I think the difference between this guy and most others is this guy wanted to take someone else with him. Not just suicidal, but homicidal too.

Most of his velocity at impact may have been vertical. Was the house even hit? The engine/pod, severed from the fuselage, is still adjacent the VS. There seems to be little horizontal dispersal of aircraft debris.

Imo.

No pilot, even when committing suicide, wants to impact nose first. Without exception, they will level, even if it makes no difference on flight path. Pancake preferred over lawn dart. The house front door is still on its hinges.

Howdy. Dunno about 1941. Recent history shows that when startled, or severely stressed, most pilots pull.

Addend. From the P-47 flight manual. “When ditching, DO NOT STALL. NEVER STALL...” Seems most pilots wanted to pull. Even in 1940?

If that is a/c damage on the roof across the street, (likely), and the Cessna hit the curb of the pilot’s house, also likely, does that make the flight path angle about ten degrees?

That makes the damage caused by LMG? Couldn’t be wing tip, that makes the path too far right?

The orientation of the right wing as you describe might indicate the a/c was rolled to the right, and dropped onto the folded under right wing , righting itself? Might be getting a bit too far ahead of myself here.

The aircraft was N526CP - C/N 525-0099.

No doubts he intended to kill himself. It also is likely he intended to kill his family. He was acting out in rage and desperation (IMO), and May even have tailored his “approach” to be certain of the total destruction of his home and family. Topped up tanks, gear down flaps out for slow and maneuverability, he may have been keen on flying through the front door and exploding the surroundings. Noted the gear is short, but the notch in the roof looks a lot like gear and door. Dunno what else was hanging out that could have been consistent with the evidence but gear. Yeah, the car and wing tangled. The splash up the driveway looks like stains from gushing fuel? These are strange days.

Beyond strange. The trajectory had to have been close to vertical, but how could he have hit a specific home at 3AM? How could he have kept any kind of control right up to impact? The “heading”, the “pancake”, the lack of local surface disruption. I’ve seen mva with far more damage. It looks like the set of a movie. Like I said, the front door is still on its hinges...

Cue up the tinfoil hats.

Twitter

In the middle pic above, note the skid marks of each main gear, right gear first, then left. Just before the sidewalk, indicating a bank angle to the right, though not much of one. She hit with her wheels, then likely hit the parked car with the right wing root. He literally put the passenger section in the living room. I think he kept it dirty for slow speed “spot landing”.

Likely Doug Fir, not pine. Pine is less available, expensive, and not as strong as DF. OSB, yeah, and stucco. I’ve used that standoff pier clad in stone with double 6x6 columns detail in houses I’ve built. The skid marks show a short bounce by the trailing link, and a second faint scrub just past the initial ones. The left gear shows a slightly different track, a bit left of the starboard wheel track. I think the left gear may have been damaged by the impact with the garage roof across the street, causing the wheel to misalign. The skidmarks support the roll right theory, and tend to confirm the bank angle to the right just before hitting the street.

btw. I think the bank was intentional, he was trying to turn right to hit the front door. Actually he was a little low and a little left when the House came into view.

There is another possibility. He may have not intended to harm anyone. He may have been trying to scare the s—t out of Mom and stepson, but stalled when he tried to climb. A lot would depend on the noise level the neighbors might be reporting. Two Williams 44’s at full chat low and slow would put the fear of God into, well, God.

just sayin.

Sorry Dog mentioned a different type of approach, 350 knots nose on target.

I see gear down, left flap full, and minimal destruction not involving the aircraft.

The Obit describes a stand up family man.

I prefer to think he was bent on extreme nuisance, not homicide.

Thanks Airbubba, posting his obituary was a kind move.

Don’t forget what looks like a wing flap fully extended.

I think that is a reasonable enough possibility. Not that it absolves him of guilt, but intent does count for something. Either way it seems more like acts of extreme emotion not thought out that well. If it was a cold calculated take everything out mindset then the outcome probably would have been different.


BTW- To me pine is generic term that covers all the mass market softwoods that most houses are now framed with.

If you have a look on GE street view, look from the Nebo Loop road. The house on 1200 S is under construction, plywood? The houses opposite are single storey and fairly clear behind them making the approach not as steep as I had originally thought. If you turn into 1200 S, the house becomes a vacant lot.