by B. N. Sullivan
A Fairchild C-123 Provider operated by All West Freight has crashed and burned in Alaska's Denali National Park. According to a statement from the National Park Service, the accident happened on August 1, 2010 at about 3 PM local time. The aircraft impacted terrain on "the south-facing slope of Mount Healy within a mile of the park headquarters and approximately 200 yards north of the Denali Park Road." The aircraft was destroyed, and the three crew members on board are believed to have perished.
The Anchorage Daily News reports: "There is a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) in effect over the crash site until further notice. Pilots using the park airstrip or transiting the Windy Pass area are cautioned to check Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) and be alert for firefighting and official aircraft."
A team of investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is expected to arrive at the scene within hours.
UPDATE Aug. 2, 2010: The FAA's preliminary record of this accident confirms three fatalities, and identifies the aircraft as N709RR.
Condolences to the families and friends of those who died in this accident.
RELATED: Click here for more information about the historic aircraft (with photos).
IMO another case of pilot error due to too low and too slow banking the wings too steep resulting in a stall.the basic natural law for flying is:enough continuous foreward speed to create lift UNDER the wings of the aircraft.
ReplyDeleteWe don't yet know what caused this accident. The NTSB team have barely begun their investigation.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be too quick to blame a dead pilot out of hand. If he was flying low and slow and/or banking steeply just prior to the crash, it could have been an effort to regain control of the aircraft following a mechanical malfunction. There could be any number of causes, direct and indirect. Most aircraft accidents result from a chain of events and circumstances, not just one discrete thing.
sad, for the loss of the crew and the plane. That was the c-123 used in con-air.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mr. Sullivan, John Eshleman ( passenger) was a close friend and an excellent pilot, I have personally came close to the same endings in AK and VT my home state and believe me, thing can go bad quickly in any aircraft, good or bad weather, especially if your hauling heavy loads, some of us got lucky!
ReplyDeleteAfter much research on the 123 I will share the following; but please do not take this as sound knowledge just speculation. If they had lost the left engine (which generates power to start the small Jet engines, which they could have used for more powered) they would be left with only the Rt. eng. that possibly didn't have enough power given density altitude or load etc. to maintain controllable flight, the plane could stall if they were trying to get to the highway for instance. The combination of slow flight close to a stall and the torque of the Rt. eng, the plane could flip it over on its back, hence the upside down crash?? I also found that that plane looses horizontal stabilizer authority at or just at a stall, also inducing the rollover by the tale dropping and power to the rt. eng only. If this, only one scenario had happened, it would be near imposable for any pilot no matter how many hours in type to correct once it started. As I said I am no expert, and there many other things that could gave gone bad, such as a broken cable or pulley! no one will ever know, nether will we know the thoughts in all three men’s minds in there last few seconds.
Thanks for listening and giving our fellow pilots the benefit of dough. I dearly miss my friend.
Bill Russell: com, mulit eng, sea plane
Lift from a wing comes from above not below the wing. The path of the wind over the wing creates a low presure area which allows the wing to lift. Depending on the angle, a planes wing can "Stall" at any angle or attitude. The circumstances of this crash are unknown, it is only fair to say even the best of pilots can not overcome a series of circumstances which places a plane in serious danger....When the facts are not clear, my vote is the pilot did the very best they could.
ReplyDeleteThe owner and pilot of this plane was extremely experienced, both in heavy lift operations and Alaska flying, having flown in the region for nearly 40 years, and tens of thousands of hours. While the NTSB will eventually claim a cause of this accident, I can nearly assure you "pilot error" wasn't it, as for the thoughts going through the three mens minds in the seconds prior to the accident, if I knew the pilot as well as I think I did, his last thoughts were "we can beat this boys"! RIP fella's.
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