Plane down in MO

Aviation Aviation News
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flightaware.com/live/flight/N477MD

Plane is lost in central Missouri
By Harry Levins
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/28/2007

A plane that took off from Spirit of St. Louis Airport this morning vanished from radar screens somewhere near the northwestern corner of Montgomery County, Mo.

“We’re looking for it, but we haven’t found it yet,” said a Missouri Highway Patrol officer at Troop F in Jefferson City.

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane had lifted off from Spirit at 7:50 a.m., en route to Buffalo, Minn.

“We lost radar contact at about 8:15,” said the spokesman, Tom Molinaro of the FAA’s regional office in Chicago.

He said the aircraft was a single-engine Piper 46, built last year. The aircraft is owned by McC Aviation Services of Rockford, Minn., said Molinaro.

That firm is apparently a subsidiary of McC Inc., an ethanol manufacturer. Spokeswoman Deb McCormick of McC Inc. refused this morning to comment on the reports of a missing plane but said she might have a statement later in the day.
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St. Louis is the site of the 23rd annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo, which began Tuesday and will end Friday. Among those registered on the expo’s Web site is a David McCormick of McC Inc.

The FAA’s Molinaro was unaware how many people were aboard the plane. Nor could John D. Bales, Spirit’s director. But Bales said the aircraft was “a transient” – one that was not based at Spirit. He said Spirit had sold fuel to the aircraft on Tuesday, the opening day of the ethanol expo here.

The FAA notified the Highway Patrol. The Highway Patrol said it also had got reports from people who said they had heard a plane that sounded as if it was having engine trouble.

At first, the plane was thought to have gone down in Gasconade County, which is just south of Montgomery County.

The northwestern corner of Montgomery County sits about 15 miles east of Mexico, Mo. The Highway Patrol said troopers from several counties had joined in the search. “We’re all looking,” said the officer at Troop F.
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Three perished. They’re notifying next of kin so no further information until later. We have a flash flood watch here now and earlier this morning, some counties had a flash flood warning. I’m betting weather was a factor. Here are some local news sites if you want to follow the story.

www.ksdk.com
www.kmov.com
www.stltoday.com

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Sad pics. Clearly it went straight in as the entire debris field is contained within the length of the fuselage.

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Maybe it’s just me not fully understanding the tracking logs, but I don’t understand why a single engine Piper 46 would be at 18K, much less at 36,000 !!

Time Position Ground
speed Altitude
Eastern TZ Latitude Longitude kts Feet
08:52AM 38.67 -90.68 147 1000
08:53AM 38.70 -90.73 186 1800
08:54AM 38.75 -90.72 185 2700
08:55AM 38.80 -90.72 193 3500
08:57AM 38.83 -90.82 157 5200
08:58AM 38.83 -90.87 154 5800
08:59AM 38.83 -90.93 161 36000
09:00AM 38.85 -91.00 161 7600
09:01AM 38.88 -91.05 167 8400
09:02AM 38.92 -91.10 172 9400
09:03AM 38.93 -91.13 162 10400
09:04AM 38.97 -91.18 162 11200
09:05AM 38.98 -91.23 167 12300
09:06AM 39.02 -91.28 167 13200
09:07AM 39.05 -91.33 167 14000
09:08AM 39.07 -91.40 167 14600
09:09AM 39.10 -91.45 172 15800
09:10AM 39.13 -91.50 177 16600
09:11AM 39.15 -91.53 144 18000
09:12AM 39.13 -91.58 118 18000

Many prayers to the families from the locals here.

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PA46 have a service ceiling of 25,000’ (Malibu Mirage) or 30,000 (Meridian)

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Thanks Pika1000. Didn’t know that. That’s a good ALT. Witnesses said it was raining heavy, he was flying low and they heard engine trouble. Guess the weather had a factor in him trying to make an emergency landing. Sad, it would have been safer to wait out the rain. Sun peeking here now.

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What is really strange is that one of my wife’s bosses was at the same conference, about 4-5 booths down from that company. He was a little shook up when he heard my wife talking to me about it on the phone after he got back today.

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I would be shaken up too. That is a coincidence.

Being a spotter, I have many weather resources. Here’s the NWS post at the time of the crash.

WEATHER SUMMARY FOR MISSOURI
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
800 AM CDT THU JUN 28 2007

NOTE: “FAIR” INDICATES FEW OR NO CLOUDS BELOW 12,000 FEET WITH NO
SIGNIFICANT WEATHER AND/OR OBSTRUCTIONS TO VISIBILITY.
CURRENT SKY AND/OR WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE NOT AVAILABLE FOR CHILLICOTHE AND FARMINGTON.

$$
MOZ032>034-039>042-045>050-055>058-069>072-281400-
…CENTRAL MISSOURI…

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS
COLUMBIA LGT RAIN 70 68 93 W3 30.07R
JEFFERSON CITY CLOUDY 70 69 97 CALM 30.05
ROLLA CLOUDY 70 67 90 S6 30.07R
SEDALIA LGT RAIN 71 68 90 SE5 30.05R FOG
WHITEMAN AFB LGT RAIN 70 32 24 S10 30.04R
WARRENSBURG RAIN 70 70 100 NE8 30.02S
FT LEONARD WD CLOUDY 73 68 83 S2 30.08S
OSAGE BEACH CLOUDY 68 66 94 CALM 30.09R

MOZ051-052-059>065-281400-
…EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI…

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS
ST LOUIS INTL CLOUDY 73 69 87 CALM 30.08F
SPIRIT OF STL CLOUDY 72 69 90 CALM 30.05S
ST CHARLES CLOUDY 72 70 93 E6 30.06S

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No prob. Pressurized, comfy, decent speed…

Of course, I am partial since other than the C172 that I fly for actual instruction, all my time has been in a PA46.