Another awful Australian aviation event

[FlyTexas]

Horrible news. Read in the news today that three of the passengers were from central Texas.

Brian

[emfrat]

Maybe MikeW is feeling grumpy because of the heat? Share it with us, Mike, perhaps we can lighten your load.

Mike, I was extremely grumpy because of the behaviour of the Press. I needed to know if friends I have in that area had been affected - fortunately none were.
I could not find out if there were casualties on the ground, but even before the fire was put out, Fairfax Media was pushing the story that the pilot had been involved in an airprox incident in 2015. Totally irrelevant, but various other outlets picked it up, even our ABC, and because they had all found the pilot guilty of "being under investigation" they were more than happy to blame him for the crash.
One source said the 2015 incident was unresolved.
The ABC report said he had been required to re-sit the IFR test, which he passed with no problems. They also had the decency to say many people had contacted them to say the deceased pilot was a highly respected professional operator - but that was right at the end of the report, well away from the sensational headlines.

MikeW

[Airspeed]

Thanks Mike,
That puts it in perspective. I can see why you were not in the best of moods. Glad that your friends were not directly affected.
I agree about the Press.
ABC Radio did report today that the airprox was unresolved, but it was due to over-work in the relevant department, and it had not been finalised previously as it was not a high priority. Now that the pilot is deceased, they are going to make efforts to finish the paperwork.

[cstorey]

The ABC report said he had been required to re-sit the IFR test, which he passed with no problems.

MikeW

The drivel that newspapers put out is astonishing. I cannot believe that the Australian licensing requirements are different from any where else - and every holder of an IR has to renew it periodically. It is now nearly 25 years since mine lapsed, so I have forgotten the details, but IIRC I had to renew it, which required a flight test, every 13 months i.e. the rating was valid for 12 months from the flight test plus the balance of the month it which it was taken

[Chris Trott]

Heard about this yesterday. Sad to hear of the loss of life.

Just a point here of where the focus will be on this investigation - what was the airspeed when the engine failed and was the pilot able to keep it above Vmc(a) (Minimum Single-Engine Controlability Speed)? The King Air has a reputation for being a handful when on single engine, especially when it's hot and the plane is heavy. It's not that it has a lack of performance, it's more that you're operating closer to the edge of performance for the airplane.

Just 3 years ago, another King Air 200 crashed after losing an engine on takeoff which crashed in to the Flight Safety facility at Wichita Mid-Continent - https://aviation-safety.net/database/re ... 20141030-0

There was also a King Air 300 that crashed in Arizona a month ago that may have also been a departure power loss and stall/spin - https://aviation-safety.net/database/re ... 20170123-0

It's another reminder that flying on good days is fun and easy, but when it goes wrong - it goes very, very wrong.