Another MU-2 Fatality

[4MyBro]

http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/accident_incident/preliminary_data/media/B_0923_N.txt

http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=3889692
WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. A small airplane crashed in Crittenden County, killing the pilot and briefly knocking out electricity in parts of West Memphis. The twin engine plane clipped a power line and crashed into an earth mover at a construction site last night. It crashed about 800 yards from a Union Pacific rail yard.

The body of Joseph Wiley Spiers of Southhaven, Mississippi, was recovered from the site this morning, according to police. The plane was owned by McNeeley Charter Service, based out of the West Memphis airport.


Officers on the scene said the pilot had radioed air traffic controllers that he had some trouble with the aircraft and was turning around.


Marion police officer Brannon Hinkle saw the plane crash but was unable to get close to the plane because of the intense heat from a fire.

-- Sincere condolences to the family and friends of the pilot.

 

[Tadpoles]

all i've got to say is "wow".

 

[Pedro]

I have the beer and the popcorn ready, here we go again!!!


RIP to the pilot though, regardless of the plane a loss is a loss.

 

[ACT700]

May be we can hold off on the MU2 bashing, and wait for some facts.

Another salute to another fallen comrade...

 

[350DRIVER]

May be we can hold off on the MU2 bashing, and wait for some facts.

Another salute to another fallen comrade...

That would make too much sense to wait, those who have bashed and condemned the aircraft in the past will continue to do so since they have some knowledge that all MU-2's are death traps.

Thoughts and prayers out to the pilot and family

 

[FN FAL]

I don't care who you are, you crash into an earth mover, you're dead.

Condolances to the family.

 

[GravityHater]

The thing is, 43 Cessna 172s have wrecked, 33 Cessna 150/2s have crashed, 18 Beech have gone down, there have been 8,352 highway fatalities in 18,305 wrecks in the same time period..................but some think a federal case should be made of this particular airplane. Well, that's OK, I guess.
(Numbers are fictitional for the imagination impaired.)

 

[FN FAL]

The thing is, 43 Cessna 172s have wrecked, 33 Cessna 150/2s have crashed, 18 Beech have gone down, there have been 8,352 highway fatalities in 18,305 wrecks in the same time period..................but some think a federal case should be made of this particular airplane. Well, that's OK, I guess.
(Numbers are fictitional for the imagination impaired.)

You bring up an excellent case regarding making a federal case out of things. Since 1934, only two muders have been commited with registered machineguns. One of the murderers was a Chicago cop that killed his drug dealing business partner with an ATF registered MAC and the other was a doctor. That's over a 70 year time period.

Isn't it time people quit trying to ban assault airplanes, toasters and cribs!

 

[350DRIVER]

but some think a federal case should be made of this particular airplane. Well, that's OK, I guess.

Thinking and reality sometimes when mixed by certain individuals aren't always on the same page. The particular plane in question has been around for a long long time and it isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It is "ok" to certain people, others tend to beg to differ, me being one of them.

 

[con-pilot]

On every MU-2 thread I have expressed my feeling on that piece of crap. If the blasted thing had been grounded as I have stated before a good pilot would be alive today.

 

[350DRIVER]

On every MU-2 thread I have expressed my feeling on that piece of crap. If the blasted thing had been grounded as I have stated before a good pilot would be alive today.

Yeah, using that very same logic the numerous friends and associates I have known and lost over the years would still be around today if they just grounded the C421/Metro/B100. Flawed logic in my opinion, many "good pilots" have been lost in all different types and make and models over the years and many more will be lost in the future. It isn't about the equipment in all cases, it is about the training, experience factor(s), and most importantly in my opinion the MX and upkeep of the equipment being flown. You can throw a "very good" pilot in a plane that knows his stuff but throw into the mix poor mx to save costs, cut corners, lackluster training, etc, then the outcome likely isn't going to be a pretty one. When it is man against machine....... Any plane can kill you just as quick as the MU-2 given unfavorable added variables thrown into the equation. A pilot can only minimize so much risk and vulnerability, many factors are beyond one's control and it is an accepted risk when one takes a position. Grounding all MU-2's just does not make much sense at all, actually it makes none as far as I am concerned.

 

[Snakum]

One of the murderers was a Chicago cop that killed his drug dealing business partner with an ATF registered MAC and the other was a doctor.

I'm betting there is a good story behind that last one.

Minhtronix

 

[ATRedneck]

If the blasted thing had been grounded as I have stated before a good pilot would be alive today.

And if a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his ass a-hoppin'.

Do you know how many people would be alive today if those infernal Wright brothers had kept building bicycles in Dayton like they should have? The temerity of those mustachioed dealers of death!

 

[ATRedneck]

ACFT DEPARTED WEST MEMPHIS MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, AWM, GOING TO LEE GILMER MEMORIAL AIRPORT, GVL. PILOT ADVISED ZME APPROX. 55M EAST OF MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MEM, HE WANTED TO RETURN TO AWM. MEM APPROACH TERMINATED RADAR SERVICES 8M EAST OF AWM. THE ACFT IS REPORTED DESTROYED BY FIRE AND THE PILOT, SOLE OCCUPANT IS FATAL. WEST MEMPHIS, AR

So he was east of KMEM, turned around and went past KMEM with its 11000 foot runways, to return to an uncontrolled field with no ARFF service? And with terminated radar service?

Sure sounds like the airplane could have planned itself a little better. Damned MU-2s.

 

[bugchaser]

No disrespect at all to the families of the deceased. I have flown the MU2 and lots of other "dangerous" airplanes. I do not consider it the most dangerous airplane that I have flown. Every airplane is dangerous in the wrong situation. It has some peculiarities that must be managed carefully. If everyone thinks that the airplane is so dangerous, I suggest that those people don't fly it anymore. No one is forcing you into the airplane. We all take the risks into account every time we strap into an airplane. In the end it is the choice of the pilot.

 

[Courkyle]

No disrespect to your opinion.....but I have done much homework since losing my son in one a little over a year ago....and since then eleven more have crashed....I would say that's a bit alarming....If you check out the facts you will see that 25-30% (conservative estimate) of the MU-2's made have crashed......there are nineteen pages of them on the NTSB web site True the MU-2 is a challenging airplane.....but even those trained by the best in that field.....(Howell Enterprises) which my son was, cannot recover from any loss of power, torque, stall etc. in some "low and slow" situations. Upon doing my research I found that most of these crashes occur in this "low and slow" timeframe.... either just after takeoff or just prior to landing when situations require maximum lift and deflecting a spolier causes drag. I have read documentation from very knowledgable people that say it is impossible to recover under these situations....the plane just flips upside down and nose dives to the ground. I am sure that this airplane is just fine if it does not encounter any problems....but if it does....the pilot doesn't have a chance. In my son's case....he was cleared to land for the third time and 40 seconds later he was dead.....just fell off the radar screen. With all do respect I am entitled to my opinion and the evidence is compelling. Eleven in a little over 1 year is just unacceptable in my book.

 

[ACT700]

ATRedneck, I second your first comment, the one about the frog's a$$ and the Wright bros.

Amen.

 

[GravityHater]

Eleven in a little over 1 year is just unacceptable in my book.

can we ask where you arrived at 'eleven'?

I did a search on the NTSB site
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp
using 'MU' as the make/model and it shows five in the last year, one was a forgotten gear(Ca), the other a ground incident with a tug(Pa) - leaving 3 fatals.

The Parker Co accident resulted in three ground scars 'similar in dimension to the landing gear' - suggesting; to me, a cfit.

The Hillsboro Or accident was reported by witnesses as a spin-in on take-off with possibly an excessively nose high attitude.

The Centennial Co accident had an engine failure and suggests a vmc rollover.

Unless I missed something (this is possible), none of these sound out of the ordinary, the ntsb files are rife with such accidents in all types of aircraft. In any case, it does not smack of a type that has some type of repetetive mechanical failure.

 

[aeronautic1]

No disrespect to your opinion.....but I have done much homework since losing my son in one a little over a year ago....and since then eleven more have crashed....I would say that's a bit alarming....If you check out the facts you will see that 25-30% (conservative estimate) of the MU-2's made have crashed......there are nineteen pages of them on the NTSB web site True the MU-2 is a challenging airplane.....but even those trained by the best in that field.....(Howell Enterprises) which my son was, cannot recover from any loss of power, torque, stall etc. in some "low and slow" situations. Upon doing my research I found that most of these crashes occur in this "low and slow" timeframe.... either just after takeoff or just prior to landing when situations require maximum lift and deflecting a spolier causes drag. I have read documentation from very knowledgable people that say it is impossible to recover under these situations....the plane just flips upside down and nose dives to the ground. I am sure that this airplane is just fine if it does not encounter any problems....but if it does....the pilot doesn't have a chance. In my son's case....he was cleared to land for the third time and 40 seconds later he was dead.....just fell off the radar screen. With all do respect I am entitled to my opinion and the evidence is compelling. Eleven in a little over 1 year is just unacceptable in my book.

All I can say is that every time I see MooToo parked on the ramp, I have to scratch my head and wonder how in the hell they thing ever gets in the air? I guess you put enough amperage in a cattle prod and jam it up the ass, you can make a horse deal cards... I know I never want to fly one for pay (for any amount of money) or otherwise. Same goes for the Space Shuttle. Both are designed to bite you in the ass, hard.