Four people are dead after a midair collision March 7 between a Piper J3 Cub on floats and a Piper PA-28-161 Cherokee in Winter Haven, Florida. The Cub was operated by the Jack Brown Seaplane Base, and the Cherokee by Sunrise Aviation for Polk State College. The victims in the Cherokee were Sunrise Aviation flight instructor Faith Baker, 24, and Polk State College student Zachary Mace, 19. One victim in the Cub was identified by the Polk County Sheriff’s office as 67-year-old Randall Crawford of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The fourth victim has not yet been identified.
This tragic mishap occured just as another Army Guard Blackhawk [ not Tennessee or Alabama/ and far from it ] was also on a TRNG Mission shooting RNAV approaches to my Airport located not 1/4 mi from my home…
Made me stop and think as he announced " Rogue…established on…"…
Looking closely at the ring door bell video that from afar captured the incident; the TNANG Blackhawk appeared to seem as if it had a puff of smoke or shed some parts at the beginning of the incident — main rotor strike on tail boom ? …or tail rotor failure?
The Helo was going straight down at high speed before that smoke came off. Whatever happened it happened above the camera angle. It was already doomed.
For most helicopters (don’t know specifically about a Blackhawk) if recognized and acted on quickly enough, tail rotor failure can typically be countered by sufficient forward motion. So to see it plummet from that altitude I’m guessing it was something else.
Back in the 80’s while in the Army at Fort Richardson we called these “crash hawks”. Hated the aircraft when they started to arrive. It was always to do with the chip detectors that caused us the biggest issue. But like you we had a full down stabilizer issue on one flight but luckily we were just at a close hover and able to drop to the tarmac without any further issue. We were plain lucky. So no more flying in the Blackhawk instead I went back to the Huey’s crew.
I’m not seeing in this article where it says only 2 onboard? Perhaps I’m not seeing it however as you said we always have a min of 3, and depending on our mission took on more.
That’s sad to hear. I am one of those “more than 22,000” to have gotten my PPL and COM seaplane rating from Jack Brown’s.
Their planes typically fly at 500 AGL (except for a bit higher when practicing stalls) and operate out of Lake Jessie, so I wonder why the two planes collided over Lake Hartridge, which is on the opposite (east) side of the airport.
Not that it makes any difference to such a horrific tragedy, but particularly awful that this happened so close - geographically and time-wise - to Sun 'n Fun in nearby Lakeland. Heartfelt prayers for those lost and for their families and loved ones.
The day before the accident I flew my annual splash and dash at Browns with Lou as safety pilot. He seemed to be knowledgable and very safety conscious.
With 60 years with Cubs on Floats flying close to Winter Haven Airport, it’s amazing how safe it’s been.
I too wonder why the Cub was at the far (east) side of the airport.
Sad day for sure!