First time poster so if this is in the wrong section - my bad. Was cleaning out some old files and came across the attached pictures. I don’t have the full details in hand as of writing but I thought I would share. Occurred about 25-30 years ago in ERI.
During a manual speed governor check on the left engine, the aircraft veered in a semi-circle and collided with the Jetstream. A fire erupted.
WOW…I guess a fire erupted…
I wonder what was in the tail of the Jetstream that became a fuel source for the fire… I wouldn’t think that the 441 prop striking that portion of the Jetstream airframe could cause that kind of an ignition without the presence of a volatile fuel source. An O2 tank, and/or some magnesium structure maybe?
To me it looks like the 441 ran into the tailcone, but with the wing missing like it is, I think it probably took out the wing. I wonder if the fire came from all that fuel.
I worked with J31’s for about 10 years, so this one’s very interesing to me thanks for posting.
Maybe the Jetstream is somehow related to the Pinto…
I don’t know if you guys know quite how close to right you are!! HAAHAHA, I thought it was a cool airplane, in that punk rock obnoxious way. It was noisy, it was ugly it was uncomfortable (no yaw damper, no autopilot), yet, to me that made it kinda likable. Ask most of it’s pilots though, and I’d bet if you asked them to classify it by a type of car…Pinto would come up at least 3 of 4 times.
Jetstream had the wing spar thru the cabin… Pinto had the driveshaft tunnel thru the middle… Coincidence???
Also, I’ll never forget the Jetstream’s climate control system… A pilot’s hand poking thru the curtain to check the temp. Real high tech there 8)
N830JS Jetstream was only delivered on October 10th 1986 and accident occured November 30th 1986.
NTSB Identification: NYC87LA041 .
The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 33484.
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, November 30, 1986 in ERIE, PA
Aircraft: CESSNA 441, registration: N117EA
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.
REASON FOR THE CESSNA TO VEER IN A SEMI-CIRCLE AND COLLIDE WITH ANOTHER AIRCRAFT IS UNDETERMINED. EXAMINATION OF THE START LOCK ASSEMBLIES COULD NOT BE COMPLETED DUE TO THE EXTENSIVE IMPACT AND FIRE DAMAGE. THE ACFT WAS BEING PREPARED FOR A FLT. DURING A MANUAL SPEED GOVERNOR CHECK ON THE LEFT ENG THE ACFT VEERED IN A SEMI-CIRCLE. AN ATTEMPT TO EXAMINE THE ACFT START LOCKS WAS NEGATED BY THE FIRE DAMAGE FROM THE COLLISION.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
REASON FOR OCCURRENCE UNDETERMINED
Beyond coincidence…the Pinto had 4 wheels, 2 on the nose, and 2 mains…as did the J31…and yes that spar…when you speak of BAe innovation, you can’t go any further than the aluminum…(or as they said it over there during production,…al-u-meneeum), removeable cover with the day glo stripes that warned those seated ahead of row 4 that the spar was there and could cause a walking hazard…
I feel I must go on about the state of the art design of the Jbird, you had the interior cargo door bin which could hold 672 lbs of cargo…which at our calculations was 28 bags. You show me the guy who could load 28 bags in the aft of a Jetstream, and I’ll show you who to put your money on in a Tetris contest.
You bring up the climate control…it was either EFFing hot to the point where we had a captain get fired because he refused to take the flight with a cabin temp of 115. On the flipside of that, if you had a good freon charge and stood at the cargo bin where the main A/C vent was, you would get hit with flying ice chunks, some of them hurt.
On the freon deffered aircraft I must admit, I never slept better than those days in July , back in the cabin temps around 90 or 100, the hum of the two Garretts minus propsync, and the rocking chair like yaw sitting way back in 7A. I’d be asleep before takeoff, and would be rudely awaken 15 minutes later by the freakin auto brief telling us we are nearing our destination and to ensure our traytables that weren’t equipped on our aircraft were in their locked and upright position.
Quite possibly though my favorite part was the comedic relief we’d get when our passengers would hear our remarks after we would load the pod and hit our head on the fuel drain that was strategically positioned to cut the top of the rampers head and cause him to yell very naughty obsceneties and kick the pod with the flat of his foot causing a loud thud through the aircraft, and having the crew call their times out ten minutes later (because the Jetstream didn’t have room for ACARS) only to verify that every passenger heard me call the airplane a no good @#$%$%#$T@$#@%#…BUT
those were the days, and that airplane to me had more character than any other one than I’ve been around, and that is why it’s one of my favorites!