CL-601 down in Montrose, CO

[LXJ31]

"I don't know how PFT has anything to do with this accident. Please respect the pilots/pax family and friends before shooting off your mouth about who's fault it is and thinking that the crew must have been inexperienced"

I've been posting my messages on flippin' eggshells to keep from offending anyone. I don't see any posts here being disrespectful or placing blame; please give us more credit than that. I'm sure the Captain was a good guy and intelligent, especially having gone to The Sorbonne. However, the company in question advertises PFT jobs. That makes PFT itself a relevant issue and certainly open to discussion. If you find that offensive then call your congressman.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

I don't know how PFT has anything to do with this accident. Please respect the pilots/pax family and friends before shooting off your mouth about who's fault it is and thinking that the crew must have been inexperienced. One of our pilots happens to know the Capt and had this to say on our company website...

I just received a call from the Dominican Republic from a good friend of mine informing me of the death of one of my closest friends and mentor, Capt. Luis Polanco was flying the Challenger that crashed in Colorado yesterday, "Don Luis" was one of the most professional pilots that I had the honor to fly with, I had the opportunity to fly in a company on which he was the Chief Pilot after I left the cargo job from 84 to 86, Polanco was a graduate of Embry Riddle with a Masters degree in Aviation, he also was a Lawyer Graduated in the top College in Dominican Republic with a Masters from "Sorbonne" in Paris, Spoke Spanish, English, French, and Italian, fluently, Was Dual rated in A/C and helicopters and was an FAA designee in both, He flew everything a corporate pilot could fly, from just about the whole Citation family, G-2, G-3, CL- 601, StarShip, Bell 206, Bell 222, Sikorsky SR-76, was the FAA's designated liaison pilot for the approval of the NDB approaches for the Santiago Airport and The Samana airports (I had the honor of working with him in those projects), Don Luis was a true gentleman and Accomplished pilot doesn't even comes close to give him his due merits as an airman, He was a mentor and a friend, another crude reminder of the high balancing act we perform everyday, If I can point to my biggest achievement in aviation was to hear Don Luis tell me that he was proud of me when I told him about this company and the quality and professionalism that my colleges here at Pinnacle have.

Does this CA sound like PFT or inexperience had anything to do with this accident???

Nope. He sounded VERY talented and extremely qualifed.

Was he flying?

 

[Sppedmode]

I don't find it offending....I'm just saying that the CA obviously had a ton of flight time and was highly experienced...and for people to start talking about PFT and this accident is ridiculous.

 

[LXJ31]

"...for people to start talking about PFT and this accident is ridiculous."

We'll just have to disagree.

I've never said the PFT had anything to do with this particular accident. But it is relevant to the discussion if the Jet Alliance advertises PFT jobs.

 

[jackotron]

Anybody know if they were snowplowing runway 13/31?

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There was no need to plow. The snow was not staying on the runway.

I was on the MTJ commerical ramp about 30 minutes after the crash. My friend that was working the SkyWest ramp said that he heard the challenger's engine wind up, then what sounded like an explosion. The next time he looked he saw the towering black cloud of burning Jet-A which was present still when I got there.

Poor people. I have my opinions about PFT too, but this is not the hardly place to discuss it.

Jack

 

[Diesel]

If the guy had a lot of experience how much time did he have operating in the mountains and snow ops.

 

[E120ASA]

You know this is just me talking but I hope this accident was not the result of a company not wanting to pay to have the aircraft deiced. I flew charter and the cost per hour did not include deicing in winter ops. We flew out of the south and management never thought about it. If I had to have the plane deiced that meant we went from a profit to a loss, but the hell with them I had it done anyways because I knew better due to the flying experience I have and that I was not scared of finding a new job as are others. They never covered it in winter operations flying, why because we flew out of places that were not used to icing (south) and the cheaper we were the more charter business we could get. Epps lost a 601 due to not having it deiced while everyone else was doing it now this. I Guess lawsuits are cheaper if they only happen in a blue moon. Crews watch out and make them spend the money to de-ice unless you don’t want to come home…

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Most charter places DO charge extra for de-icing if its needed.

Its NOT up to the charter company to decide when to deice anyways, and I would never think any competent pilot would let this affect his decision.

(Lets hope these ideas are all irrelevent to this accident anyways)

 

[Bandit60]

There is alot to be said about guys who fly in the north verses those who fly in the south. I fly in the south now and I asked one of our pilots what he would do if he was at an airport where it was snowing. He told me he would get the plane into a heated hangar. I asked him if he was sure thats what he wanted to do. He said yes. I proceeded to explain to him that with a warm airplane being pulled out on to the ramp with it snowing was going to make matters worse with the snow actually freezing instead of just laying on the airplane.

Everyone needs to think about winter operations a little more

 

[Singlecoil]

Wasn't this a quick-turn? I've seen reports that support that claim. If that is the case, then de-icing or not isn't at all related to what caused this accident. If it wasn't snowing hard at the time, which some reports indicate, then there was no reason to de-ice.