Posted on 01/26/2008 11:37:51 AM PST by NormsRevenge
OCALA, Fla. - A car traveling at high speed down a private airport runway ran off an embankment and was airborne for 200 feet before smashing into a tree early Saturday, killing all five young men in the vehicle, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Investigators did not know whether the BMW was alone or was racing another car on the air strip at the exclusive "fly-in" community of Jumbolair Aviation Estates, where pilot-actor John Travolta has a home, officials said.
According to the preliminary investigation, the car ran off the 85-foot-high embankment at the end of the runway. When it struck the large tree, the car split in half, scattering wreckage over an area of 200 square feet.
Three of the five occupants were ejected, said Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Mike Burroughs.
"It's too early in the investigation to determine a speed and also to determine whether seat belts were in use at the time of the crash," Burroughs said.
Two of the five men — ages 18 to 20 — were from Ocala, two were from Fairfield and one was from Anthony, but it was not clear if any of the men lived within the gated community.
Think about being alive for that 200 ft drop. That would suck.
Hmmmm....gene pool cleanup???
...
"It's too early in the investigation to determine a speed and also to determine whether seat belts were in use at the time of the crash," Burroughs said.
Probably not, and it's a real tragedy since I'm sure seatbelts would have saved them.
Darwin Award nominees?
The same thing happened in New Mexico a few years ago. Some kids driving around at night happened upon a farmer’s private runway, and raced down it at high speed, not realizing that it was on a mesa. The car flew over 300 ft before impact, and no-one survived. Seat belts are superfluous in these situations, IMHO. It’s like saying “he hit a tree on his motorcycle while traveling at 145 mph. He was not wearing a helmet.” As if it would have made any difference!
Hold mah beer and watch THIS!
Did they find Dukes of Hazzard videos on any of their iPods?
I wonder if there’s a video camera among the wreckage.
These you fellers should be praised for killing themselves somewhere other than a public highway where they could have killed others.
Did the passengers urge the driver on, or did the driver get out of control despite his passenger's admonitions? In any event... a tragedy.
You think the NTSB is searching for the black box yet?
Sort of like the seat belt statement by the cop, MOOT topic.
How long is the runway?
Point taken.
7,550 ft.
“ages 18 to 20”
What a waste. They really think they know how to drive after just a couple years behind the wheel.
The people on Korean Airlines 007 fell five miles before the crash killed them, and they were on no joy ride. Think about what THAT was like.
In the 1950’s a famous journalist Dennis Jenkinson, who navigated for Stirling Moss in the 1955 Mille Miglia said never drive at 10/10ths ( full speed, flat out) with passengers in the car. You don’t have the right to endanger their lives if you make a mistake.
One idiot killed himself and 4 friends. Pull over and let em out if you want to do something stupid.
“Think about being alive for that 200 ft drop. That would suck.”
Not as much as the sudden stop at the end. Plus I doubt they had much time to think about it and were probably to drunk to realize what was happening. 200 feet at 100mph isn’t very long.
“The people on Korean Airlines 007 fell five miles before the crash killed them, and they were on no joy ride. Think about what THAT was like.”
That would take 3-4 minutes wouldn’t it?
******************
I can't. It's too awful to contemplate. What a shame.
The funny part is that the 08 BMWs *do* have a black-box-like function in their central computers. If that survived, it may be possible to find out just what happened.
You hit about 120mph (terminal velocity for average human body in spread-eagle posture in the lower atmosphere) in the first seven seconds after the fall begins. Time to surface level from 5 miles altitude is a little over two and a half minutes.
However, unless one of the passengers had an oxygen bottle with them when the KAL jet was blown apart, oxygen deprivation (which occurs at altitudes greater than 10,000 - 15,000ft or so depending on the individual, call it three miles up) would have caused loss of consciousness and/or death long before their bodies hit the ground.
“Just prior to being attacked, the 747 had been cruising at an altitude around 35,000 feet. When the missile exploded, KAL 007’s tail was pushed downward which at the same time lifted its nose causing a brief altitude gain before it began to descend from 18:26 until recording ceased at 18:27:46. Capt. Chun was able to turn off the autopilot (18:26:46) and it is unknown whether he was able to regain any measure of control[8] as the aircraft spiraled toward the ocean around 5 miles (8 km) below after the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder stopped functioning. The final moments of the crash remain a matter of conjecture; some evidence suggests that the pilot may have attempted a controlled and ultimately unsuccessful ‘ditching’ into the ocean, or the aircraft may have crashed out of the pilot’s control.”
One does not immediately lose consciousness at that altitude. We don’t know what happened on board, but if they were conscious for the entire descent it’s a long time to stare death in the eye.
I was referring to the theoretical passenger blown out of an airplane.
Nobody really knows what happened to the jet, because most of the wreckage was never found and as you noted the flight recorders died shortly after the descent began.
If the jet lost pressurization and the oxygen masks didn’t drop in time, and/or the oxygen system was damaged, most of those on board would have been unconscious within 30 seconds at 35,000 feet, if I recall the tables correctly.
Soviet doctrine of the time prescribed the firing of missiles in staggered pairs (one radar homer, one heat-seeker) to increase the chance of a hit, and to keep firing until the pilot was out of ammunition, the target was positively destroyed, or the ground controller ordered the engagement aborted. If I recall correctly, evidence seems to indicate that of the first launched pair, the IR homer missed, but the radar missile hit in the rear fuselage (which is where you would expect). My guess is that this either weakened the airframe which later maneuvers by the pilot overstressed - or the 747 ate a couple more missiles after that as it was still flying. An additional rear hit that perhaps blew off the tail would account for the data recorder (which is mounted in the tail) stop.
BMWs have ejection seats?
Mark
They do if you hit something and you’re not belted in, especially if the car is tumbling or cartwheeling. A modern car is often designed to blow out its sunroof (if so equipped) or glass/window frames when the airbag go off to avoid concussive effects.
http://www.ocala.com/article/20080127/BREAKING_NEWS/274162577/1053/BREAKING_NEWS
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