Alert CubCrafters Carbon Cub EX crash - 2 fatal (N126C)

[Neal]

YouTuber/TV Weatherman, One Other Killed in Loaner Carbon Cub Crash - AvBrief.com

Plane hit power line in canyon north of Boise.

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From Facebook:

Plane crashes into Payette River east of Emmett, killing two male passengers

A plane crashed into the Payette River in the Black Canyon area east of Emmett on Tuesday morning, killing two male passengers, the Gem County Sheriff's Office confirmed.

www.kivitv.com

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[Cactus Charlie]

Looks like an early EX (CCX-1865-0016). ADS-B Exchange shows a single data point over the river but an approach that suggests to me that a low level run may have been planned.

I have become even more concerned about low level obstacles since 4 were killed in a local helicopter collision with a "slack line" erected across a canyon. I did some canyon runs when I was younger but not recently.

 

[Meconiates]

Any idea what the AGL of the obstacle was? I wonder if they had a BRS and immediately pulled would it have saved them?

 

[ve6yeq]

If that last ADS-B position was correct, there is a power line crossing the river/lake at that location:

With no markings as far as Google Street View:

 

[ve6yeq]

Any idea what the AGL of the obstacle was? I wonder if they had a BRS and immediately pulled would it have saved them?

The news reports mention that the plane "clipped" the power lines, so I would guess there was very little time to react. The CubCrafters docs mention as little as 100 ft AGL, but Cirrus says 580 ft AGL...

 

[Cactus Charlie]

ADS-B Exchange data shows the aircraft came down from Yakima Dec 13 and was flown locally several times. The data for Jan 10 appear to show the aircraft following the river and passing the last data point of the accident flight.

 

[Cactus Charlie]

This image which compares the Jan 10 (green) and Jan 27 (red) flights is quite disturbing.

 

[ve6yeq]

The power line is approximately marked on the US VFR sectional. I am not sure if the current G3X Touch US databases support the "Garmin WireAware™ wire-strike avoidance technology," as I know that for me, it is alerting on towers, but I am not sure that I have ever had it alert for a power line.

 

[Cactus Charlie]

I am not sure if the current G3X Touch US databases support the "Garmin WireAware™ wire-strike avoidance technology," as I know that for me, it is alerting on towers, but I am not sure that I have ever had it alert for a power line.

The latest revision of the G3X Touch Pilot Guide that I can find is 190-01754-00 Rev. V.

It does not mention WireAware, appears to have no symbol to depict a power line, and I found no mention of power lines.

I am alerted for towers but have never seen a power line alert.

AI search does say WireAware is included in G3X Touch but provides no traceable references. Interestingly Garmin does say some portables do have WireAware -

"Other aera 660 and aera 760 technology highlights include vertical navigation guidance, Smart Airspace™ display, WireAware™ wire-strike avoidance technology, Wi-Fi® database downloading, TargetTrend™ and TerminalTraffic™. And both devices are compatible with the cost-effective Garmin navigation database. For the money — and for the performance — the aera series is truly in a class by itself."

 

[ve6yeq]

I remember reading somewhere that someone had tried talking to Garmin about getting the "helicopter" functionality enabled in the G3X Touch, as it is not only helicopters that can fly "low". Maybe I should try calling Garmin support?

 

[Waldom]

When I was a kid cropdusting 50 years ago, I learned about flying at low level under and over wires and around obstacles. It's a shame pilots new to low level flying have to learn that lesson again. Until you have hit some, it is impossible to conceive of just how invisible wires are while in flight. There are several wire strike accidents reported every month. Their frequency seems to have increased with the popularity of backcountry flying and the use of GoPro cameras.

Ladies and gentlemen, the tech gadgets for obstacle avoidance may be an adjunct for preflight planning, but they will never depict all the obstacles out there. If you are foolish enough to be relying on their alert or worse, looking at them while you're on the deck, it will be only a matter of time before you hit something.

The same goes for low level flying in valleys without a higher level recon of the route beforehand. And that recon needs to be done just prior to the low level run. Memories aren't that good and wires can be strung across valleys in a matter of hours. Not to mention that nearly everyone now carries a device to record video on them. Visualize yourself explaining to an FAA inspector that you were 500 feet away from someone when their video not only clearly depicts your small "N" number but your face.

No one likes to have fun with an airplane more than I do, but let's benefit from learning of other's mistakes and not keep repeating stupid things that make us all look bad.

 

[Neal]

The problem I have navigating off of the G3X and/or ForeFlight are the maps. It's nothing like the detail I had when flying A-10's off of physical maps. I don't know what the A-10 maps are like on the newer moving map displays but the maps in the G3X are total crap for actual terrain and feature navigation from dirt roads, windmills, towers, powerlines, etc. etc. and etc. Most flying these days with glass cockpits are people chasing magenta lines, they aren't flying. Then comes in the YouTubers river chasing without realizing the need to survey the area prior to flying the river, or at least staying high enough to avoid lines. I see people doing the river skiing in bushplanes and just cringe knowing something like what just happened was going to happen someday. Lines across terrain such as mountains, foothills, etc. was something we had to watch out for flying A-10's in S. Korea. It is scary. I could go on and on but I can say when I look back at my GA days after what I learned in my military training I scare myself just thinking how much I didn't know back then. Is what it is, it's general aviation. I'm glad I don't have AIM-9's on my plane for GA pattern ops!

 

[Cactus Charlie]

It's nothing like the detail I had when flying A-10's off of physical maps.

The Garmin G3X Touch allows selection of a North up or Track up Sectional Chart or Terminal Area Chart. These are the same charts you would buy from an FBO or chart shop but they have the advantages of easy magnification, display of traffic, and a correctly positioned thumb.

I don't know what tactical charts you had in Korea but the G3X Touch will display the best charts available to US general aviation pilots and they don't need folding.

I was flying long before GPS and long before moving maps were available in GA (1). I consider the G3X Touch chart display to be a huge improvement in situation awareness and a huge reduction in workload when compared to paper charts.

(1) As a nod to military experience I was responsible for the prototype (A model) integration of the Panavia Tornado front seat Projected Map Display and rear seat Combined Radar/ Projected Map Display. Both wonders of mechanical engineering using map images on 35 mm film strip.

 

[Neal]

I was browsing the net trying to find what I used as our charts had UTM grids on them which made entering coords much faster than lat/lon into our INS. I think it was either TPC 1:500000 but more likely JOG 1:250000. Sectionals may have the same detail as I was browsing Skyvector.com but the problem with sectionals is it has so much airspace nonsense it makes land details hard to see.

This site I found has TPC's that you can click into and then zoom into once a zone is selected and you can see the terrain detail, even though this is 1:500K so not as detailed, but remove all the airspace nonsense and the land comes to life.

https://maps.lib.utexas.edu/maps/tpc/americas-pacific-index.html