Posted on 09/30/2009 6:02:35 PM PDT by Cindy
Note: Photos included.
SNIPPET: "ALBANY, Ind. — A single-engine plane crashed into an Indiana field on Wednesday after the pilot, who was seen slumped over, lost consciousness and the aircraft started flying out of control, officials said.
Military officials do not believe the crash was terrorism-related but said the pilot may have had a health problem or have been suffering from a lack of oxygen."
SNIPPET: "At Delta High School east of Muncie, a state trooper rushed in and told officials a plane could crash near the building within five minutes, said Principal Jim Koger. Officials raced to move the 880 students from lunch into interior rooms.
"In this case, it wasn't a drill," Koger said."
SNIPPET: "The plane, a single-engine propeller M20M Mooney, had about four hours of fuel left when officials noticed the problems, said Michael Kucharek, a spokesman for U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command."
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=56037
NORAD Fighters Escort Troubled Aircraft
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2009 – Two F-16 fighter jets intercepted a civilian aircraft this morning near Muncie, Ind., at the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s direction and escorted it and its unconscious pilot until they crashed, NORAD officials reported.
NORAD scrambled the Air National Guard F-16s at about 9:30 a.m. Mountain time to intercept a Mooney, single-engine aircraft when it failed to respond to radio calls. The F-16 pilots reported the civilian pilot appeared to be unresponsive. They escorted the aircraft until it crashed at about 10:40 a.m. Mountain time in a rural area of Randolph County, Ind., Air Force Capt. Sharbe Clark, a NORAD spokesman said.
The civilian aircraft was not believed to be part of any terrorist activity, Clark said. It left Grand Rapids, Mich., on a post-maintenance flight and had been in contact with ground air traffic controllers before the communication lines stopped.
The F-16s escorted the aircraft, trying to re-establish communications with the pilot and monitoring its erratic flight as it continued to lose altitude, Clark said.
First responders and local law enforcement responded to the scene. No information is yet available about the fate of the pilot, and no injuries have been reported on the ground, according to Rachel Meyer of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
Meyer called military interceptions an important element of homeland security.
Military interceptions typically are conducted to get the identified aircraft to re-establish communications with the local Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers and to direct them to land safely.
However, in cases like today’s, the escorts monitor the aircraft’s location and altitude and alert anyone in the area to help control the situation, Meyer said.
Related Sites:
North American Aerospace Defense Command
North American Aerospace Defense Command on Facebook
North American Aerospace Defense Command on Twitter
SNIPPET - Quote:
http://www.norad.mil/News/2009/093009a.html
NORAD Fighters respond to unresponsive aircraft
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. — F-16 fighters under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command intercepted a small unresponsive aircraft near Muncie, Ind. today at approximately 9:30 a.m. MDT.
The civilian aircraft departed Grand Rapids, Mich. on a post-maintenance flight and lost communications with ground air traffic controllers. Upon intercepting the aircraft, the F-16 pilots reported the pilot was unresponsive. F-16 fighters followed the aircraft until it crashed in a rural area of Randolph County, Ind. near Winchester at approximately 10:40 MDT.
First responders and local law enforcement responded to the scene.
The intent of military intercepts is to identify aircraft, re-establish communications with local FAA air traffic controllers and instruct the pilot to follow air traffic controllers to land safely for further follow-on action.
NORAD’s mission – in close collaboration with homeland defense, security, and law enforcement partners – is to prevent air attacks against North America, safeguard the sovereign airspaces of the United States and Canada by responding to unknown, unwanted and unauthorized air activity approaching and operating within these airspaces, and provide aerospace and maritime warning for North America. NORAD may be required to monitor, shadow, divert from flight path, direct to land and/or destroy platforms deemed a potential threat to North America.
NORAD is the bi-national Canadian and American command that is responsible for the air defense of North America and maritime warning. The command has three subordinate regional headquarters: the Alaskan NORAD Region at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; the Canadian NORAD Region at Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Continental NORAD Region at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The command is poised both tactically and strategically in our nation’s capital to provide a multilayered defense to detect, deter and prevent potential threats flying over the airspace of the United States and Canada.
A Mooney. That answers it. Dad, a WWII flight instructor, forbid me from ever setting foot on a low winged airplane. It’s about 50 degrees and misting here and in higher altitudes, that may be ice.
A low winged plane has a better chance of stalling according to Dad.
Oops. Didn’t read the unresponsiveness.
What does ice have to do with a plane crashing because the pilot lost consiousness?
“A low winged plane has a better chance of stalling according to Dad.”
Depends on the wing design.
I’ve had over 2” of rime ice on my Saratoga without losing lift because it builds dirctly out in front of the leading edge.
Had 1/4” at full gross going over the Rockies from Taos to Denver @ 18,000’ without problems.
On a high wing Cessna the wing design makes the ice form just aft of the leading edge on top and 1/4” and you’re in trouble.
Same thing with a Cessna 310 which is a low wing, 1/4” causes a drastic loss of lift.
When I was doing this we were intercepting Russians. Good Lord, how the world has changed.
Mooney aircraft, manufactured in Texas as they are, were engineered opposite to every other aircraft design so that the wing when subjected to any vertical acceleration stalls outward to inward, wingtip to root, thus rendering roll control impossible and assuring all involved of a violent, sudden, grisly demise.
Hence, the current manufacturer financing program and cash incentives.
I've only been in one a couple of times with a friend of mine as a passenger in the right seat.
That pretty much describes my dating history through high school.
From the article I would guess that he had a heart attack.
The fact that they're small makes them slippery and fast so that a 200 HP Mooney comes slamming into the terminal area pretty quick. A pilot has to know how to slow down, plan ahead, in order to manage their energy situation and to partner effectively with ATC.
That makes them a very effective teaching tool and one we've used in a Part 141 school.
We put students who think at 110 kts into an airplane that flies at 140 kts.
Hopefully, they learn something.
The one my friend had had air brakes which helps alot.
At your age, I hope you have never set foot on a commercial jet, outside a Dornier, BAe, or ATR. Almost all commercial transports are low wing aircraft.
High or low wing makes no difference. An airfoil (wing shape) will stall regardless of airspeed, altitude, or attitude (going up or down, turning left or right, right-side-up, or upside-down) if the AOA (angle-of-attack) is exceeded.
I will attest, as a Mooney owner, (soon to be former) the M20M is turbocharged and has a service ceiling of 25K feet.
My M20E has a normally aspirated engine. It’s ceiling is 14K. I need O2 at that altitude. Methinks hypoxia, or heart disease is the culprit.
Battle Axe, I’ll tell ya the difference of high v low wing AC. Low wing; great landings, high wing; great veiw. Outside of that, nothing.
Wow, that was mighty close to home. Glad no one on the ground was hurt. Too bad about the pilot.
But I knew a guy back in the 1960’s that went in right in the middle of a parking lot in MD.
Went to sleep, best anyone could figure out based on his work schedule and age.
Beech Travelair BE-95.
I would be interested in knowing whether this Mooney was turbocharged and if so at what altitude all of this started.
If above 10,000, it could have been a hypoxia thing.
Also his age, etc.
Funny how a thread can creep from what is pertinent to high vs low wing.
“Went to sleep, best anyone could figure out based on his work schedule and age.”
A guy flying for Cal Air Charter, they fly bank checks, fell asleep in a brand new Caravan and didn’t make the turn going to Las Vegas and flew straight into the mountain.
He didn’t tell his employers but he had taken a King Air from Burbank to New York and back the same day before he make the late night flight grom Burbank to Vegas.
RIP.
...and you probably intercepting them somewhere other than over Muncie, Indiana.
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