Small plane crash near Moab, Utah, kills 10

[alph2z]

Sad, RIP.

Small plane crash near Moab, Utah, kills 10

Look starting at 1:16 for e.g. of Moab Landing

YouTube - Utah Provo Moab Monticello Page Grand-Canyon Flying (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCIgNg88cW4)


MOAB, Utah—A small plane crashed and burned shortly after takeoff, killing everyone on board, including the pilot and nine people who had spent the day working at a skin cancer clinic in remote community.

The twin-engine Beech King Air A-100 crashed shortly after takeoff Friday evening from Canyonlands Field airport, 18 miles northwest of Moab. It hit the ground in nearby hills, flattened and exploded on impact, authorities said.

Emergency responders rushed to the site to search for possible survivors and fight a brush fire that was apparently sparked by the crash.

The wreckage was little more than a pile of twisted, blackened shards of metal. Most of the debris on the otherwise-barren stretch of land was closely clustered and marked by yellow tape. One propeller was thrown about 20 feet from its engine.

"It's just weird. I mean, something happened to make this guy veer left off the runway," Grand County Sheriff James Nyland said.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tealeye Cornejo said she couldn't see how anyone could have survived the crash.

"The fire was so intense, there's not a lot of (the plane) left," she said.

Cornejo said investigators were trying to determine if the plane caught fire before or after it hit the ground.

On board were employees of a Southwest Skin and Cancer/Red Canyon Aesthetics & Medical Spa, a dermatology company based in Cedar City, 200 miles to the west, that traveled to remote areas to provide treatment for skin cancer and other ailments where it might otherwise be unavailable.

They had flown into Moab earlier Friday. The tourist town was among nine regular stops the team made throughout Utah, northern Arizona and Nevada.

Nyland identified those killed as pilot David White; the company's director, Dr. Lansing Ellsworth, 50, and his son Dallin Ellsworth, 23; David Goddard, 60, and his daughter Cecilee Goddard, 31; Mandy Johnson; Marcie Tillery, 29; Valerie Imlay, 52; Keith Shumway, 29; and Camie Vigil, 25.

"It is with disbelief that we struggle to comprehend the events of yesterday," the Ellsworth family said in a statement issued Saturday afternoon. Those from the company "provided much needed dermatology care to patients who might otherwise go without."

Linda Snow, the company's office manager in Cedar City, said, "We are just deeply saddened. These are individuals that were highly skilled and very professional in what they do, and they will be missed."

The airplane is owned by Leavitt Group Wings, part of the Cedar City-based Leavitt Group, an insurance brokerage. The dermatology group had a time-share agreement for use of the plane, said CEO Dane Leavitt.

Pilot David White was a Leavitt Group Wings employee, Leavitt said.

"He was very well qualified. He'd flown that plane for hundreds of hours. He'd flown this route many times," Leavitt said.

The airplane was built in 1975 and was well-maintained, Leavitt said. His company has owned it for six years.

Moab is about 245 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.
.

[pattern_is_full]

Just some notes, having visited KCNY:

Here's a view of the Rway: http://tinyurl.com/4h2qo5

There are much more pronounced elevation changes between the airport and Moab proper (East) as the land descends to the Colorado River - the fault valley the road follows has cliff walls around 1000 ft. But that's at least 10 miles from the airport. Doesn't sound like those are the "hills" in question.

La Sal mtns are another 15-20 miles even further east of Moab.

Weather in DEN Sat. (275nm east) was scattered Tstorms with wind from WSW - likely favoring RY 21 at KCNY. There has been WSWesterly flow over the region with "monsoon" storms for several days.

I don't mean to imply weather was a factor - just adding some info.

[alph2z]

Link doesn't work.
.

[EDLB]

CNY is as good as any of the desert runways. Hills are not a problem, especial not for a King Air. Would assume that some technical problem is more likely to blame than WX or the airport.

[SNS3Guppy]

Assumptions are far from in order with little information and no facts at hand beyond a burned airplane and ten dead.

I've flown from Canyonlands at Moab on a number of occasions. It's hot and high, and yes, it's surrounded by terrain. It's subject to tubulence, very unstable air in the summer, updrafts, and downdrafts. Whether that has any part in this...who knows?

Speculation is unprofessional, and should be left to those on-scene performing the investigation.

[glawkshuter]

Probably tried to fly it off, as opposed to abort and stop the aircraft...most likely lost an engine....

[SNS3Guppy]

Or, you could just make wild unprofessional assumptions in the complete absence of fact...

Probably tried to fly it off, as opposed to abort and stop the aircraft...most likely lost an engine....

[pattern_is_full]

Sorry...try:

Picasa Web Albums - SaxTeacher - Aviation (http://picasaweb.google.com/malcolmdickinson/Aviation/photo#5121953801315168306)

[glawkshuter]

Plane tries to take off, veers off to the left...doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce something made the plane go left, he wasn't able to fly it, and he crashed at the end...high speed...as an aborted ground run doesn't typicaly have enough speed to kill everyone on board, especialy in a small aircraft like a King Air. Either way, your take on who's professional or not is considered irrelevent.

[SNS3Guppy]

Plane tries to take off, veers off to the left...doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce something made the plane go left, he wasn't able to fly it, and he crashed at the end...high speed...as an aborted ground run doesn't typicaly have enough speed to kill everyone on board, especially in a small aircraft like a King Air.

Statistically one of the single most dangerous things one can do is engage in a high speed rejected takeoff. Even in a King Air. However, we have no evidence to suggest the pilot attempted to do so, or had reason to do so.

We have no suggestion or otherwise that the pilot was unable to fly the airplane.

We have no evidence beyond a burned airplane and ten dead people. And your wild assumptions.

No, it doesn't take a rocket scientist. It takes an accident investigator...who will have more in his court than scientific wild-assed guesses.

I can probably think of a couple hundred reasons off hand why an airplane like the A100 would do what happened, any one of which might be correct or entirely off base. To hazard a single one of them would most certainly be unprofessional, disprespectful, and inappropriate. I flew King Airs. I was a director of maintenance for a king air operation. I've got a stack of flight and maintenance manuals for them, ranging from the 90 through the 200 and most military versions of the C-12, sitting beside me. I could make any number of educated guesses...and everyone of them would be nothing more than unproductive speculation. Yes, it's unprofessional. No, it's not appropriate, and come to think about it...the dead aren't even buried yet.

Show a little decorum.

[Cypher]

wow, glawkshuter, you should be a air accident investigator... we'd have reports in record time.. and the entire civil aviation industry as a whole would be very fortunate to have your experience enlightening us..

I could imagine it now..

"Report into xyz accident by glawkshuter"... "accident cause - Probably tried to fly it off, as opposed to abort and stop the aircraft...most likely lost an engine.... "

it would be a very short report indeed.. no need to go through the accident scene or events that led up to it with scrunity at all...

It would save millions in time and money...

Only we wouldn't be any safer... cause xyz accident was really caused by some obsecure technical fault that was created in the design stage of that particular model of aircraft.

soon more aircraft go down because a proper investigation wasn't forthcomming and the fault was never uncovered...


Thank God we live in a world where we have real professionals doing their job, investigating accidents and incidents like this to make our industry safer, and we have un-informed, purile, ignorant, disrespectful, idiotic comments limited to obscure posters that can't spell in PPrune... infact why don't you stand by your comments by posting your real name and address.. so the families can sue you for deformation when the real report comes out...

actually my mistake glawkwhaterever.. you must be a journalist....

[glawkshuter]

Look...your points are taken...we don't know the cause of the accident.....it's speculation at this point... But the plane crashed two miles from the departure end of the runway, no flight plan was filed, he veered left, ten pax on board, high hot and heavy, and the word is he might have topped off before flight. I did a weight and balance...for an A100 going back to Moab, needs 600 lbs for the 47 minute flight, but he could only take 1200 total, given the max weight. Landing with 600 lbs reserve in a tprop is a little light in my book but doable. I assumed no medical equipment on board, just brief cases and personal stuff(20 lbs each) So what are the chances that he wasn't over gross? What are the chances that the A100 King Air developed a design failure all of a sudden. Any engine failure could have been dealt with... None the less, the plane cracked up so bad(see pics) that there is just about nothing left to recover....

[SNS3Guppy]

As that airplane was modified with different engines, propellers, nacelles, strakes, exhausts, etc...you did a weight and balance for what airplane? You don't know the weight or performance of that aircraft or it's capabilities or what it's weight limits may be based on the attendant STC's...clearly it wasn't stock. Therefore you made wild assumptions about the weight, the limits, and as you know nothing about the modifications and their impact on the CG, you made wild assumptions about the balance, too. So you really didn't do a weight and balance for the airplane after all, did you?

You've included "no flight plan was filed." Do you suppose that is in any way relevant to the reason the aircraft crashed? With that in mind, what possible purpose does it's introduction into the matter have, but to cloud the issue? It has no significance whatsoever. Ten dead people, very significant. Crashed airplane. Very significant. Failed to file flight plan? Irrelevant.

"and the word is he might have topped off before flight," you say. Might have. Word is. In other words, you have no idea. The rumor is that maybe. A double rumor based on heresay, and this you introduce into your speculative investigation for what purpose? He might have been struck by a flying saucer, too...but perhaps we should wait for what we know, instead of what rumor says might possibly have happened.

As professionals, you see, we deal in what we know, not what the rumor says might be. We don't depart thinking we might have enough fuel. We don't depart believing we might make it over an obstacle. We know. Speculation is unprofessional and inappropriate, and does not become us. In our daily operation, or in discussion over the bodies of ten victims of a mishap in the high desert.

So what are the chances that he wasn't over gross?


Chances, odds, possibilities, maybes, rumors...you are indeed the missionary of speculation. You tell us. What ARE the chances? Your expertise is largely wasted here; you should be on scene dictating to the investigators what should be done. Or not. You seem to do so well from a distance without the facts on hand...why bother going to the scene at all?

given the max weight.


Without knowing the STC's or what equipment was installed or having any of the relevant paperwork...do you know the max weight, or are you guessing there, too? Who's to say that it's standard for an A100?

Then again, you have no idea regarding the passenger weights, either, their seated positions, or have any way of approximating or calculating the CG, weight limits, actual weight, aircraft basic operating weight, or any other figure connected with the flight...just guesses based on what you don't know. Bravo.

Any engine failure could have been dealt with...


You know this, of course, not based on wild-assed speculation and assumption...but on your firm conviction that you can handle anything, and of course, you were there...right? Perhaps it could have been "dealt with," perhaps not. We don't know what happened. We have no idea. Apparently you do, though, because in the complete absence of fact, you seem to have all the answers. Indeed, why have anyone on scene at all, including the pilot...perhaps you could have operated the flight from behind your computer.

I assumed no medical equipment on board,


Shocking. Another assumption. Go figure.

What are the chances that the A100 King Air developed a design failure all of a sudden.


Clearly as you're the sultan of guesswork you'd be the one to know. What are the speculative odds? What might one's imagination conjure up? What could possibly go wrong?

I've experienced cracked spars, cracked engine mounts, failed seat structures, failed seat rails, frozen controls, engine failures, engine fires, smoke in the cockpit, fire in the cockpit, frozen controls, yada, yada...I have no idea what the chances are, but I know that any of them and much more can happen...because I've had it happen. As for what happened here...well, I'm just not unprofessional enough to make a wild assumptive guess. We'll leave that to you.

But the plane crashed two miles from the departure end of the runway,


Two miles from the end of the runway, but before you were speculating regarding rejected takeoffs. So much speculation, so little fact.

None the less, the plane cracked up so bad(see pics) that there is just about nothing left to recover....


That happens in an aircraft crash, you see. That's why its' called a crash. Your point is...???

he veered left,


Really? He veered left? Is that the scientific term, taken from the latin veerus, to veer? He veered left? How many degrees, at what rate, and in relation to the runway centerline or his intended track exactly how far, and in what manner? Veered left? There's something we can go on. I think you've cracked the case. Congratulations. Any guesses on the upcoming Super Bowl, while you're at it?

it's speculation at this point


Yes, it is, isn't it? Wild assumption, speculation, and absence of fact. You got that right.

Landing with 600 lbs reserve in a tprop is a little light in my book but doable.


600 lbs reserve, or 600 lbs remaining? You may be confused. A little light in "a turboprop?" Any particular one, or just this one? With different engines, differrent propellers, modified exhausts, a different nacelle, and a different fuel burn and efficiency, how does your guess play into it? Just the great generic mythical "a turboprop," or do you have something specific in mind here? You're applying your advanced calculus and plots to this airplane exactly how?

A little light? Would that be the technical term, or something you picked up in your advanced training as an accident investigator? It must be quite some book you have there.

You don't happen to have any insight into what my ex-wife did with all my money, do you? You're doing so well here, I'd really like to catch you while you're on a roll...

[glawkshuter]

Oh, whatever...I don't know where to start... Guppy...the pilot crashed two miles from the airport....ten pax on board..unless an RPG hit the plane, aliens hit it with ray guns...guaranteed someone screwed up...the only way out of this if maintainance messed with the plane...wiggle squirm, justify...it don't matter... When a plane crashes it's usualy pilot error....

[SNS3Guppy]

Oh, whatever...I don't know where to start...


Clearly.

...guaranteed someone screwed up...


More assumption, of course. Aside from your own guesswork, what evidence have you regarding fault or failure of any person or entity to perform their duty? None. What you have is a wild accusation, and your worthless guarantee. You've managed to be wrong on every single salient point thus far, (yet continue to beat and ride your dead horse in a most unprofessional manner). It's becoming embarassing for you. You guarantee someone "screwed up?"

With no credibility left, what's that guarantee worth, then?

...the only way out of this if maintainance messed with the plane...


More wild assumption and conjecture, with a hint of accusation. Are you accusing maintenance of sabotaging the aircraft, or simply maintenance of failing to perform a specific duty. Have you ANY evidence of this, or is it just more of your guesswork? Does any evidence what so ever exist at this point which would indict maintenance personnel or practices? No.

The only "way out" of what? Ten people are already out. And dead. The cause of the mishap which lead to their death is unknown, with no facts in evidence beyond the wreck itself, and their passing. Anything more, of course is your own imagination at this point. Perhaps you really should visit the site and assert your authority.

You guess, therefore you are. You might consider putting in some earplugs when you shoot your glock...you might try listening to what you're saying. It's ridiculous.

... When a plane crashes it's usualy pilot error....


While that may or may not be true, have you any reason based on facts in evidence (not of your own imagination or guesswork) to show this to be the case? No?

What a surprise.

Such assumptions, over and over. Why do you love them so?

[glawkshuter]

Ok, Guppy...let's give the pilot the benefit of the doubt.-He had a perfect weight and balance done prior to his flight, despite ten pax on board. He had only 1200 lbs of fuel on board and he was comfy landing with 600 lbs of fuel in a A100.This assumes a standard day, 59 degrees, sea level...but it was high and hot that day, and he needed 600 lbs to get back to Moab, max fuel being 1200 lbs with ten pax..but I would argue he needed to further reduce his load to ensure single engine performance at that altitude and temperature. So now he has a problem, does he tell people to stay home?, he will come back for them? or does he take off, hoping he doesn't lose and engine?-Anyone in here with some A100 books could tell us in about one minute what the climb speed if any, single engine would be at max weight at that alt and temp.I think what we will find is that the pilot was unlucky that day...he took off too heavy for the day, the elevation and the people, and he got caught.To make matters worse instead of simply pulling back the levers and landing out there as best he could he cracked it up, probably rolled the plane...Let's not forget he was in charge of that aircraft, he flew it to the scene of the accident and everyone died. Sorry I am having a hard time dredging up compassion here. 20 years in corporate and I saw too many guys topping off hoping it didn't happen to them that day.