Flying with vacuum failure
Two days ago there was a Bellanca 17-30A accident a few miles from my home, that killed both occupants and burned 2 houses. Shortly after takeoff from Addison airport, the pilot radioed that he had instrument panel failure and used the word "gyros" 2 or 3 times. Then the plane crashed into 2 houses just to the left of the extended runway centerline, roughly 5 miles from the airport.
I don't have exact weather data yet, both it was very humid and foggy that morning. Visibility was reported to be 7/8 of a mile at the airport at the time of the accident. I drove to work that morning at 8am, and the ceiling at 8am (a few miles from Addison) was low cloud base at about 250 feet judging from the "invisible" upper half of the high-rise building I drove to. It wasn't much better by 10am when the accident occurred.
The cause of the accident is still unknown, but it's believed that the pilot was in the low cloud base when he radioed about the instrument panel failure.
Assuming the pilot was inside the low cloud shortly after takeoff, I'd like to ask everyone how you would fly inside a low cloud base if you were to experience a vacuum failure with the loss of the attitude and heading indicators. It's not known if a vacuum failure actually occurred, but this accident caused me to think of this possibility, especially given the circumstances.
(Edited to add the time of the accident, which I meant to include.)
Last edited by Flight Safety; 5th January 2004 at 23:03.