Airplane crashes in Superstition Mountains, official says

Source: The Arizona Republic

Pinal County authorities Wednesday evening reported that a plane had gone down in the Superstition Mountains.

The county sheriff's office said a fire had broken out as a result, and that emergency crews were on the way.

The size of the plane or how many passengers were aboard are not known at this time.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/pinal/articles/2011/11/23/20111123arizona-plane-crash-superstition-mountains.html

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live tv stream: http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2011/11/23/20111123superstition-airplane-crash-stream.html

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3 adults and 3 kids.

Source: Arizona Republic

A small plane crashed in the Superstition Mountains east of Apache Junction on Wednesday evening, killing several people, including at least one child, Pinal County authorities reported.

Emergency crews had to struggle through rugged terrain to reach the crash site, which appeared be in the peaks' Flat Iron area.

At a press briefing about 9:45 p.m., Sheriff Paul Babeu said it was believed that three adults and three children were on board the plane. The children reportedly ranged in age from 5 to 9.

"From what we understand, that plane flew from Safford to Mesa to pick up children and return to Safford," he said, adding that the adults appeared to be the pilot, a mechanic and a third person.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/pinal/articles/2011/11/23/20111123arizona-plane-crash-superstition-mountains.html

I rode horses throught the area years ago and still remember how inhostpitable the terrain was. There were cacti that could easily kill you if you fell on them. RIP to all that may have died there.

I've been in that area as well and hiked it some about this time of year, so the temperature wasn't to bad. I wouldn't even try in the Summer.

From the accident narrative, it sounds like the aircraft took off right after sunset and possibly strayed off course to the north where the mountain was. Very sad.



http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=140030

It's a very well built aircraft and probably one of the most survivable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_flight_into_terrain

The flight was conducted under VFR rules, so the pilot was on his own for altitude assignment and terrain avoidance. I suspect if the pilot had been IFR the accident would never have happened.

Something must have distracted the pilot. I think there may be more to this story.
If I had a choice of a twin, that would be the plane I pick. I used to fly out of Wiley Post. They used to do a demo every year with a Commander. That plane with a good pilot is amazing.

It was just a short hop for that aircraft, why file an IFR flight plan when you can just jump in and go.

This is just pure speculation, but I think since he was going VFR, he probably had planned on staying at 4,500' since the Class B airspace starts at 5,000. He probably didn't worry about the mountain too much because it was slightly north of his direct route. For whatever reason he got off course a bit to the north, and the mountain was right there. The new moon is tonight, so there was virtually no moon last night. He wouldn't have seen it in time, if at all. With kids in the plane, it would be easy to get distracted. He may have even had one up front with him.

I fly IFR for almost all my cross country trips. I do this for two main reasons. One it forces me to actually methodically plan my trip and not just jump in the plane haphazardly and fly off in the general direction I'm traveling. Two it gives me an extra element of safety in that I have someone else watching out for me. There's a lot of traffic around the DFW area, and I like being separated from the other IFR traffic and having the VFR traffic called out.

I'll be flying to OKC next month. I have a business trip in Oklahoma City for a week, so I'll be taking my trusty Skylane. I'll be landing at OKC instead of Wiley Post, although I have flown into PWA a time or two.

I was almost run over by a commercial jet one night over DFW. I pulled up and he went right under me. I could see him coming a long way off but I was VFR over the controlled airspace. I could see he was constant bearing, decreasing range and figured he knew I was there, until his landing light suddenly got very bright, very quickly. He was descending from the West, so I did a serious climb. Also saw a meteor hit the ground over the Arbuckles that same night. it's really dark out there, so it was spectacular. I loved flying at Night out there when it was crystal clear.

The big iron climb steeper than they descend, so I always want to know which direction they are landing. On that side I always keep at least 1,000' below the class B when I am VFR. Otherwise you risk a close encounter of the MD80 kind. Lots of folks around here have had close calls. That's why I prefer to be talking and squawking.

Long ago and far away.

Can't afford it now.