Posted on 12/12/2012 8:58:28 AM PST by BenLurkin
The small plane carrying Mexican-American music superstar Jenni Rivera plunged in a nose-dive from more than 28,000 feet and hit the ground at more than 600 mph, Mexico's top transportation official said.
Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Mexico's secretary of communications and transportation, offered a Mexican radio station the first detailed accounts of the moments leading up to the crash that killed Rivera and six other people aboard the Learjet on Sunday.
The plane practically nose-dived," Ruiz told Radio Formulate. "The impact must have been terrible."
Ruiz said the 43-year-old aircraft hit the ground 1.2 miles from where it began falling and that it plummeted at a nearly 45-degree angle. The plane left Monterrey around 3:30 a.m. Sunday after a concert performance. According to authorities, controllers lost contact with the U.S.-registered plane about 10 minutes after takeoff.
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
I am certainly not knowledgeable, but suspect that something went wrong during the fueling process before it took off.
Quick way to go broke? Underwriting Accidental Death Policies to entertainers.
While 90 year old co-pilot was in the loo.
At least she didn’t suffer, more than a few miliseconds.
Lord have mercy.
I heard this news on the radio and just gasped. (I seldom gasp)
If a plane at 28,000 feet begins a nose dive at 600 mph, isn’t there still at least 2 minutes of sheer terror and panic before the plane hits the ground?
Prayers for all....
Yah, mercifully a quick end, but I cannot even conceive how utterly terrifying that steep plunge would be. Shudder.
Or would you be pulling so many g’s that you’d black out long before hitting the ground?
Plane was doing 880fps when it hit. Don’t know off hand how long a Lear jet is so yes, a few milliseconds ... reminds of that jet carrying that pro-golfer that went in up in the Dakotas some place. Went straight in from around 45,000 feet.
What is it about being a Mexican female pop star that seems to lure death to their doorsteps?
I REALLY hope my last two minutes aren’t as grim as hers likely were.
So long as you can pass an FAA medical exam you can fly. There’s no mention of the 1st. officer. Hopefully there’s a CVR and a flight recorder that can tell us.
If my math is correct, that’s about a 32 second nose dive. Presumably a person would loose consciousness at that rate, but still briefly terrifying.
The jet was built in 1969 and records show it sustained substantial damage in an accident in 2005 when it experienced a fuel system malfunction.
However, just saw this that refers to the 2005 incident as "pilot error"?
The 43-year-old Learjet sustained substantial damage in a runway incident in 2005 when the airplane struck a runway marker and veered off the landing strip. NTSB investigators attributed that incident to pilot error.
No "Gs" ... the aircraft would be in free-fall. Unless the engines were running, then there's the possibility of powered descent, and possibly negative G. In any case, the pax and crew would be well aware of what's going on, and the last thing to pass through their minds would be the windscreen or forward bulkhead.
Sounds about right. That was one heck of a smash hit.
What was the weather like?
This might indicate a pilot health issue. But from 28000 feet, how could a co-pilot or someone else not respond and right the aircraft?
Unless the pilot was healthy and locked everyone out of the cockpit intentionally. Just speculating.
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