Daniel Eberhardt’s Piper Malibu PA46 crashed shortly after takeoff Thursday and was in flames in a wooded area at the end of a runway when firefighters arrived shortly after the crash was reported at 3:45 p.m. according to Lt. Russ Davies, an Anne Arundel County fire department spokesman.
The airplane fueled at the airport before the crash, said 1st Sgt. Russell Newell, a spokesman for the Maryland State Police. Hunters in the area at the time reported that the plane appeared to turn around just after takeoff and then it crashed, he said.
Was a JetProp conversion (#104). JetProp has already taken the photo down from their gallery. Also, nice plug for FA in the article, even though it is sad.
Most turbines will continue to run on 100LL. The PT6 in the pilatus will run on just about anything that burns, though I imagine it would not be too good for the engine in the long run.
The same cannot be said for a piston engine sucking on jet fuel.
Not sure if that is what happened, but fuel issues are exactly why I have locked tank caps and stand right there while they service my plane. It seems like a simple way to prevent my tail number from ending up on the NTSB report list.
I’ve heard that the airspace around DC is busted by pilots quite frequently - something on the order of like once a day or once a week. We usually don’t hear about the incidents because they’re minor infractions just grazing the Class B airspace. The pilots are interviewed by the authorities and usually let go with a slap on the wrist.
I suspect that the pilot landed at Tipton as directed - did what he needed to do there, and then crashed on takeoff after being cleared as no threat. I reckon he was pretty nervous after going through the interview process and then screwed the pooch during takeoff.
Also noteworthy:
A PA-46 bearing tail number N9130N crashed during an aborted takeoff in Redlands, California back in 1996. aircraftone.com/aircraft/acc … X06558.asp
The pilot departed runway 08 during local thunderstorm activity. The runway had an uphill gradient of 2.2 percent. The pilot reported the winds were from the southeast at 10 to 15 knots. He said that during takeoff, he raised the gear at approximately 50 feet agl and retracted the flaps. Except for light turbulence, the takeoff was uneventful until the airplane reached an altitude of about 75 to a 100 feet agl. At about that time, the airplane started descending. The pilot applied full power and increased the pitch attitude, but was unable to arrest the descent. When the pilot realized the airplane was going to contact the ground, he extended the landing gear. Before the landing gear was fully extended, the propeller struck the runway. The pilot noted a resultant vibration and elected to abort the takeoff. The airplane then traveled beyond the departure end of the runway and encountered rocky terrain.
If he indeed made a second attempt to depart legally into the ADIZ from Tippon then he would have had to file IFR or DC ADIZ flight plan and recieved a unique squawk code. As far as I know there was none filed.
I was assuming that he busted airspace on his way in to FME, was told to land there immediately and did so successfully - then, after talking to authorities, took off and crashed. Are you saying he busted airspace by taking off, was told to turn around and go back , and THEN crashed? If so, then how do you know that?
Yes that’s what I was saying. I was also just making an assumption. If he wandered in to the ADIZ he would have been instructed to turn around. FME is deep in the heart of the ADIZ and if he would’ve made it that far to land immediately I imagine he would have had an escort. I assumed he took off, called approach, was scolded and then lost it turning back somehow. I’m just a mere mortal, so I can’t say if an ADIZ flight plan was ever filed.
He’d most likely have been IFR on that flight since FlightAware tracked him that day, and therefore wouldn’t have busted airspace. The crash apparently happened on the 19th and no entries on FlightAware for the fatal flight. So, he got so caught-up in the moment that he forgot to fly the airplane!!
