Lear jet crash in Florida

[offshore171]

A considered early analysis from an understandably emotional Captain Steeve

I have to say, the young woman copiloting died an absolute hero. She was 20 years old, got licence at 17 and living her dream. Despite everything going on, and with the plane in a near vertical dive, she kept ATC informed every step of the way. She made her callsign on every single call.

And an excellent comment from NASA chief Jared Isaacman

https://twitter.com/x/status/2117292922693431496

 

[RooFlyer]

And Juan Brown. A lot of technical stuff on the capabilities of the Learjet, and also the meteorology

 

[Quickstatus]

And this one makes a lot of sense

 

[markis10]

More speculation, somewhat ill informed, it was the same plane not the same crew that got caught out earlier I believe. If it’s relevant it will be in the forthcoming report along with actual details of the crew etc.

 

[offshore171]

(NTSB) Left elevator has been located, several km away from the crash site

This gives creedence to the reports that parts of the T-tail were missing before impact.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2117733845747306580

 

[Quickstatus]

This gives creedence to the reports that parts of the T-tail were missing before impact.

Due to overspeed exceeding structural limits?

Or overspeed + pilot input to pitch up = exceeded structural limits?

Did the overspeed also induced a high speed stall or Mach tuck which essentially also disrupted airflow over the horizontal stabiliser whose normal function is to maintain pitch balance?. Making the loss of the horizontal stabiliser a moot issue?

 

[offshore171]

Due to overspeed exceeding structural limits?

Or overspeed + pilot input to pitch up = exceeded structural limits?

AFAIK that hasn't been determined yet. Give them time. I'm sure they have some of the best investigators available working on this.

Also it's been mentioned that they believe this particular aircraft wasn't fitted with a flight data recorder but likely had a coughpit voice recorder fitted.

Whether either type of device could survive such an impact vertically into the ground at something like mach 0.8 is another question.

 

[jb747]

Commentary re the co-pilot is way off the mark. The fact that she was 20 does not matter. I know of both an A-4 and an F-111 pilot of that age. Some young people can achieve much.

 

[Quickstatus]

Whether either type of device could survive such an impact vertically into the ground at something like mach 0.8 is another question.

It could be buried deep in the crater.

My understanding is the CSMU (Crash Survivability Memory Unit) in the CVR are designed to survive acceleration at point of impact of >3000G
Aircraft vertical acceleration just prior to impact would be 1G+engine thrust-drag-lift vertical vector)
Mach 0.8 just prior to impact = 53,000 feet/min and less than 1G assuming starting altitude 37,000 feet

At impact the acceleration would depend on final resting place of CVR.

I know of both an A-4 and an F-111 pilot of that age

And responsible for live bombs......
And likely she was the pilot monitoring not the pilot flying.

Imperial War museum

 

[nancypants]

It could be buried deep in the crater.

My understanding is the CSMU (Crash Survivability Memory Unit) in the CVR are designed to survive acceleration at point of impact of >3000G
Aircraft vertical acceleration just prior to impact would be 1G+engine thrust-drag-lift vertical vector)
Mach 0.8 just prior to impact = 53,000 feet/min and less than 1G assuming starting altitude 37,000 feet

At impact the acceleration would depend on final resting place of CVR.

And responsible for live bombs......
And likely she was the pilot monitoring not the pilot flying.

Imperial War museum
View attachment 530305

This implies that the youngsters were better pilots as they were less likely to die!

 

[stm1sydney]

Remind me to never ever fly in a Lear 60.

 

[Quickstatus]

This implies that the youngsters were better pilots as they were less likely to die!

The WW2 pilots were exceptional despite their young age.

 

[RooFlyer]

Juan Brown (recently retired from American Airlines, he notes in this video, smiling) has a look at the theory and practice of high-speed aerodynamics and aircraft stability

 

[markis10]

Remind me to never ever fly in a Lear 60.

LOL, the aircraft type generally won’t matter if your pilot decides flying through thunderstorms are the go!

 

[SYD]

LOL, the aircraft type generally won’t matter if your pilot decides flying through thunderstorms are the go!

The one and only(?) time I’ve flown in an executive jet (Falcon from memory) was a round trip SYD to East Sale. The flight down was uneventful apart from the near vertical takeoff out of SYD. Facing the rear, I must have looked like a crash test dummy on impact!

However, flying back we bounced through CBR to drop off some peeps before heading on again.

Now, up until then the worst flight for turbulence prior was ex CBR on a Dash-8. A work colleague kept grabbing my hand every time we appeared to plunge back to earth…

Anyway, this flight there were massive thunder heads left and right. Initially we started joking until the turbulence really kicked in and the pilot was weaving around each storm cell!

My two senior colleagues went very quiet and I’m sure one was trying to wrap his arms around the armrest like a snake around a branch!