Simviation Forums

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/19/miami. ... index.html

its on CNN right now and several other news channel, an old prop driven sea plane. 19 onboard and 6 dead, very sad :-/

12 now confirmed dead :-/

Very sad news.

an old prop driven sea plane.

Chalks Ocean Airways actually operates Grumman G-73T  Turbine Mallard twin-engined amphibians. http://www.chalksoceanairways.com/

Now 14

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4543932.stm

Possibly terrorisim as the FBI is now involved

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4543932.stm

Sadly all 20 on board died. The FBI are checking against terrorism, which I think is unlikely, but I doubt that this is anything more than the necessary checks that have to be made.

Possibly terrorisim as the FBI is now involved

Must admit I wondered what would cause a turboprop aircraft to explode in mid-air as reported in the original news article. I'm not sure this would be a normal operating hazard compared with a conventional piston-engined aircraft with tanks full of AvGas.

Must admit I wondered what would cause a turboprop aircraft to explode in mid-air as reported in the original news article. I'm not sure this would be a normal operating hazard compared with a conventional piston-engined aircraft with tanks full of AvGas.

Old plane (a sea plane at that) operating in a corrosive environment (sea water/tropics) ... I am thinking wing-spar failure.

the spar failure probably ruptured and ignited the tank ...

Old plane (a sea plane at that) operating in a corrosive environment (sea water/tropics) ... I am thinking wing-spar failure.

the spar failure probably ruptured and ignited the tank ...

Chalk's has been in business a very long time, and their reputation for good maintenance (and obeying FAA regs) is sound, so I don't put much stock in that particular theory.   Besides, the eyewitness reports I've read so far reported smoke first, followed by an explosion. The wing was seen to depart after the explosion, not before- if the main spar had failed in such a manner, the wing would've come off right away.
But what do we know about it... didn't even see it happen. Terrible news.

Until end of investigation I'd bet metal fatigue caused by age, salt, vibration and a cross eyed maintenace crew. remember the ELECTRA whose wing peeled off over California while fighting a forest fire??
And what effect did it have on AIRFRAME stress to remount the turbo props when they took the radials off???

Anyway it is one thing particularly at Christmas and that is SAD.
PAPA-METRO USAF 1953-57

Wasn't this aircraft used to be the Grumman Albatross UF-16 with wing mounted piston engines? I remembered flying in one of them from a Coast Guard Station in Port Townsend Washington back in '61. It was a rickety old plane then which was real noisy.  I guess they renamed it the Mallard after refitting it with turbos. My suspicion was that something caused one of its engines to vibrate excessiviely causing the wing to break off.

Bubblehead

The HU-16 was a Grumman Goose, the Mallard was a smaller (but very similar looking) plane.