Surveillance video of Dale “Snort” Snodgrass’ fatal accident (warning, graphic content that might be upsetting to some) has been released and it shows the takeoff sequence that ends in seconds with the crash. The video, which includes radio exchanges with the tower, shows Snodgrass lining up normally for takeoff from Lewiston Airport in Idaho on July 24, but the takeoff quickly goes wrong.
Tragic:
Seems to replicate so many accidents with no elevator control, like the turbo-Caribou! The elevators post-crash can clearly be seen in the neurtral position!
Do these A/C have gust locks? A few years ago a Skylane like the one I own crashed (with fatality) not too far from where I live, and it was determined that the gust lock was still in place. After that I have never failed to use the checklist - especially making sure to do the “killer items.”
I agree with Arthur, that the seat could have slid back.
That seat rail, on the L-19 was always fairly flimsy to begin with, if it is similar to ones that I worked on while I was stationed in Germany. Then again, there was the powerful turboprop engine that will rock you back in your seat on takeoff. Hopefully, the seating wasn’t too badly burned so that they can actually find out what happened. The fire department was slow to respond as far as I could see, twisting and turning to get to the scene of the accident. RIP to the pilot.
The horribly slow response to the accident by bystanders and the fire that erupted afterwards makes me wonder… yea, the crash looked bad, but could he, or did he survive only to be urned alive…
I’ve been looking at a chemical fire extinguisher used by Porsche enthusiasts sold a Pelican Parts… they are kind of expensive, about $80 each for a little stick, but could they save you from burning to death when trapped in an accident? They appear to be set off by fire. If they were installed in front of the fire wall, they could even work in flight to put out fires…
I can’t believe the slow response from CFR and airport ops. Were those trucks coming from a different airport? It also sounded like the airport ops personnel didn’t know if the airport was closed or not. An airport that has air carrier operations should be able to respond better than what I saw and heard on this video.
From what I could see of the scenario, the Emergency Response was abysmal, to say the least, and even when they did arrive, what was stopping them from moving closer to the accident? Such a sad end for a great pilot. RIP.
Lewiston is an FAR 139 airport, meaning it has an airport operating certificate and can support commercial passenger airline traffic. Its ARFF index is A, so it must provide at least one vehicle carrying at least 450 or 500 pounds of dry chemical (depending on the type) and 100 gallons of an AFFF/water mix. The ARFF vehicle in the video is at least Index B, so the airport exceeds the index requirement.
Part 139 does not require 24/7 ARFF coverage. The airport must provide the coverage during air carrier operations, defined as “…the takeoff or landing of an air carrier aircraft and includes the period of time from 15 minutes before until 15 minutes after the takeoff or landing.” Lewiston has arrivals by Skywest (Delta connector) at 0207, 1429, and 1857, and departures at 0905 and 1519.
The majority of small airports that support commercial air service can’t afford to provide 24/7 on-airport ARFF services, so they can’t provide fire crews specifically designated for the airport. They’ll either 1) train airport employees (airfield maintenance, management, etc - most small airports don’t have an airfield operations staff per se) to perform ARFF duties, or 2) train local municipality structural firefighters at a nearby fire station to do ARFF. If it’s the latter (and in this case I’m guessing that it is), the firefighters know what the commercial flight schedule is, so they go from their structural station to the ARFF station and man the vehicle to be ready during the 15 minute before/after window. The response requirement time is 3 minutes to the mid-point of the furthest air carrier runway for the first vehicle and 4 minutes for any second and subsequent vehicles.
So my guess is that the mishap occurred in between scheduled commercial flights.
As for someone grabbing a fire extinguisher and running out there to put out the fire…with no protective clothing, they risk the chance of becoming a victim themselves, especially if there’s a secondary explosion, not to mention the risk of getting in the way of firefighting vehicles (yes, I know about the trucks running over the Asiana victims, and yes, they screwed up).
A lot of what you’re saying is true, but I really doubt they reposition their equipment to try to time the Skywest arrivals. Not to point out the obvious, but their was a Skywest aircraft sitting on the ramp. If the airport ops people do operate the equipment one of them should have told the tower the airport was closed also. Regardless of their setup, if they can apply foam in three minutes for an air carrier they should be able to do they same for a GA accident.