3 Tesla workers die in E. Palo Alto plane crash

Post by n8agrin » Wed, Feb 17, 2010, 11:55 PM UTC

sean12345 wrote: post #20

I see two possibilities: pilot loss of control due to disorientation caused by IMC conditions and subsequent powered flight into the ground or an engine failure. A loaded Cessna 310 has very poor climb performance with a single engine running. Probably an engine failure is the likely cause with the poor weather inhibiting the pilot's ability to make an off runway landing in the marsh.

Post by aquadoctorbob » Thu, Feb 18, 2010, 12:01 AM UTC

jazzychad wrote: post #21

jrockway wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other article was tripe. People were upvoting based on worthiness of the story, not on the particular writing at the original site. Now everyone can read actual facts and come up with their own opinions.

So, I submitted the original story. When it was submitted, the article on the page was much different that what it appears to be now. I just came back from lunch to find my submission "overridden". In this case I don't mind because of the situation, and I would rather have an article with more journalistic integrity take center stage, but there were some good comment threads going on the original submission. However,…

Post by sokoloff » Thu, Feb 18, 2010, 12:19 AM UTC

SpacemanSpiff wrote: post #25

Godspeed. Don't know if many readers here are also pilots, but it's always sad to see something like this happen to a fellow aviator. I've flown 310's quite a bit and they can be a handful on a single engine - although I will refrain from speculating about the crash further. Incidentally it's possible to track the investigation using the NTSB website: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp The accident synopsis will be a…

Post by SpacemanSpiff » Thu, Feb 18, 2010, 12:22 AM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #26

SpacemanSpiff wrote: post #25

Godspeed. Don't know if many readers here are also pilots, but it's always sad to see something like this happen to a fellow aviator. I've flown 310's quite a bit and they can be a handful on a single engine - although I will refrain from speculating about the crash further. Incidentally it's possible to track the investigation using the NTSB website: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp The accident synopsis will be a…

FAA's AAI site will have the "just the facts" version of the report far sooner than the NTSB. (In all likelihood, it will be on the FAA site tomorrow.) http://www.faa.gov/data_research/accident_incident/prelimina...

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Feb 18, 2010, 12:41 AM UTC

n8agrin wrote: post #22

sean12345 wrote: post #20

I see two possibilities: pilot loss of control due to disorientation caused by IMC conditions and subsequent powered flight into the ground or an engine failure. A loaded Cessna 310 has very poor climb performance with a single engine running. Probably an engine failure is the likely cause with the poor weather inhibiting the pilot's ability to make an off runway landing in the marsh.

I believe it was in "Outliers" Malcolm Gladwell claimed that airplane accidents are often the cause of several critical failures, not just one. It would be interesting to find out if that theory holds true in this case, as you seem to be hypothesizing.