So, I was wandering around YouTube watching various videos about Cessna's when I ran across the following video of a Cessna 210 crash:
Cessna 210 crash
I am not overly familiar with the 210, but I had seen a few pictures and a little snippet of the dialog from the video really stuck out. Just to be sure if my suspicions were correct, I did a quick check of the information about the Cessna 210:
Wikipedia: Cessna 210
Turns out I was right about what I thought were the 210's capabilities versus what was reported the 210 in the video was doing at the time of the crash.
So, what went wrong? Here's a hint: How many skydivers were on board?
Moral of the story: Believe it or not, listed performance characteristics exist for a reason; exceeding them can be an invitation for a tragedy.
Thoughtfully,
~Darrin
HUGE EDIT:
I have just learned a valuable lesson to always try and get my information from more than one source, ESPECIALLY if the first source may be suspect!
Read HERE.
So, it turns out there were fewer skydivers than reported in the video (in a small plane, one more or one less person can make a HUGE difference).
On the other hand, there is suspicion that the plane was still overloaded.
Read HERE.
If anyone can find the accident report, I would be curious to know if it was pilot error (via flying an overloaded plane too slowly . . . stall speed would change with the extra weight, yes?) or mechanical failure.