crashed

[Roger]

Terrible . Hard to surmise what happened at this point, because of all the different info from witnesses. Some say the plane was going very fast which doesn't sound right for a take off. But the gear was allegedly up, so it would appear that it could have rotated and cycled up. More likely a landing or low approach, or missed. For the wing tip to be in the position it is in, it seems like it might have hit before the accident, i.e. scrapped the runway, broke off, then flipped? Marks on the runway may tell the story. Regadless, what a horrible thing.

[Guy Paris]

WALL TOWNSHIP -- A small plane broke apart over Monmouth Executive Airport in Wall Township today, sending the aircraft into a nose dive that destroyed the plane and killed at least two people. Three others remain missing as authorities continue to search the debris field, officials said.

Eric Ross, a helicopter pilot, witnessed the plane crash at Monmouth Executive Airport. Eric Ross, 47, was flying near the airport at the time of the crash and reported it was a Cessna 337 Skymaster, a twin-engine plane with propellers on the front and rear of the fuselage. Ross said the plane appeared to be making a "high-speed, low pass across the runway" just before the crash. Ross said he saw "mangled bodies" inside the plane

[hharney]

Reports are saying now that they have located two of the missing and that they were ejected from the aircraft. A fifth person is still missing. Three of the five were related, two of the five were younger, one teen and one child. There may have been family watching them leave from the ground but may not have seen the crash. They were going to NYC for a sightseeing flight.

[wfreestone]

It appears that it probably was N12NA. The Fox NY web site's TV reporter broadcast says that: all five victims have been recovered, that the FAA said it was a 1973 T337 registered to Jack Air LLC, Wilmington, Delaware (which matches N12NA's FAA Registration info), and that an eyewitness saw the aircraft with the gear retracted approach the runway, hit the runway with the gear retracted, and pull up after hitting the runway.

[hharney]

I keep wondering if they were just doing a low approach fly-by, like many of us do. If that was the intent, what went wrong? The right wing tip was not damaged from hitting the runway but appears to have just broke off at the extended fuel cell attach point. If the fuel cell broke off while performing a fly-by at high speed this could roll the aircraft clockwise very quickly. One would expect that it may look similar to the reports that witness's described. If this is the case why did the fuel cell separate? High speed? Structural? We may never know.


Interesting story relating to the crash:

http://www.examiner.com/x-35334-Newa...illfated-plane

[jack374dn]

Originally Posted by hharney

I keep wondering if they were just doing a low approach fly-by, like many of us do. If that was the intent, what went wrong? The right wing tip was not damaged from hitting the runway but appears to have just broke off at the extended fuel cell attach point. If the fuel cell broke off while performing a fly-by at high speed this could roll the aircraft clockwise very quickly. One would expect that it may look similar to the reports that witness's described. If this is the case why did the fuel cell separate? High speed? Structural? We may never know.


Interesting story relating to the crash:

http://www.examiner.com/x-35334-Newa...illfated-plane

Did this aircraft have the extended wing mod. to increase gross take-off weight ?

Jack

[hharney]

I don't know which optional tanks it had. Given the winglets are Aviation Enterprises maybe the fuel cells are also. I know that some of the optional tip tanks do have a jetison system so that if you have to land before exhausting the fuel the fuel can be dumped so that the gross weight is legal for landing. The increased gross weight is for T/O and flight only and not landing.

Here is the info on the Flint extended tip tanks. It increases the Gross Wgt to 4,630 except where the GW is already 4,700 from Cessna. No dump system on the Flint Kit.

http://www.flintaero.com/337.htm