According to news reports, witnesses say they saw the plane dive into the water. I hope someone was recording this accident with a camera. Should the wreckage be located, there may be some salvageable onboard video taken by the passengers or crew. It looks like weather was not a factor.
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Lots of day VFR fatal crashes in the last 30 days.I hope the winter isn’t as bad.
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Agree. There not nearly enough information here. With what’s provided here, there isn’t enough information for even a guess.
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Russ Niles, it’s Walter engine, not Walther. One makes engines and is now owned by GE. The other is a manufacturer of firearms.
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And yesterday a SR22 crashed approaching Spring, Texas killing the pilot and injuring two passengers. The aircraft had refueled in Louisiana after departing Knoxville and was still quite full as news reports indicate 75 gallons spilled. It appears the BRS chute was deployed from the pictures I’ve seen. What’s going on??
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Oops. Thanks James. I’ll fix it.
Agreed. It is interesting that video or still images of this mishap haven’t surfaced. The weather was good: Day VMC, so that won’t be a factor. There’s an internet outfit (VASAviation) that somehow gets access to radio transmissions, and even a fair animation of a plan view flight profile to study. I haven’t seen this mishap featured on their channel yet.
Definitely a trend, here. I understand the SR22 is a hot little number, and not a bird for low timers. Those chutes have saved a lot of bacon. Apparently, the envelope for activating those assets must be respected.
Blancolirio chimed-in with a theory about these developments, and there’s some merit with his views: He hinted that the main demographic for active pilots/owners are folks with lots of money. Apparently, that financial acumen does not translate into the skills needed to safely operate complex machinery. My slant on this (And I might point out that the FAA agrees) is that automation has trickled down into GA aircraft, and those moneyed individuals who own these planes save their strength and cash by programming computers to do the flying and navigation chores. They also eschew keeping proficient in certain flight regimes, and consider their aircraft as travel assets. Once those gizmos are disconnected, those well-heeled aviators suddenly realize they’ve lost their stick-and-rudder skills, particularly when said disconnections occur in IMC.
Everything’s on the table, as far as causal factors. Until the wreckage is located, and/or visual images of this mishap surface, speculation will run the gamut. If the witnesses are correct, the sudden catastrophic event theory is reasonable.
James B.?
Hmmmm…aluminum airframe and saltwater over many years, on floats and difficult to thoroughly preflight/inspect…
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One report is that pilot of trailing aircraft from same operator say the fated aircraft veer off course, didn’t see it after that.
Common sense clearly points in the direction of a catastrophic structural failure that resulted in a steep-high speed impact into the water. Corrosion will be found to have played a major role in this accident.