CYBW Mooney Crash

[flyndad]

Condolences to the Pilot and family.

[digits_]

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/man-killed-w ... -1.5872711

Plane looks fairly intact.

[PilotDAR]

I believe that it came to a very sudden stop, not in the direction of flight, and a wing was ripped off. I can imagine fatal deceleration forces.

[flyndad]

The weather around that particular time was horrible.

[PostmasterGeneral]

I believe that it came to a very sudden stop, not in the direction of flight, and a wing was ripped off. I can imagine fatal deceleration forces.

Mooneys have a single piece wing. Strongest part of the airplane by far. Gives an idea of the force involved, to break the wing like that.

[CpnCrunch]

The weather around that particular time was horrible.

SPECI CYBW 222116Z AUTO 06006KT 9SM -RA OVC008 01/M00 A2991 RMK SLP174=

Is that your definition of bad ifr conditions? Admittedly the rain and temp isnt great but it seems that it was incredibly light…0.8mm per hr.

Actually, I checked the gfa and it looks like there was forecast moderate icing in the clouds, so not great for a mooney practice ifr round robin flight.

[Squaretail]

Actually, I checked the gfa and it looks like there was forecast moderate icing in the clouds, so not great for a mooney practice ifr round robin flight.

There were quite a few localized but very active snow squalls around the Calgary area at the time. I drove through a few at the time, so I don't doubt that in a few of the clouds you would get moderate icing.

[AirFrame]

I believe that it came to a very sudden stop, not in the direction of flight, and a wing was ripped off. I can imagine fatal deceleration forces.

That was my interpretation as well. Right wing gone, fuselage kinked to the right behind the passenger compartment, and cowling crunched on front passenger side corner. Looks like right wing hit first, then nose. Twisting forces broke the tail. Mooney's generally only having a single cross-body shoulder strap rather than dual harnesses suggests they got thrown around quite a bit inside.

[rookiepilot]

The weather around that particular time was horrible.

SPECI CYBW 222116Z AUTO 06006KT 9SM -RA OVC008 01/M00 A2991 RMK SLP174=

Is that your definition of bad ifr conditions? Admittedly the rain and temp isnt great but it seems that it was incredibly light…0.8mm per hr.

Actually, I checked the gfa and it looks like there was forecast moderate icing in the clouds, so not great for a mooney practice ifr round robin flight.

Combined with the way the plane hit, not hard to envision a stall spin iced up wing scenario.

[cncpc]

Ice, stall spin, sure, can't be discounted. However, its is possible that the spin was just a violent yaw that occurred when the wingtip contacted something solid on the ground in either a controlled descent, possibly to an off field landing, or in some other less than controlled manner. It doesn't necessarily have to have spun in from height.

There is a case to be made that the aircraft was attempting an approach, forced or precautionary, to the field it is in. We can see in that one photo the fence broken and the propeller blades and hub just beside the fence. It takes some force at an angle to the crankshaft to break it. Same what the above poster says about the wing.

This is that Mooney that was lost for months up just south of the summit in 2018, I think it was. The way the tail is folded seems to indicate a strike to the wing it is lying near. The tip shows what may be a strike followed by the wing rising over whatever it hit, and another major strike into the leading edge a few feet outboard just in front of where the vertical stab came to rest. But the wing remains attached. So this one at Springbank...not likely it happened at forced approach speed.

In any accident violent enough to tear one wing off, that likely involves a strike near the tip, generating maximum rotational force and that force may be beyond the ability of the human spine to resist that force and a broken neck or similar spinal injury can result. That, rather than violent fore and aft decelaration may have resulted in this person's death and the other person's injury.

wreck 2.jpg (162.84 KiB) Viewed 3845 times

[cncpc]

Is there any ATC recording on this incident?

[trey kule]

My condolences to the family and friends of the pilot that lost his life. And to the pilot that was injured.
And to their families and those affected by this.

Perhaps we could all postpone the keyboard anslysis and speculation for a bit

[rookiepilot]

My condolences to the family and friends of the pilot that lost his life. And to the pilot that was injured.
And to their families and those affected by this.

Perhaps we could all postpone the keyboard anslysis and speculation for a bit

Have sympathy for this POV. But —-

Don’t fly in icing conditions or other obvious atrocious weather in light aircraft too poor for even rescue aircraft to fly — see Wawa accident — less likely to get talked about by me, for one.

[CpnCrunch]

Just to clarify the info about icing. Looking at the GFAs again, it looks like in the 0000 forecast issued at 1800 (which is what he would have been using) there was no mention of moderate icing. It only appeared in the 0000 GFA issued at 0000 (a few hours after the accident), and even then it was showing the icing to the East of YBW at 0000 and moving towards YBW. The 1800 GFA had no mention of moderate icing either.

However, it looks like conditions would have been conducive to icing: he was well above freezing level in cloud, there were forecast frequent ACC and TCU right over YBW in both GFAs (both of which imply icing and turbulence). There has been previous discussion here about the wisdom of flying above freezing level in cloud. I think it can be done safely in certain circumstances, e.g. if there is an easy way out.

[sportingrifle]

There are two types of aircraft that can safely be flown in ugly weather...a Super Cub or somesuch, and a turbine twin. The Super Cub can land in the nearest cow pasture when things get ugly. The turbine twin has the equipment, instrumentation, and most importantly the performance to overcome both the environmental conditions and any terrain issues. The advanced singles and light twins have just enough capability to get you in a world of hurt.

[Roar]

There are two types of aircraft that can safely be flown in ugly weather...a Super Cub or somesuch, and a turbine twin. The Super Cub can land in the nearest cow pasture when things get ugly. The turbine twin has the equipment, instrumentation, and most importantly the performance to overcome both the environmental conditions and any terrain issues. The advanced singles and light twins have just enough capability to get you in a world of hurt.

I guess I spent 4000 hrs flying light twins unsafely.

[sportingrifle]

I am guessing you have spent the last 4000 hours flying light twins away from icing conditions and with large margins between the single engine service ceiling and the MEA's. I spent 9 years flying turbine twins in the mountains of British Columbia and there were days that even then it was getting ragged. My impending ability to soon collect a pension motivates me to build bigger margins into my operations than when I was younger.

[pelmet]

C-GQMS, a Mooney M20K, was operating on a round robin IFR flight plan from Springbank
(CYBW), AB with a pilot and instructor pilot on board. During the RNAV approach to Runway 35,
the aircraft struck the ground 3000 feet short of the runway on the extended centre line. The pilot in
the left seat sustained fatal injuries, the instructor pilot in the right seat received serious injuries.
There was no post-impact fire.

[karmutzen]

General thoughts...

Springbank has several approaches including LPV and ILS down to 250', 800' ceiling and 9miles is above alternate limits, good training weather and you should be doing IFR training in cloud.

GFA icing forecast is the crudest measure. Was there any reported icing? We fly in GFA forecast icing all the time as long as we have an "out", or if some "ice dummy" that's already out there (maybe a turbine twin) reports no icing. Snow is of no concern, but a near freezing ground temp and visible moisture would be a warning flag to me.
Springbank isn't Terrace or Castlegar, flat, an easy out of IFR here is to drop below the ceiling and drive around VFR.

Need that ATC recording and flight data metrics for more clues on this one.

[CpnCrunch]

We fly in GFA forecast icing all the time as long as we have an "out"

Who is "we" ? I don't know anyone who flies without FIKI in forecast moderate icing. That seems like a really bad idea, and it's expressly prohibited in the CARs. But, in this particular case the moderate icing wasn't actually forecast. It only appeared in the GFA after the event.

an easy out of IFR here is to drop below the ceiling and drive around VFR.

How exactly do you drop out of IFR with an 800ft ceiling without returning to YBW and doing an instrument approach?

Was there any reported icing?

This is the only PIREP:

202204222315,F,C550,UA /OV CYBW /TM 2315 /FLDURD /TP C550 /IC LGT RIME BLW 060,51.10306,-114.37444

(2 hours after the accident).