Beechcraft C-99 Door Open In Flight Crash! 24 January 2024
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
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I have over 2200h flying the 99 for Ameriflight. Unless the plane was mostly empty, we always used the hatch to access the cockpit. These locking latches were notoriously difficult to lock. It was also challenging to confirm they were properly locked, as the small opening onto the mechanism was very narrow.
The pilot was in IMC, in potential icing conditions, with a roaring PT6 a few feet away from him, and with a very strong cold wind entering the cockpit. It’s a miracle he survived this.
Update on the pilot according to WMUR. In stable condition (was critical) and scheduled for surgery later this week. Hope for the best.
When I first heard about the accident I thought it was fatal. I really hope for a full recovery for the pilot. What a nightmare.
Single pilot IFR freight dogs have a high workload job. I did it for 4 years back in the 90s. Looking back, I am amazed that I survived. I’m glad this freight dog survived and I hope he doesn’t carry any permanent injuries.
I did it also in Aerostars. I agree
My ex (a Wiggins alum herself), was a captain for American Eagle, then an FO for "big" American, and she flew with a lot of new hire FOs at Eagle. She was not impressed with flight academy grads and military pilots, but thought ex-freight dogs were the greatest.
This is absolutely a nightmare situation- door flys off, totally disorienting noise, freezing temperature and possibly precip entering the cockpit, possible and very likely icing as well as damage to the rear control surfaces due to the departing door- all the while single pilot IFR- really not a situation u can b prepared for- this guy did a hell of a job not loosing total control and stalling into a residential area- btw, he apparently recovered from two near stalls- yeah, I’ll fly with him any day!
as long as he is not the one closing the doors.
*losing
All credit to the ATC crews working this incident, especially Boston. They quickly assessed an aircraft in trouble and never stopped providing him useful information. If there was any way to get him home, they seemed determined to find it. True professionals. Good luck and best wishes to the pilot.
Another possible problem may have been water and mist coating the inside windows and instruments, etc.
Oh wow - that is an excellent point!
Brings a whole new meaning and importance to the Hatches and Harnesses check.
Ask me how I know.
How do you know? 😮
@@new.handle :-D
@leifvejby8023 I bet he is tech that checkes them, so he knows :]
Had the HALT check drilled in to me by a very thorough instructor. It was introduced at the beginning of spin training.
@dagger4146 Well, I do remember standard walk-out communication with cockpit over the headset "all doors and hatches closed and secured..."
You’re right, he’s going to have one hell of a story to tell. Hopefully in the future, an update can be made. Glad he made it. Thanks Juan!
Whew! I have heard that noise before in a Baron. That poor pilot of this C-99 had his hands really full. On the Baron I flew for 27 years, we had a recurring problem with the door poping open soon after TO. Even after continuous and repeated maintenance and repairs to the door and door pins. And my door latch wasn't nearly as complicated as the C-99. On the Baron TO, the drill; fly the aircraft with all the noise and land straight ahead or return to the airport. It was part of my pre-takeoff briefing to whoever might be sitting in the right seat. I would do pre-takeoff checks by bumping (like hard) the door but even that didn't do the trick every time. Nothing on the ground at idle can simulate a flexing fuselage and door in flight.
Flexing fusilage. HOLY CRAP. I didn't even consider that. Damn thing could get pretty squirrelly. (Bucking bronco?)
Great analysis. Hopefully one day he'll be able to talk to one of the aviation channels and tell us the story of how he nearly died when his door blew open in flight.
Or, maybe he won't want to re-live this terrible experience. PTSD is the pits.
would also like to hear that story would it begin "it was a dark and stormy night..."
An "Open Door" policy is not always the best one.
@@johnstreet797 Once upon a midnight dreary, the airplane tumbled weak and weary ...
@@catherinenelson4162Yeah it is, I send you empathetic and compassionate vibes.
I trained out of MHT and those Wiggins planes were known to be less than well maintained. Around 5:30-6:30 was called "Wiggins Hour" and you stayed out of the pattern as these flying turds all came in to land.
Last august a be99 crashed in Maine and I think it was Wiggins also.
@@JuanSanchez-ik7wx It was. The flight was a training flight
@@thomasmathieu7930 James had 15,000 commercial hours and first flew cargo out of EWB in a PA31 back in 77. Crash has never been explained. Happened at 6pm on a sunny august night with no clouds...3 hours before sunset.
Flying turd, a true New Englandisim LOL
ATC - I could never do it. So hard to know that pilot is in trouble, not knowing what he's dealing with, hoping against hope it's going to work out.
You quickly realize there’s nothing you can do other than your job. It’s just a thing you accept
@@MomedicsChannel Can't help yet but have your heart sink to realize that there's been an accident of some kind. You do everything you can that would possibly help the stricken craft to safety.
As usual great information. Thank goodness the pilot lived to fly another day.
I’ve worked on these cargo airplanes for 28 years we’ve lost three doors without any problems. Years ago we put a secondary latch on and haven’t lost the door since. There were no doors left to buy so we had to order the parts and build one the last time.
I’ve been saying it for years. With government regulations being so strict it makes it nearly impossible for companies to build new aircraft and the age of the current fleet means they are going to start failing out of the sky soon. Most of the current fleet are from the 60’s, 99% of us don’t even drive cars that old. GA and commercial desperately need new aircraft to replace the old and worn out ones.
👍blancolirio I'm a multi engine pilot i follow your reports and advice I'm always learning something new.thanks.
I love youtubers where everything is done in one take - because they know what they're talking about
In the company King Air the PIC was always the one who double checked the door latching.
This poor guy, dealing with the wind noise, PT6 prop noise, wind chill factor, then the disorientation in IMC, crashing AND surviving! Yes I would say he has a story to tell.
Board of Directors and the major shareholders (who are they?) of that cargo airline have more of an interesting story to tell. Cost-saving policy for solo pilot ops on twin/IFR routes?
Unions need to DEMAND no more solo flights, especially this airline and this season. FAA immediate intervention?
I heard the aircraft in a nearby town. The weather conditions were extremely bad and I was surprised to hear an aircraft that low in those conditions.
Heart wrenching to listen to. Hoping he recovers fully.
The small trees saved the day. I hope he heals up fine. Good luck bro.
The most confusing part, to me, is the massively erratic behavior on departure and then the almost "normal" flying after he made the call about "35 ILS". He maintained 2500' MSL for nearly 5 minutes while flying toward the south as if he would be making a couple of 090 and then a 045 heading ton intercept the localizer. What happened when he turned eastward?!
Did that door damage the rudder? Did he realize he had directional control vis engine power changes? Was the elevator also damaged? Did he lose all his flight charts? Did he lose his sense of feeling and control in his hands/arms/feet from the freezing wind chill and possible moisture soaked clothing? Just hope he pulls through with as little permanent physical damage as possible.
The schematic and breakdown of that door latch reminds me a lot of the old DC10 cargo latch that could appear locked when it wasn't. A design that was made overly complicated and only performed marginally in its defined function.
I wonder if they will be able to tell if the door damaged the flight control surfaces. that would make the thing a real hand full.
The photo on the intro does not look like a door, it is in fact a window which can be used as an escape in an emergency. The Alaska 737 situation was a door plug, first reported in the media as a door. A door is defined as an opening used to enter/leave a space, windows don't meet the definition.
What a crazy incident. The pilot is very lucky. Amazing a door caused all this
He's alive at the moment, but I don't think he was lucky at all. What an unfathomably terrifying and life threatening few minutes for him.
@@pomerau Being able to tell what happened to the aircraft will be helpful to other flyers, as he wouldn't have had to actually die to find out.
Is squawking 7700 in an emergency still a thing? When I used to pilot aircraft many years ago, that was on the emergency checklist. Not sure if it would have helped the pilot out in this case, but it might have helped emergency response. From the looks of it, he had his hands full trying to control the aircraft, which is first on the checklist. Hope he gets better soon. Thanks for the channel Juan, it is one of my favorite!
Guess everybody’s doors are flying off now 😂
The missing door drastically changed the flight characteristics mid flight, and he did a great job “landing”.
The windchills could stimulate the parasympathetic nerve system and suppress the breathing capability together with the possible negative pressure caused by the Venturi effect. But that doesn’t explain the erratic flight status. I’m more learning towards the damage of the flight control surface from the departing door.
This clearly isn't a common problem, but that seems surprising after the empahasis you place on the care required to keep the latch functioning.
We used to fly with the main door removed on our skydiving plane, a Cessna 172. The plane was completely controllable and even conversation by shouting was OK. It'll be interesting to find out why the pilot had such a hard time maintaining control and navigation. Of course, the door hatch that came off was much closer to the pilot in this case. Glad everything turned out well for him and those in the nearby house.
Bet you never did that in freezing precip and IMC
@@bradmarcum2927 Yes, that would be a factor for sure
If he wore glasses they probably flew out the window now making it difficult for him to see instruments
Beech 99. A great skydive aircraft. Bigger exit door than a King Air.
Yes should have been a non-event.
@@AlpineWarrenthe cockpit door was open… not a rear door. He would have been exposed
@@louissanderson719 yes I know and it flies fine with the cockpit door open. Happened to me once when I had a latch failure. Just noisy and windy as hell.
As others have said, the 99 doesn’t have oxygen masks like airliners do and as far as I’m aware Wiggins pilots don’t carry oxygen tanks as they don’t need to go above 10k. I’m not sure why you would lose control of the airplane like this with the door gone. There was another incident a year or so ago in Burbank where the pilot was able to communicate and get back in just fine with the door blown off.
Burbank is not exactly bone-chilling and finger-numbing cold. Did loss of manual dexterity somehow play a role? I find it very difficult tuning my ham rig during field day night time on the mountaintop.
The entire New England area was very icy indeed around that time. Even on the ground it was a mist that was freezing to everything.
Hoping that we aren’t looking at a new Tic Toc "no door" challenge with aircrafts! 😅
Just three observations from me.. 1. This happened in IMC conditions. 2. The door's aerodynamic shape would tend for it being blown off the aircraft, unlike some where the aerodynamic forces tend to keep them closed. 3. Was he wearing his seat-belt tight enough, to not be pulled out of his seat. Hope he makes a fine recovery, so that we get to know all the answers.
Cair is KAP which is Cape Air for anyone wondering. VAS is amazing, but the captions are comedy so often.
Looking forward to another update. Thanks for this info.
If that door opened and detached it probably destroyed the prop and damaged the engine. On top of that he was battling asymmetric thrust. Remember, props and engine set at takeoff/ climb settings so high toque. He was probably disorientated by that door flying off and probably loosing anything on his lap or clipped to his yoke. A hell of a lot to deal with.
Regards from South Africa
Once again, we are reminded what death traps these small planes are. You couldn't pay me enough to do this kind of work.
In my Cherokee 160 days while on a solo flight, I removed my headset and to my surprise the top door latch wasn't. Try as I might, I couldn't get the gap closed enough to close the latch with one hand. Two hands worked but then I couldn't turn the latch. After trying several times, I realized the plane was flying just fine and putting the headphones back on took care of the noise.
🦘🇦🇺 Thank you Juan for the info. Looking forward to part 2 when more is known 🙏
The door didn’t look very damaged.
I saw this happen many years ago. I believe it was a King Air. This happened just east of Stapleton in Denver (long ago closed). The cargo door was open as it flew over me. He was turning back. He made it thank God.
Will be interesting to hear the Pilot's account of this nightmare. Get well soon sir. Thanks Jaun.
Maybe the door blew off and damaged the rear flight control apparatus (i dont know what the flaps back there are called) as well. It will be quite a story when we hear it. Best Wishes for a full recovery for the pilot. Cheers 🇨🇦
Those latches remind me of the latches on the fwd, upper cowlings, which are tricky to get latched.
Unless the door hit something it should fly okay to fly. You can take the rear door off and fly it. They have been used as jump planes.
Excellent, detailed report . Thank you.
Possibly cold wet air blast frosted his instruments. Flew Beech 18 for old Emery Air, way below zero, carried spray bottle with deice to defrost my display in flight. No heater. 62 below zero one night at altitude 7,500 blizzard conditions. Nearly froze to death.
Wow. This is my hometown!
For both this crash and the Alaskan air flight, I would believe the risk of impact from the door to the tail after the loss is quite possible. The tail is missing from this crash but I wonder if he lost some of his horizontal or vertical tail surfaces. On Alaskan flight, they did not but it could have happed to shear a section of the tail as the door was ejected. Just a thought.
AS ALWAYS, A FACTUAL AND DETAILED REPORT, THANK YOU!
Perhaps the pilot was trying to hold the door closed, and it ripped away from him, injuring his right hand/arm?
I had that happen to me back in 81'. Different machine, Beech D-18, but almost the same door design. In my case it didn't affect the aerodynamics that I could notice. I finished the trip as I was headed home, thankfully uneventfully. A side note, I had the tailwheel fall off leaving ORD one night on the same tail number. That was a bit more challenging on arrival.
Keep up the good work.
I just thought of something else, with that crew door, could the aircraft pressurize? I wouldn't think so.
Atc and Cair 410(in the middle of its own flight) doing all they can to try to contact the flight shows its a true community.
Beech should be ashamed for designing a door latch like this.
Awful to hear tragedy unfolding! Query: Could the open door have remained attached initially to cause the erratic course, then the pilot progressively overcome by the intense cold? Good work by ATC in stressful circumstances.
That is a terrible door locking mechanism design. Seems like a complete refit with a new design is indicated.
Geez, I feel like if you have to put a whole essay about how to close the door properly on a GA aircraft, might not be the best design.
Rube Goldberg comes to mind, eh @blancolirio ?
The north east has had super crappy weather . Rain but in the mid 30's . Yesterday here in upstate NY it was raining in the valleys but , less than 200 feet up the hillsides it was snowing . Then the temp drop a couple of degrees and it was snowing all over . . Looks like you might be able to get an interview .
Excellent content as usual. I’m left with one question: my first thought when shown the picture of the open door was could that door act like a wing (or other control surface) until it broke away? It sounds like the trouble started early but the door was recovered relatively close to the crash site.
I'm wondering why he didn't climb then switch on the autopilot to fix his door issue ...
Ho Lee Khow.
His survival is amazing.
Thank you so much for your videos. I cannot believe the pilot survive.
Well, maybe a combination of things: Door off, pilot being wind blasted? That wind might have a windchill factor in the single digits F? It might also have very cold rain and sleet in it? In the clouds or in-and-out of? Instrument panel getting frosted over? Stabilizer damage? Loss of glasses or glasses frosted over? Ear piercingly loud turbine engine and propeller whizzing away just a few feet from you. Combine all these things up and that’s quite a challenge, no?
I walked up next to a Jet Range helicopter once with its turbine engine idling…damn that’s painfully loud. I quickly covered my ears and moved away from it.
Could the propeller tip vortices deliver a punishing vibration as well? Looks like pilot would be only 2 or 3 feet aft of the prop blades.
But if the door hit the stabilizer with enough force to damage the stabilizer, it seems like it would have had a gash in it. It looked to be in fairly good condition.
Someone’s going to have to fly an open cockpit biplane into icing conditions to find out how rough it be. Volunteers? 🙂 (no!)
Considering the reported conditions, I have to wonder what, if anything the pilot could actually see both out the windows and on the panel. I can't imagine what that pilot went through... Hearing his story will be most interesting.
One possible factor is the pilot could have been injured trying to gain control of the door
Why don't they design all doors to open rear to front, that way even in flight if during came loose air pressure would keep it closed
Flew Caravans for Wiggins for 15 years back in the day. Now flying the 1900C and the Van for another 135 freight op. This is a challenging job when everything is going right. Very glad for the good outcome. I have commented before that I don't like channels such as this which seem to be nothing but "monday morning" quarterbacking. I notice that you don't comment on how serious the night, single-pilot IFR environment can be, in the NE no less. It is not for the faint of heart. There are many channels, such as Trent's , will preach to you all day long about this and that for your aviation career. And Trent and Dutch Pilot Girl etc etc will be at the mainline's soon.I dearly wish they all were stuck in 99's for years! For the record, there is a big difference between 121 and 135.
Probably had a supercooled cyclone of packages whirling around in front of their face. That would be distracting!
Thank you Juan. I stay in the ground
We do know that the door fell off close to the airport, so one could probably line up with the path of travel as to when in the flight it came off. That would definitely answer some of the simple questions and from there it would be understandable how difficult or how possible flying this plane without the door is. I’m no pilot so I would be interested to know that part of it, can this plane be flown safely without the cockpit door on?
Is it just me, or were the engines not running when he hit the trees? I don't hear any prop or engine noises when I watch the video.
Thank you.
Any idea if the door hit the tail?
Still have to watch the video, but this could be a case of something not critical for flight being enough of a distraction to become the cause of loss of control.
Edit: Best wishes for a speedy recovery for the pilot, and a special thank you to the ATC and Cair (Care?) 410 for trying to help best you could. I wonder if the door flying off hit anything crucial in the tail, especially any control surfaces. Lastly, overhead opening doors aren't ideal and that latch mechanism is way too complex. Reminds me of a timing system in a modern German engine. :D
*'Near fatal', shows a picture of a ball of metal in the forest*
Seeing the accident wreckage, its a miracle anyone survived.
Yes
No fire and the cargo didn't crush him. Came to rest right side up after crashing through those trees. Incredible odds of survival
Indeed, it's worked like the passenger cell in a car, and in an aircraft it can only be luck.
Plus he had takeoff fuel on board, and there was no fire. A true miracle.
I'm guessing hitting the trees dissipated alot of energy and saved the pilot
I have about 3000 hours in Ameriflght Beech 99’s. The proper closing of these doors has always been a very important thing to pay attention to, in fact Ameriflight has even drilled one inch diameter holes above the latch hooks so that you can physically see that the hooks are properly engaged. It’s imperative that you make sure these doors are properly latched since trying to close this door in flight is almost impossible. I most likely have about 300 hours in 53RP. It’s equipped with a cargo pod under the fuselage. This no doubt helped cushion the impact and made it safer for the pilot. During my time at ameriflight they had very strict policies that would help prevent this from happening. The 99 handles icing conditions very well. You did a fantastic job of describing this accident and the operation of this door Juan. Great Video!
I'd be willing to bet you couldn't shut that door AT ALL, until you've landed and you're at taxi speed.
@@rocketman374IF it stayed there opening upwards looks like it gets right into the slipstream and if it doesn't come off its a sail screwing up control if it does come off looks like the vertical stabilzer is right in the path...
@@rocketman374you are correct. If you have one latch loose, do not ever touch that door until you’re on the ground and taxiing. We had one guy do that, and the door is somewhere in the Mojave desert.
@@chrisjohnson4666more than one door has come loose during the time this plane has been in service. The door will come off cleanly with out hitting the tail surfaces. It’s just a very miserable convertible when this happens. One time after shutdown the whole door came off on me because an upper hinge pin came off. That was an easy fix.
Looks to me like that entire latch system needs drilled out of the aircraft and two manual latches installed. Ideally, each with a prox switch that would go to a Door light on the cockpit, but I am an avionics guy so what do I know?
Former Wiggins Pilot. I flew for them for seven years, loved flying for them. I thought that their maintenance was top notch and the only problem was the pilots not reporting any issues or squawks. It was not uncommon to get an aircraft and write up thirty squawks, all not previously reported. Very much of a “You flew it in, so you can fly it out!” attitude amongst the pilots. My friends that still work there tell of the airline’s decimating the repair staff, offering wages that Wiggins just can’t compete with, such that the number of maintenance personel is one quarter of what it was.
During training, it was HAMMERED on us that you HAD TO MAKE SURE THAT THE HATCH WAS LATCHED!!! Legend was that the hatch would take out the vertical fin and rudder while departing the aircraft! It was pretty rare that I had to delay a flight due to the hatch not latching, but I did.
There were some concerning things that happened, but there were only two times that I was truly scared. First was being in such severe icing that I couldn’t see out of any window. The second was a very similar profile to the accident aircraft where some customer required safety wear caught on the hatch handle and started to open it in flight!
While some of the 99’s had the “D” ring handles, most had an “L” shaped handle, and the L shaped handle caught on the safety equipment and started to open the hatch! It was the change in noise that alerted me that something was up. I was able to re-latch it without the hatch visibly opening! I was shaken enough that I was “off” and distracted for the rest of the flight.
I didn’t know the pilot of the aircraft, but know several that do. I am waiting to hear more about what happened and how!
I hope he is doing ok - sounds like they moved him to a Boston area hospital and he may? be critical, per a report over on a VAS comment last night
Flew 53RP for 60hrs, can confirm it has the L shaped handle. That L handle is a death sentence waiting to happen. It’s been reported to the safety dept many times but “too expensive” for the company to change them to D handles. And they didn’t see it as a big issue. So stupid. And CAN confirm the Maintenance has dropped SEVERELY in recent years. Lack of parts and lack of mechanics both. The amount of times I heard or saw a mechanic install a part from NAPA and they would joke about it. 🤦♂️
How are their planes equipped as far as avionics? If he can't talk to ATC.. and any charts or iPad also got ejected, if there any way to pull up the ILS frequency, or know his position (onboard GPS) ?
@@rcarsey if memory serves, 53RP had heading and altitude STEC, and it had a 430W I believe? The speakers in all the 99 are an absolute joke, so they wouldn’t be able to hear them with all that wind noise. His headset was likely sent out the window because that’s what happened to my friend a year ago. Most planes have a 430 or 650. But a few metros and 1900s are still /A. And a few 1900s are KLN90B
@@CaptBryce got it.. so sounds like he should have, at least technically, been able to find his way back to the airport with what was onboard..
AMF pilot from 2000s, flew this particular plane (79 hours). Two main issues - door latch was a critical item - you needed to look and see the latch was fully engaged. There were two holes for you to look specifically at the lock capturing the pins. As to BE99's generally (A/B/C), my experience was this often took multiple tries - one side would latch but not the other. Grab a flashlight at night to check. If it was not fully locked, you'd see it just clipping the bar, but slightly open to the side (e.g. there's be a spot for the bar that would not be flush with the bar). O2 masks in the BE99 are O2 canister based, unlikely he had a mask on. Additionally, BE/99C's with a belly pod pick up ice really quickly and there are no boots for the pod. I can only imagine that if you're dealing with a door open, you're not reaching for the wing boots, and I can see overweight coming down and him finding himself too slow. Finally, the pilot is typically involved in loading, so in cold weather, we're bundled up. Closing the door just gets the wind away. Likely the pilot still had his heavy coat on, but gloves off and hat off. Glad he survived.
Sounds like afterthought shitass design.
Brings back some PTSD 😳
SECURING THE CREW DOOR
It is important that the crew door drawhooks are fully engaged over the latchpins when securing
the crew door. This can be verified by visually checking through holes provided in the sides of the
doors, or feeling with your little finger through holes in the tops of the door frames above the latchpins
in BE-99s. Unless the aft surface of the drawhook inner radius bears against the pin, the hook is
not properly secured. If It comes loose in flight, the door will probably leave the airplane and may
severely damage the empennage upon departure.
That has to a terrible design to require that much checking, especially if it looks and feels closed.
@@jmevb60 Totally agree. Shutting a door securely on an aircraft shouldn't be this difficult. DESIGN-FLAWED.
This was the best ATC performance during an emergency that I have heard in a long time. No useless, stupid questions, just helpful offerings. God bless these controllers.
What would an example of a useless stupid question be…?
@@PRH123 if you have been on frequency during an airborne emergency you hear ATC ask for souls on board and fuel on board. That’s somewhat useful for the controller but the simple question becomes an immense mental task to a pilot in a fight for his and his aircraft’s survival. It always introduces additional questions in the pilots mind, such as “do they need it in gallons or pounds or hours remaining?” And figuring that out while trying to contain and control a problem is counterproductive in the extreme.
Thank God for level headed ATC controllers! One nasty night my 99 suffered a total pitot/static freeze up climbing into the clag 200 AGL in freezing drizzle and turbulence. P+P=P, I checked in with departure with my emergency, and the controller matter of factly said he had a mode C altitude on me and gave me a speed readout that was about right for the elapsed time from liftoff. Huh? Both systems in the cockpit inop, and no joy on alternate static, all deice been on since starting taxi. "Don't look a gift horse...". My savior calmly offloaded his other traffic and became my audio altimeter and speed sensor, up to 3,000 feet and around to the ILS and right back in. Piece of cake. He then invited me into the ATC facility to share a coffee break. Cool as a cucumber. Once in a warm hangar, the P/S systems worked fine, after giving up a scary amount of meltwater. Turns out the plane had sat outside during a sharp thaw with wind driven rain and a frontal passage and a sharp freeze. Alternate static checked out OK on the ground, and the blockage was too far in to be touched by the pitot and static heaters.
@@navion1946brilliant answer
Hitting the wires potentially saved his life, lucky it's a turboprop more difficult to get kero to catch fire. I wonder if his cargo load has moved once the erratic flying started. The pilot seemed to be riding a bucking bull all the way to the ground.
Speculative hunch, but striking the power lines may have slowed the aircraft enough to save his life at impact. The guy has used up at least 8 of his 9 lives.
Letting a cat fly the plane might be unwise
Veeeery much doubt that.
Beech 99s are much too heavy for those lines to have even a noticeable energy-taking effect on that.
Especially if they're loaded up with freight.
Couldn't agree any more!!! Those lines played a major part in his survival, no question!!
we know the plane,,,, welll but we dont know the type of rhe Lines ,,,, do you? It is not about about absorb the sped,,, , its possible that Large gage 100kv power lines be able to slightly change the (nose dive death sentence) thank god the pilot survived 👍 .... @@davecrupel2817
@user-sn8rj4od7x Toonces, look out!
I had one of those doors come open on me many years ago. I was able to gingerly guide the door to a full open position and then come back around to land. Boundary layer airflow was so strong that I could not relatch the door. My headset stayed on, but my glasses were gone in the slipstream. Quite an exciting start to my day, that's for sure.
Why don’t I believe you?
@@johnnunn8688 not sure? How much time in a 99 do you have?
@@johnnunn8688the same reason no one believes you.
@@707studios I’m aware of the kind of aerodynamic forces you would be fighting against, to gingerly guide the door to its open position and then why would the door stay attached? Yaw a little left and the door would slam shut, yaw right and it would certainly tear off, if it hadn’t already. I’m an aircraft engineer, so don’t have to be a pilot to disbelieve your yarn.
@johnnunn8688 I tried yawning each way, in a climb, level, and in a decent. At climb speed and at approach speed. The hatch seemed unaffected in all regimes until it was within an inch of closing. At that point, there was no way it would close the rest of the way. As an aircraft engineer, I'm sure you know that a hatch coming open on a 99 was not an unknown problem, hence the structural reinforcement on the upper hinge. As a matter of fact, the company specifically addresses the ability for the pilot to close out an open write-up for a hatch opening in flight. With all that said, I expected it to come off at any second and was most appreciative when it stayed on throughout the approach and landing.
I had an accidental opening of the canopy on a Van’s RV6-A once. The canopy stayed on the aircraft while every loose thing in the cockpit flew out, much of it binging against the empennage while the airplane suddenly pitched about 45 degrees down. Had I not had a shoulder harness on, I think I would have gone out with my camera, charts, etc. My knee hit the instrument panel and shut off one of the magnetos. It was the closest I ever came to getting killed, but I was fortunate, because of past training, experience, and a calm mind, to get everything under control and land safely, but it wasn’t an experience I’d like to repeat. Needless to say, I feel a lot of empathy for this pilot.
Tip up or slider canopy?
@@davidd6635 It was a tip-up canopy. It had not been properly latched before flight and I tried to fix it, a very big mistake. If anything like it ever happens to you, just fly the airplane at a controllable speed, land, and fix the problem on the ground.
you tried to fix it WHILE IN THE AIR? As in, u saw it improperly latched, and then tried to reopen it to properly reclose it in the air..? @@drmichaelshea
Your experience tells us that those harnesses can help a lot.
OMG
New Hampshire Union Leader has an updated news story naming the pilot with updates on his condition from his wife. Has had one surgery, will have another later this week. Fractures to his skull and face. No broken bones in his extremities. Upgraded to stable condition
Any direct connections? Please arrange a nice bouquet and card, sign it "from @blancolirio and all patrons" (I'm sure JB would oblige). Can't wait to see the smile and speedy recovery with that!
I have hundreds of hours in this very aircraft (more than 10 years ago). Don’t forget about the removable exterior ladder that must be removed and stowed in the cockpit. Funky design. I’m surprised there haven’t been more incidents like this one in the 99.
Does the ladder have a secure stored location? If not, or it came loose, our pilot was trying to fly the 99 with the equivalence of a gorilla in the cockpit.
It hangs on the rear cockpit wall, doubling as a latching system for the cargo hold door! I forgot about that part until you just made me think of it.
Dang, that was one hell of an angle to crash at and still survive!
I have to assume he was "saved' by the trees crumpling/collapsing. Still a bit of a miracle!
Wires can also significantly slow an aircraft. Google 'plane hanging from power lines'
When I was in flight school/university in the early 2000's, we did some research on which would be more survivable...water or trees. Our research turned up at about 50/50 either way, for the exact reason you mentioned. The trees provide some cushioning and slow the forward momentum. Unfortunately I didn't keep the detailed info. It would be interesting to see some people do that research now and determine if anything has changed.
@@paulis7319Depends if you hit the canopy or the trunks. Trunks and thick branches will slice through an aircraft like a hot knife through butter.
@@paulis7319The problem with doing that type of comparison is that there are too many factors at play to make a statistically significant measurement... engine type, high/low wing, vegetation structure, sea state, angle & speed of impact, etc. There's a big difference between your momentum being progressively reduced as the landing gear, wings & tail are torn off by dense but flexible brush... versus a crash into a tall cedar or eucalypt forest where your wings might get sheared off but there's no undergrowth to stop the 3m+ fall to the ground. The physics that work in your favour in one scenario can be your nemesis in another... even materials & attachment points can make a difference between "safely" reducing momentum & staying structurally sound enough to protect people from impact damage or drowning. You can certainly look for _trends_ using that kind of data, but it's not going to give you anything statistically robust enough to hang your hat on.
@@paulis7319 I believe I read that report. And the overwhelming answer was damn nearly 'put it down somewhere flattish, and KEEP FLYING THE PLANE'. Trying to turn to a place where you can probably do a nice landing, versus putting it down gently at minimum flying speed somewhere flattish with no immediate cliffs or buildings has killed so many.
I was at Ameriflight from 2000 to 2002 based in Burbank CA. I flew BE99, it was my favorite turbo-prop from the fleet.
She was a no-execute aircraft, if you can get in, you can get out of any airport. My only fear flying the BE99 was forgetting to remove the ladder once you climbed in the cockpit. on the left side of the aircraft. I hope the pilot makes full recovery. 🙏🙏🙏
I flew for these guys and I quit due to poor maintenance. The door, windshield seals leaked so bad I had to wear a rain coat. I quit when the check valve to the engine fuel tank failed allowing fuel from the wing to vent overboard. I had another pilot with me we had electrical failure and landed using hand held com & gps. I had 1,200 hrs in these with a prior operator. It is unpressurized but a flapping door will cause all sorts of problems.after loading there is only one way out through the door or when the aircraft is unloaded.
🚨 As an air traffic controller who teaches other controllers about various emergencies, I try very hard to understand how controllers can figure out what is happening during an emergency, but when first listening to the LiveATC audio, I just wasn't sure what it was. "Icing" or "flight control problem" made my short list, but neither one seemed to be a great fit. Now that we know that the pilot door came off in flight, it seems to all make sense. But no controller could have possibly figured this one out as it happened. (Because I am a current FAA employee, I have to note for the record that these are my personal thoughts and do not represent official FAA opinions.)
The apparent turn back to the airport should give a little clue to me. But then all the direction changes would throw that away. I would’ve assumed control problems.
I think once the door immediately departed the aircraft it made contact with the horizontal stabiliser and rudder. I don't think he had any opportunity to shut the door and was fighting control issues. That would fit with the erratic altitude and track. Good report and pleased he survived. Ps, that is a very bad design for door mechanism, one sprocket has only three teeth engaged, any slack and that would jump.
Thank you for your post.
As a GA pilot listening to the radio and radar plot/ADSB track…and knowing most ATCs are not pilots…very difficult to determine. Ident would have indicated Pilot listening/ hearing. Glad Pilot survived and no one on ground hurt.
Gremlins.
I live in New Hampshire. During the time of the accident it was forecasted as rain but that quickly turned to freezing rain creating havoc on the roads. It wouldn’t shock me if icing played a factor in this incident.
I would agree with you but they found the door some distance from the aircraft so it definitely came off mid flight
I agree. It's not implausible that the door came off and the aircraft encountered icing conditions. Icing would explain the inability to keep the airplane in the air. Especially if the pilot was unable to ascend to quickly get out of icing conditions. It's the old Swiss Cheese model of accidents.
@@jonmoceri so would damage to control surface caused by door
@@jonmoceri The crash occurred after 17 minutes of flight, so flying in freezing drizzle could well do it.
The door was found at a Manchester location near Candia Rd and the Rte101/I93 junction just after his first abrupt turn back to the south.
The second Wiggins BE99 crash in the Northeast in just 6 months. N55RP also crashed in Central Maine under weird circumstances back in July, very close to my home and home airport. It’s not my place to say, but Wiggins does not have a great reputation for maintenance in the pilot circles up here
Damn I used to work on 55rp.
They had a problem losing both engines around Lansing too?
Can confirm, worked there for years and didn’t like what I saw unfortunately
Former AMF pilot here as well and can confirm everything said about that door latch. They covered it thoroughly in 99 training and yes sometimes it took several tries to lock. Those view windows that allowed you to see the locking mechanism were invaluable. During my tenure at Amflight one of my co-workers left his 99 door unlatched and it ripped off shortly after take off.... perhaps similar to what happened here. It was day time with good wx and he brought it around and landed. He was invited to Burbank for a talk with the brass. Told them the truth....that he made a mistake. He got a written warning but was allowed to stay on. He had no further issues and today is a capt at a major airline. Lesson for pilots starting their careers.....if you screw up just admit it. Most management pilots have made mistakes themselves and are usually forgiving if you are honest. If it's found out you lied you'll be gone immediately. I remember that ladder now that someone mentioned it. haha. Yep nobody wanted to be that guy or gal that took off with it still hanging on the outside. Loved the 99. It was a tank. Flew that thing through a lot of bad weather. Best wishes to this gentleman for a full recovery.
Having worked with firefighters for years now, one should never say they’d be unable to open any door. That’s a challenge they love to meet.
Especially with the Hurst tool
I was walking on a trail once, when a pickup ran up the guardrail and slammed into the concrete column that was on the guardrail a few feet down. The truck hit hard enough to push a solid concrete block probably 3 square feet around a few inches back and then rolled onto it's side.
Myself and some other people worked to get someone into the cab of the truck to calm the driver down until the fire department could get there, and once they did, it was wild seeing how quick those tools cut through the top of the truck so they could get the driver out.
@@aaronwhite1786on the cutters, most modern tools produce about 285,000lb of force at the blade notch, spreaders are well over 350,000lb.
You can move a ton of metal without blinking.
Never met a door I couldn't bypass 🚒🪓
@@MomedicsChannel Definitely looked that way! I feel like Fire Departments could double their revenue just having "Come play with our tools" days where they let people cut scrap cars apart for cash.