplane, to Avalon Airport, and then return to Redlands.", but you said Misutomi bought the plane from you. Why would he need to rent it if he owned it? Ledet was the FAA Inspector and was renting the plane from Mitsutomi. Mitsutomi was acting as the safety pilot. I'm confused... Shame about your plane and the pilots. I really have trouble imagining the circumstances under which an accident like this might have occurred. This airplane was very stable and it was well equipped with a GNS 430 Nav/Comm. The engine was overhauled after one of M.I.'s students landed it gear up and it should have been in great shape. An engine failure would not have caused a steep dive like that anyway, and a control failure would not have allowed them to lift the nose before impact. It seems unlikely that these two would have become disoriented. So I don't get it at all. |
#7
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Losing an old friend
Ledet was the FAA Inspector and was renting the plane from Mitsutomi.
Mitsutomi was acting as the safety pilot. That explains alot. I read the report as Ledet was the DPE (designated examiner). An engine failure would not have caused a steep dive like that anyway, and a control failure would not have allowed them to lift the nose before impact. Most likely scenario, control failure... |
#8
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Losing an old friend
On 22 May 2006 20:42:15 -0700, "cjcampbell"
wrote: So I don't get it at all. Nor is the location a clue. (That's GPS data from the fisherman who recovered the body, right?) If you were going straight back to Redlands, you would go that far north, in order to pick up a vector that would get you past SNA without havng to talk to the tower. And you'd stay over the island (no doubt climibing all the way) as long as you could, just to minimize the possibility of ditching at sea. And perhaps all that is a clue. To end up in the sea just barely offshore after staying over land well past the isthmus, almost to the tip of the island, is strange indeed. It argues for something sudden and utterly irreversable. Bird strike? (OTOH, I would not put too much reliance on any eye-witness's impressions of pitch angle.) Don |
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