Concours77
4th Sep 2018, 22:44
Angel Flight
https://abc7news.com/one-person-killed-in-small-plane-crash-near-palo-alto-airport/4145125/
Familiar, The airspace in the Bay is pretty complex, Palo Alto has some proximity (SFO) and altitude challenges, R.I.P.
westhawk
5th Sep 2018, 06:47
Apparently performing a go-around according to one article I saw. Palo Alto rwy length about 2,400'. Not enough info to even speculate...
custardpsc
13th Sep 2018, 23:15
Actually there is a fair amount of info available. I did my IR at KPAO. It is indeed 2400ft. I saw this accident on the local news and it didn't make sense at first. This was an angel flight from Redding CA, The pilot was experienced, 60 yr old. , it was 11am and usual bay area good weather. On the face of it not that a diffcult flight.and it did leave me wondering what happened.
The holes in the cheese:
Pax - mother and daugher attending a hosptal appointment, carried as a goodwill flight - some pressure around timings and upcoming surgery probably.
Approaching KPAO from the north requires flying between SFO and OAK over the water. Not hard but not easy. If unfamilar, a pressure.
Not seeing the airport. This is not an easy airport to see, and if you miss it, you are into the san jose or moffat airspace. Easy to find the surrounding landmarks but not the airport.The pilot requested help in finding it on the radio,
Busy airport - plenty going on in the traffic pattern
Shortish runway, which is likely the cause of the original go-around, following earlier anxiety in locating the runway.
So far, all understandable. All in the capability of a reasonable pilot.
I looked at all the coverage and couldn't get it,
Two days later I pick up a local newspaper on the coffee shop counter. There was a small followup article about this which really hit me,
It said , the reason the pax survived were that both were in the back seat. They were offered the choice of one of them to sit up front but the mothr wanted to sit next/stay close to daughter
So, now, an unfamiliarly aft C of G, a short runway, a busy pilot,
Makes a bit more sense now.