Quote:
Originally Posted by Lubicon
Saw a C130 yesterday over Tuscany and was wondering what was going on.
Very sad and I hesitate to speculate but two things come to mind (for me):
1. It's a 6 seat aircraft but 6 people doing a mountain crossing leads to wonder if the aircraft was within it's weight limits. Wouldn't take much luggage to put it over.
2. Seems an odd decision to begin a mountain crossing in a single engine aircraft near dusk.
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The PA-32 (especially the 300) is an excellent and very capable machine but handles significantly different when lightly loaded compared to being at max gross with an aft C of G. Weight could be a contributing factor in this crash, performance would certainly have been diminished with 6 adult males on board (unless they all weighed 120 pounds).
I'm speculating, but his accident has the classic hallmarks of CFIT with some really poor decisions being made by the pilot to proceed with the flight based on departure time and weather conditions.
8:47pm YBW departure with travel through the Rockies in a single engine piston aircraft with reported ceilings at 500'-800' in the Morley-Banff corridor, yikes. Aircraft slammed into the east face of Mount McGillivray which is adjacent to the Trans-Canada highway along the VFR route through the Rocks. Aircraft likely got obscured in cloud and we know the end result.
Sad that 6 people perished in a very preventable accident based on the decision to proceed with the flight in the first place. I'd be surprised if this is anything other than a Class 4 TSB investigation with weather and pilot decision making being the contributing factors to the crash. Not much new to learn here from a safety perspective unfortunately.
