Plane Crash in Lancaster PA

[z3r01]

5 people on board.

[z3r01]

pilot reported that his door was open and wanting to return, then you hear tower telling him to pull up

[REVZZYBAN]

Shame, sounds like he got real close to the airport after trouble.
Crash investigators will be able to solve this one.

[William May]

Guy should have just ignored it. The door on the Cessna 150 I used for training used to pop open every other flight. My instructor once laughed and told me to try and get it open far enough to get my hand out, and I couldn't do that. I could only open it about 1" and then the wind pressure over-ruled me. The only time we popped them open on purpose was the last thing in forced landing training, where we popped both door latches just before we would have made contact with the ground (So the doors wouldn't jam stuck closed.) I flew with a friend who was photographing another aircraft, and we took the doors off and left them at the hangar when we went flying. It was about the same as riding a motorcycle.

[kellyhound]

Witnesses described an “immediate fireball” when an airplane crashed shortly after takeoff from Lancaster Airport Sunday afternoon.

Brian Pipkin told he had seen the plane take off. Shortly after, it began a turn.

“And then it went down nose first,” he told. “There was an immediate fireball.”

Thick, black smoke could be seen for miles around, and first responders, arriving within minutes of dispatch, encountered the Beechcraft Bonanza, owned by Jam Zoom Yayos LLC, and at least 5 cars engulfed in flames.

Pipkin told “it was so smoky and it was so hot.”

Only the five people aboard the airplane were injured, Manheim Township officials said in a Sunday evening press conference.

No bystanders on the ground were hurt, and the Brethren Village structures were spared damage.

[volleyballbat]

Wtf is the lonely firetruck doing in the second video? Splashing water for fun alone?

[durt]

Originally Posted by William May

Guy should have just ignored it. The door on the Cessna 150 I used for training used to pop open every other flight. My instructor once laughed and told me to try and get it open far enough to get my hand out, and I couldn't do that. I could only open it about 1" and then the wind pressure over-ruled me. The only time we popped them open on purpose was the last thing in forced landing training, where we popped both door latches just before we would have made contact with the ground (So the doors wouldn't jam stuck closed.) I flew with a friend who was photographing another aircraft, and we took the doors off and left them at the hangar when we went flying. It was about the same as riding a motorcycle.

I'd get the pax to open theirs, and with both open we could turn the plane, back and forth, like using the rudder.

not for the squeamish, look down with the door open

[William May]

Originally Posted by durt

I'd get the pax to open theirs, and with both open we could turn the plane, back and forth, like using the rudder.

not for the squeamish, look down with the door open

Believe it or not, my instructor, named Mary Mercker, who was a member of the 99's, actually showed me how to do that. With the aircraft stable and trimmed up, it was possible to fly it quite well, using the doors, and if using engine power, or even just the trim wheel, could even rise and descend and make turns quite controllably. She showed me that there are a LOT of experiments you can do, just flying around, to learn about your aircraft. She was an awesome instructor.

I have a fear of heights, but that is not apparent while leaning out of the aircraft door. It seems that if you are on a ladder, and have a connection to the ground, your brain can interpret your position as being very risky. But if you lean out of an airplane door, at 4000 feet, the phenomenon doesn't exist. I leaned out many times while taking pictures, or helping the other guy take pictures, and leaning out never bothered me. Of course, you are securely held in place by your shoulder harness and seat belt, so, really, you aren't going anywhere. Again, it seemed about the same as when riding a motorcycle, with just the wind buffet to measure your speed with.

[Hogmann]

Bonanza only has doors in the right side

[Hogmann]