Skyraider down

[TBM-Legend]

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu23/randalmcfarlane/A-1E_Nellis2010_1251_800.jpg

Douglas A-1E Skyraider crashed in bad weather in Idaho. VFR in IMC conditions don't mix. A sad but avoidable event.

Danny Summers was a long time warbird owner. A female pax also died.

RIP







Basic Flying Rules:

1. Try to stay in the middle of the air. 2. Do not go near the edges of it. 3. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.

[BEagle]

From Velozia Air:

A 1952 vintage warbird crashed in the Deadline Ridge near the Idaho-Nevada border on Tuesday (March 8th) sometime before 7:30 PM. Danny Summers and Jodi Wyatt were both killed when the Douglas AD-4N Skyraider (possibly N2088G) crashed in mountainous terrain.

According to reports, the plane had departed Wendover Airport (ENV) in Wendover, Utah and was headed towards Idaho Falls Regional Airport (IDA) in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Controllers noticed the plane disappeared from radar sometime before 7:30 PM and alerted search and rescue. Other reports state that the aircraft was first reported overdue by Pacific Fighters, a warbird restoration company. It was last seen near Jackpot, Nevada, about 25 miles to the southwest. The aircraft was found the next day at 11:10 AM. It is currently unknown why the aircraft crashed, but it did hit a ridge in the flight path which raises the possibility of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). Weather at the time was light to moderate rain with clouds between 6 and 9,000 feet.

[barit1]

Not the first time (http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20051012X01621&ntsbno=ATL06LA003&akey=1) a warbird is lost in IMC.

Footnote: Kindly disregard NTSB's garbled "Aircraft Information" paragraph. :rolleyes:

[TBM-Legend]

The aircraft was reported overdue by Pacific Fighters after checking a couple of possible diversion airports. SAR was not initiated by ATC. The last radar contact showed him at around 7900ft in an area of terrain of around 7200ft with a descent rate of nearly 5000ft/min. There were snow flurries in the area and known icing. He was well to the left of his intended track.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Warbirds are not always cleared for imc by the FAA, even if they are equipped for it. Wonder what the situation was here?

[TBM-Legend]

"Get home" itus unfortunately...

The pilot did not hold an instrument rating. Weather was marginal at best...
Aircraft strictly VFR..

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Been stuck in the Rockies with a warbird for 3 days waiting for vmc (and I had an instrument rating & 150 hrs on type). Middle of nowhere too. Old vs Bold again. So sad.