Pilatus PC-12 down in Chamberlain, South Dakota, 9 dead.

[WillFlyForCheese]

https://apnews.com/0e07709d1a0a4d439c700f0fc0b4fc40


Pilatus PC-12 had 12 people on board when it crashed at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday, shortly after taking off from Chamberlain, about 140 miles (225.3 kilometers) west of Sioux Falls.

[India Four Two]

LIFR at the time (which I had to look up - Low IFR - a confusing conflation of Rules and Conditions - ceiling <= 500’ and visibility <= 0.5 miles)





Snowing, 1° and no Dew Point spread. Not a good day.

[Sobelena]

A total of 12 souls on board. Not overly familiar with the PC-12 but I thought 11 was the max (incl cockpit). May have been an infant of course.

[Feathers McGraw]

Originally Posted by Sobelena

A total of 12 souls on board. Not overly familiar with the PC-12 but I thought 11 was the max (incl cockpit). May have been an infant of course.

Report says youngest passenger aged 7. Does a PC-12 have a dual cockpit?

[SpaceWrangler]

Unless they had a commuter /high density the configuration the max on the PC-12 is Pilot+ Right Seat, 6 executive and 2 commuter seats, so 9 pax total.

[AviatorDave]

Originally Posted by Feathers McGraw

Does a PC-12 have a dual cockpit?

PC-12 is certified for single pilot ops.

[DaveReidUK]

All PC-12 variants are certificated for a maximum of 10 pax (including one in RHS) plus pilot. As the youngest on board was clearly not a babe-in-arms, that would suggest the pax limitation was exceeded. A/c was a 4740 kg PC-12/47E.

[Mansfield]

The conditions are nearly perfect for a failure in ground deicing. We shall see.

[421dog]

Last time I was in Chamberlain, deicing capabilities were nil, and hangar space was minimal...

[stevep001]

Had same storm here in Minneapolis, it was great snowman snow...not so great for light AC flying. Agree with other poster that there's probably not a proper FBO on the field -- it's just automated fuel. FlightAware shows it overnighting there, hopefully inside a hangar.

In METAR below, note UP precipitation code in period ending at 1515Z -- would likely be rain snow mix based on what I saw locally yesterday

Code:

K9V9 301835Z AUTO 02006KT 1/2SM SN OVC005 01/01 A2930 RMK AO2 T00080008

Code:

K9V9 301815Z AUTO 02007KT 3/4SM -SN OVC005 01/01 A2930 RMK AO2 T00080008

Code:

K9V9 301755Z AUTO 02007KT 3/4SM -SN OVC005 01/01 A2930 RMK AO2 P0003 60006 T00080008 10010 20003

Code:

K9V9 301735Z AUTO 03005KT 3/4SM -SN OVC005 01/01 A2931 RMK AO2 P0002 T00090009

Code:

K9V9 301715Z AUTO 03005KT 1SM -SN OVC005 01/01 A2932 RMK AO2 P0001 T00090009

Code:

K9V9 301655Z AUTO 04006KT 2SM -SN OVC005 01/01 A2933 RMK AO2 T00080008

Code:

K9V9 301635Z AUTO 06006KT 3SM BR OVC005 01/01 A2933 RMK AO2 T00090009

Code:

K9V9 301615Z AUTO 06006KT 2SM UP OVC005 01/01 A2933 RMK AO2 T00080008

Code:

K9V9 301555Z AUTO 07006KT 1 3/4SM UP OVC005 01/01 A2933 RMK AO2 T00090009

Code:

K9V9 301535Z AUTO 07007KT 1 3/4SM -DZ OVC005 01/01 A2933 RMK AO2 T00080008

Code:

K9V9 301515Z AUTO 07007KT 3SM UP OVC005 01/01 A2934 RMK AO2 T00080008

Code:

K9V9 301455Z AUTO 07008KT 2SM UP OVC005 01/01 A2934 RMK AO2 60003 T00070007

Code:

K9V9 301435Z AUTO 07007KT 2SM UP OVC005 01/01 A2935 RMK AO2 T00060006

[OldnGrounded]

Originally Posted by 421dog

Last time I was in Chamberlain, deicing capabilities were nil, and hangar space was minimal...

Don't know the place, but Mansfield's post led me to check and I couldn't find any online reference to deicing facilities or any mention of an aircraft being deiced there.

Also, there aren't a whole lot of accessible weather stations in the area, but, at around noon on Saturday, stations around the region were reporting winds (in MPH) from NNE at between 25-30, with gusts up to 40, inconsistent with the data posted above. Of course, inconsistency in weather stations is a fact of life, even when conditions are actually nearly identical. OTOH, out there on those plains, when it's windy in one place, it's probably windy in most others within a rather large distance.

[mikeh49]

NWS weather history for Chamberlain, 9V9:
30 Nov 12:35 pm 33 33 100 NNE7 0.50 Mod SnowOVC00527.55994.629.30
30 Nov 12:15 pm 33 33 100 NNE8 0.75 Lt SnowOVC00527.55994.629.30
30 Nov 11:55 am 33 33 100 NNE8 0.75 Lt SnowOVC00527.55994.629.30

Consistent with #2 above.

[OldnGrounded]

Originally Posted by mikeh49

NWS weather history for Chamberlain, 9V9:
30 Nov 12:35 pm 33 33 100 NNE7 0.50 Mod SnowOVC00527.55994.629.30
30 Nov 12:15 pm 33 33 100 NNE8 0.75 Lt SnowOVC00527.55994.629.30
30 Nov 11:55 am 33 33 100 NNE8 0.75 Lt SnowOVC00527.55994.629.30

Consistent with #2 above.

Yup. Just seems like an odd outlier. But a moderately strong system was moving through there, so, depending on where any spot was in the circulation at a given time . . .

Does anyone know if deicing is actually available at 9V9?

[421dog]

Umm, as I sai above, when I was in there in a king air a few years ago, it was not.

[BlankBox]

https://thecount.com/2019/12/01/kirk...a-plane-crash/


...carrying some game with 'em too?

[Spooky 2]

These kind of Part 91 accidents are all to common. The passengers were made up of a closely knit LDS family, as well as a successful business group. Sounds as if they had been on a bird hunting trip in the area as it is well known for that activity. Just because you can afford this kind of aircraft does not make you immune to this kind of accident.

There was another PC12 several years ago that crashed up near Butte, Montana. (?) Same thing as it had more pax than seats. Sounds as if this might be more common than one would think?

[OldnGrounded]

Originally Posted by 421dog

Umm, as I sai above, when I was in there in a king air a few years ago, it was not.

Right. I was just wondering if that is still the case. As Mansfield said, above, the weather looks like it was perfect for icing to be a problem down to ground level.

[OldnGrounded]

Originally Posted by Spooky 2

These kind of Part 91 accidents are all to common. The passengers were made up of a closely knit LDS family, as well as a successful business group. Sounds as if they had been on a bird hunting trip in the area as it is well known for that activity. Just because you can afford this kind of aircraft does not make you immune to this kind of accident.

There was another PC12 several years ago that crashed up near Butte, Montana. (?) Same thing as it had more pax than seats. Sounds as if this might be more common than one would think?

Yes. I have friends who have long had a distressing habit of pushing their luck with flights like this in the family/family business plane. As seems to be the case, here, there's a pilot in the family who steps in for these flights, which lets them leave the company pilot(s) at home. It doesn't do any good to tell them that discretion is always the better part of valor.

I see, in the local story linked by BlankBox that "Maule Rossow [the state's attorney for the county] said at the time of the crash weather conditions included 'strong winds and snow.'” "Blizzard conditions" were reported around the area and Interstate 90 was closed for some time.

[AviatorDave]

Originally Posted by Spooky 2

These kind of Part 91 accidents are all to common. The passengers were made up of a closely knit LDS family, as well as a successful business group. Sounds as if they had been on a bird hunting trip in the area as it is well known for that activity. Just because you can afford this kind of aircraft does not make you immune to this kind of accident.

There was another PC12 several years ago that crashed up near Butte, Montana. (?) Same thing as it had more pax than seats. Sounds as if this might be more common than one would think?

Anything known about the pilot‘s experience level? With that weather report and no de-icing available, I personally would rather go on foot.

[OldnGrounded]

Originally Posted by AviatorDave

Anything known about the pilot‘s experience level? With that weather report and no de-icing available, I personally would rather go on foot.

It looks like it was a good day and time to stay where you were.

It appears that the pilot was 48-yr-old Kirkland Rigby Hansen. Database shows medical current and:

PILOT/PRIVATE - AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE LAND
PILOT/PRIVATE - AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
PILOT/PRIVATE - INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE