I live 1.5 miles from the crash. The weather this day was light freezing rain and a very low ceiling. I remember going out and thinking to myself 'what a horrible weather day.' Freezing almost icy on my automobile windshield. I was standing in my kitchen when the fire department was dispatched. I knew something horrible had occurred. The fire truck horns and the all hands on deck sounds are still hauntingly familiar. RIP Frank Edwards, Cinda Edwards and John Evans.
I flew that very Aerostar, had more than 600 hours in that airplane. The gentleman that bought it from us was meticulous with MX, he sold it to the accident pilot. When he called me and told me about this tragic accident I reviewed the adsb data. I noticed several things. He descended rapidly from 10,000” to 3,000”. Which means he had pull the power back. It did not have speed brakes. When he leveled off the speed decayed very quickly and then gained speed. This was happening as he was trying to fly the approach. On the missed, he climbed out but the tower asked if he had retracted the gear. He answered “no”. The aircraft came around again but in icing, with the gear down it needed to carry some extra speed. He didn’t. When again looking at data, he got slow, and judging by the ring camera footage entered a stall, spin. The motors were running strong as it made impact. My opinion, he was behind the airplane most likely starting in the decent. The loss of life is tragic.
I flew most models of the Aerostar back in the 70's and I loved it. It does have a few gotchas you have to look out for like fuel management and icing. The wings are thin with very little dihedral so a little ice can affect handling.
It demands the most from a pilot as twins go. Seems to me it supplanted the Comanche twin as the knuckle dragging top of the heap, high performance twins went. Maybe still close to the top even as an antique.
Near the beginning of my commercial career while sim training on the Viscount, the instructor introduced a fault during an ils. It might have been on the artificial horizon, or perhaps the HSI, but nothing made sense and I tried to barrel roll it. The Capt was given a bollocking for not saying anything, but thereafter I learned to scan not just my panel but the other as well. The accident report is unlikely to find the cause of this crash, but a control problem due to icing is a possibility. Not accepting a radar assisted approach is bizarre after the first unsuccessful approach , when it is so straightforward.
Frank Edward's his wife and a friend perished on this flight. He was interim mayor for springfield illinois. It was quite shocking I remember when it happened
On the second approach, there is a comment about the plane flying erratically after switching to tower frequency. Like others have commented, icing is probably a factor but I am thinking the brief distraction, and head movement involved in switching frequencies introduced some disorientation into the mix. the poor pilot had his hands full. Rest in Peace dear ppl. I wonder if the FAA is considering making training requirements more rigorous for pilots of high-performance planes like the Aerostar.
Wrong He was a professional Pilot, he flew an MU2 for years and was very experienced. Look up Scott Crossfield. He flew the X-15 but had a rather similar accident. There is a reason why they call it an accident. Look up Steve Whitman, also an incredibly experienced pilot. He had an Accident.
@Mike George Thank you! Mike' he was a very good and competent pilot he actually offered me a flight with him to go and retrieve it from the repair facility, l knew what day he was returning and hearing that a plane had crash that day, I got a very sick feeling in my soul, I just knew by the weather, being cold and overcast that this is going to be a very sad day for all his family and friends and his wife Cinda they had lots of them. Very sad. I always think about it around my birthday now . My birthday is the 27th. By God's grace and mercy, I hope to see him again.
@@MikeGeorge-sl9df Wittman (not whitman) accident was not a pilot eff-up. The plane broke up. You seem to be suggesting past experience makes one immune from effing up in the future. Nope, nothing further from the truth. Let's look at their training over the previous 1-5 yrs. Any recurrent beyond the bare bones minimums? I've given FR's to supposedly professional pilots. Turn off the autopilot off while on instruments and they are in over their head in a matter of minutes. Why? Instrument flying is a perishable skill. Allow those skills to atrophy and this is what happens. Doesn't matter how many years or how many hours are in a logbook. What matters is the flight being conducted and is one 100% prepared to make that flight.
@@buckmurdock2500 If the pilot really was experienced, then you would have been implying that making a mistake that leads to an accident automatically makes you an amateur. That's what they are disagreeing with, and it makes sense if its true.
@@buckmurdock2500Steve Wittman (RIP and with all due respect) did screw up- when he applied the dope during his building process on that airplane, a mistake was made that allowed moisture to get in between the coats on the leading edges - the fabric delaminated and came apart at cruise speed resulting in the instant flutter and destruction of the wings.
I’m a new subscriber on the strength of this video. I thought it was excellent, professional and interesting and it was good to see coverage of general aviation mishaps. I would have liked more detail on the subsequent NTSB investigation including the technical explanation of what went wrong, but otherwise a definite thumbs up! I assumed icing was the primary cause of the accident? I agree the pilot possibly overestimated his abilities in the conditions he had, but that alone wouldn’t have caused him to crash. Unless someone else knows different of course 😊. I appreciated the absolute lack of irritating niggles in this video, or interruptions to tell viewers how much they would enjoy Curiosity Stream 😊 and I also gave it a like. A couple of abbreviations puzzled me - what is an ASR approach and what’s the HSI indicator?
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you enjoyed it! The NTSB has not issued a final report with a probable cause for the accident. Ice might be a factor, but given the pilots difficulty on the first attempt it could also be a navigational issue that created a distraction and resulted in a loss of control. HSI stands for Horizontal Situation Indicator. It gives heading and navigational information to pilots, and is the primary instrument on this particular aircraft for an ILS approach. ASR is Airport Surveillance Radar. That is an approach where ATC gives heading and altitude instructions to the pilot until they can see the runway.
@@flyingformoney777 thank you for that! I wondered if HSI was the artificial horizon, but wasn’t sure. I see now you’ve said there is no final report from the NTSB, it would be speculation and heresay if you detailed a cause just now. I look forward to more videos, GA is one area of flying where accidents are not becoming less frequent, so there is plenty of material and plenty of interest I would think.
Frank was a personal friend of mine. I flew with him for years. I either flew with him or known him to fly the following. Duchess, 340, 414, 421, MU2, King Air, T-34, B-25, Aerostar, Commander 500U, -10 Commander, 206, and that was off the top of my head. I am sure there were more. He was very competent and I believe he was a multi engine instrument instructor at one time. He did not own the Aerostar and he was a self made man, but not rich, as if that should matter at all. Remember even Scott Crossfield had a weather related accident that ended his life. Accidents can and do happen. I owned an Aerostar for over ten years, very fast but absolutely unforgiving. My thoughts are that it was a combination of ice and faulty instruments.
You cannot expect to fly a stabilized ILS approach with an intermittent HSI. The pilot had a NAV light I presume to indicate his HSI had failed. Attempting to fly an ILS with intermittent of inaccurate course information is a recipe for spatial disorientation. Had he accepted the ASR and used the glideslope for back up to the controller’s recommended altitudes he would have had a great chance of breaking out and completing the approach and landing. Plus, he would not have had to switch frequencies to tower until after landing at which time they would have changed him to ground. I suspect he was unfamiliar with ASR approaches and his lack of familiarity was his reason for reattempting the ILS. ASRs can be a bit un-nerving by having to rely solely on the controller for course and altitude information, especially when altitude info is a recommendation based on distance from the airport, thus the name Airport Surveillance Radar.
An HSI is multiple instruments combined into one. Not likely for the whole thing to fail at once. For the heading, nav or vertical guidance function, there is usually an OFF flag.
An HSI is multiple instruments combined into one. Not likely for the whole thing to fail at once. For the heading, nav or vertical guidance function, there is usually an OFF flag.
I grew up in Santa Maria. My Dad owned an Aerostar that was used for a time as a factory demonstrator. He loved the plane. It is a high performance aircraft that an inexperienced pilot can have a difficult time keeping up with.
If he was IFR and the aircraft began flying erratically immediately following a frequency change, that could indicate a possible vertigo condition. If he got a current weather report for his destination, I would think that aircraft would have capable de-ice/anti-ice capabilities. Tough one.
That's my guess. Counterintuitive but often times if the air isn't like a washing machine it could be best to just let go of your yoke before you do anything like that. If you trimmed the plane up, a couple seconds is fine, and you won't instinctively correct for something that's not real, or just apply pressure as you lean.
About 1987 I rented a hanger at North Perry Airport in Hollywood Florida. I just got finished with the paperwork. The gentleman I rented the hanger from. A young lady and another gentleman from took off in an Aerostar on nine right to Veer to the South evidently lost an engine. It spun into a printing shop Pembroke Road and the Florida Turnpike. That airplane is a super high performance private twin.
Chris: Oh my goodness, bless it's heart must have had a bad Sunday yesterday. How about I take you up in one of my airplanes? You'll feel much better about not being left out. We'll see the world from a different viewpoint. You'll not soon forget it. I'll turn your happy ass upside down a few times until you regurgitate this morning's unhealthy breakfast. Then maybe I'll sell my airplanes and learn to fly commercial.
Rich? I guess that's subjective, but he didn't own the plane. He was a fireman, and was interim mayor after the death of Tim Davlin. He was never elected mayor.
Federal Aviation regulations require a test flight after any major repair and replace the propeller for sure was a major repair he certainly shouldn't have been flying with any passengers or IMC conditions he's totally at fault for this tragedy I'm a pilot and a mechanic and I see the s*** going all the time it's got to stop
@@flyguy5941 there's no requirement to replace the engines at TBO that's not an issue at all now if the aircraft was operating under FAR part 135 then yes engine overall would be required at TBO or at a time agreed to by the local FAA office but again TBO has nothing to do with the accident
The NTSB has not determined officially. It sounds like there was an issue with a piece of navigational equipment, combined with spatial disorientation.
Similar to the same aircraft type flying IMC from Mexico/California/CYCD Nanaimo BC with 3 on board. It was known to be having issues with the nav equip but didn’t have it readily addressed, I believe they had it scheduled to be fixed/replaced shortly after getting back to CYCD. Murphy showed up, yup…on approach…loss of nav equip…spacial disorientation, loss of control and graveyard spiralled into parkland on Gabriola Island, minutes from home.😢
Might be incorrect but the erratic behaivor of the aircraft at the end could be caused by icing conditions and subsecuent stall because of ice formation in the wings.
Flying for Money: pretty good video. Sad. He may have lost an engine. The 'Death Star' can be a real handful on one engine they say. Wonder if that prop strike from the bird resulted in a proper teardown inspection. How much time did the Pilot have? How much time in an Aerostar? Personally, I'm leery of it. Could have been a number of things, or as the Devil would have it, combined ! One wonders why PIC refused the ASR approach ?! I mean, good grief, I would have taken ATC up on that in a heartbeat. Understand some facilities won't even offer the service. But we'll never know why the PIC said no. Also, he could have iced up to the point the airplane would not fly by the second time around. That may explain the wobbly all-over-the-place approach indications at the last.
The pilot had an ATP rating with 5500 hours as of his last medical certificate, which took place nearly two years prior to the crash. The aircraft was purchased in August 2019 and the crash happened in January of 2020. The aircraft was down for a couple months due to the prop issue, so most likely the pilot did not have much experience in the Aerostar (unless he had owned one previously). The NTSB did a number of different analysis on the props, and did not report anything suspicious. That said, the widow of the pilot is suing the maintenance facility. I'm not sure if they know anything else about it or are just filing in order to get it in under the deadline in case the NTSB determines something mechanical to be at fault. Every other crash on the January 2020 docket (there are more than a dozen) have been closed except this one...
@@flyingformoney777 Every plane crash seems to have a lawyer attached. At what point do we make GA flying like skiing in Colorado? You go up the hill, you own the risks.
