Listened to the ATC audio. Horrific. From above FL350 to impact in less than a minute.
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Learjet crash
- Thread starter CommodoreMid
- Start date
And also want to add, avoid listening to it if you can. I wish I hadn’t. The last moments of life for people in probably an unescapable situation are something we shouldn’t witness unless we have to.
VAS edited their video and now it's text only.
I know we'll probably never know, but I'd be interested to know what they were seeing in the cockpit that had them go through what we see as a big cell. I had an flight back to my base earlier this summer where I was shooting a gap, confirmed by both my onboard radar and visually. We were definitely closer to a cell than I would have liked to be, but we were completely VFR, completely in the clear, and could see the airport 10+ miles away.
Meanwhile my OCC called and said that I was IN a thunderstorm and I needed to land immediately (which would have been an absolutely dumb thing to do). I offer that as an example of what a tracker or radar shows isn't necessarily reality.
I know we'll probably never know, but I'd be interested to know what they were seeing in the cockpit that had them go through what we see as a big cell. I had an flight back to my base earlier this summer where I was shooting a gap, confirmed by both my onboard radar and visually. We were definitely closer to a cell than I would have liked to be, but we were completely VFR, completely in the clear, and could see the airport 10+ miles away.
Meanwhile my OCC called and said that I was IN a thunderstorm and I needed to land immediately (which would have been an absolutely dumb thing to do). I offer that as an example of what a tracker or radar shows isn't necessarily reality.
Longer audio prior to the event has ATC telling them about the cell and saying they can deviate left or right to avoid. They then fly right through it. I know nothing about that aircraft so I wonder if it had weather radar and if that disagreed with what ATC told them.
I listened to it last night. Would not recommend.
The post-impact footage is unbelievable - there is a literal crater in the highway.
One of the pilots, apparently the one heard in the audio, was only 20 years old. She apparently got her pilot license at 17 and it is claimed she had 1300 hours.
I think we'll soon learn that this was a tragic weather induced mishap. To echo @insanebikerboy question - what information did the crew have and when did they have it. Supercooled precip/ice and severe thunderstorm.
On @Gatordev comment, FIS-B/XM radar graphics, actual wx radar in the plane, and ATC radar can show different things at different times.
On @Gatordev comment, FIS-B/XM radar graphics, actual wx radar in the plane, and ATC radar can show different things at different times.
Listened to the audio. Wish I hadn’t. Absolutely terrible tragedy.
Same. Someone sent it to me before I knew of the crash and I didn't realize what it was. One thing the ASO course taught me was that listening to someone's last words is absolutely heartbreaking.
I haven’t flown a helicopter in a long time and still occasionally remember the audio from the MOJO 69 mishap out of the blue.
Last time I did the dunker, they did a breakdown of that flight for the Spatial Disorientation part of the class. Tough one to listen to, for sure.
And if they did have radar, was it MEL'ed. Your post is what I was getting at. Earlier when they were over by Ft. Meyers they asked for DIRECT Freeport and ATC gave them a "uh, you sure about that?" On the tape, it looks like it was at least a minute later before she came back and said to disregard since there was the giant cell by Okeechobee that was almost as wide as the state. It kind of sounded like they weren't actively looking at some kind of radar picture each time they asked for DIRECT, even a ghetto XM version (which rarely ever seems to match reality in my experience).
Later yesterday I went back and listened to just the part when they turned because I was curious about the timeline. Right after the turn, she called altitude deviations of +/- 600-700 feet. You can hear her voice indicating she's being thumped around in her restraints, followed immediately by the 10K'/min call.
Thunderstorms be crazy.