Skymaster Down in Avon Park, FL
 

I don't have all the details but here is a news report


TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Officials are searching the wreckage of a small, civilian plane that crashed while assisting with a military training exercise in rural central Florida. No military officials or weapons were onboard.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that local authorities confirmed all three people aboard had died.

The Cessna M337B crashed Wednesday night in Avon Park. It was registered to Robert Savely of Sausalito, Calif. A telephone message left for a listing in that name wasn't immediately returned.

U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Maj. Wes Ticer did not say what the plane was doing during the exercise but says it's not uncommon for civilian planes to be used for training.

The National Transportation Safety Board scheduled a Thursday evening news briefing at the crash site.


http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news...s-in-avon-park

Video

http://www.wtsp.com/news/mostpop/sto...3&provider=top

The 2nd link with the media description describing the explosion is disturbing. FWIW- 337's fuel tanks develop cracks. They oil can and take a beating when fueled quickly. They crack on top and other places. You will see this as fuel stains sometimes at the wing root and fuselage side along with interior staining. The POM explains the fueling procedure but doesn't address the real problem of fuel tank pressurization and the accompanying stress on the fuel tanks. The problem is evident when looking at the tank material and the it's gauge/thickness and the movement they experience when quickly fueled. The planes in which I have had apart are not state of the art chafe protected especially if OEM and never modified to modern standards. If in fact this A/C experienced a inflight explosion it's not hard to believe because of the recurring problems I have seen over 15 years of flying many different models of these 337's. I know every time I turn on the landing light , Nav lights, or wing strobes I flinch and have a bad mental visualization. I realize the fuel senders are in this loop also I just don't look at those as a switchable detonator. If it has a blue stain I would not blow it off and look at it later.

I don't see the link about an explosion, but if so, one can certainly not rule out "friendly fire" given the circumstance and proximity.

This plane wasn't augered in and it didn't have a wing tank that exploded. It was blown to bits that scattered over a 5 acre field. ugh.

Aero-News Network (www.aero-news.net) is today reporting that the aircraft "apparently lost its right wing prior to impact according to the NTSB".

Ernie

Report: Civilian C337 On FL Mil-Mission Lost Right Wing

Tue, 23 Nov '10
Three Fatally Injured Supporting Military Exercise

A civilian airplane which went down last Wednesday while supporting a military exercise in Central Florida apparently lost its right wing prior to impact according to the NTSB.
In a news conference last last week, NTSB spokesman Ralph Hicks said the right wing was found about and eight of a mile from the impact site. Tampa-area cable news station Bay News 9 reports that Hicks said both engines of the Cessna 337 separated from the fuselage when the aircraft impacted the ground. All three of those on board were fatally injured in the accident.
The accident is still in its preliminary stages. The civilian contractors onboard theaircraft were reportedly assisting in a military air-to-ground communications exercise.

*NOTE*
This makes me wonder if the limitations have been exceeded, and if they were, how many times and to what extent they were?
We don't know anything about the maintenance that the aircraft received, modifications that were made, legal or otherwise. O-2's typically only had two seats installed, so what was the center of gravity loading?

Omg
 

Another wing off?? OMG. Sorry for the folks on board, they didn't have a chance. Again, it makes you wonder what was happening, etc, etc. but OMG.

Preliminary report from media
 

Wing came off in two pieces. Questioning fatigue of the airframe.


http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/nov...news-breaking/

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=ERA11FA066&rpt=p

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...18X74618&key=1

The first link, from Tampa Bay Online, questions whether the aircraft might have had the wing extensions that have led to wing failures and are the subject of a recent AD, but the picture seems to show no wing extensions.

I am researching the FAA's Service Difficulty Reports (SDRS) we compiled on structural matters for the SID analysis to see if we can determine how many hours on that airframe.

Ernie

The wing appears to have separated at the rib just outboard of the tanks, where the wing extention AD says to look for smoking rivets.

I don't quite undertand it all. I keep flying my non modified skymaster within the maintenance, weight and speed parameters as provided in the POH and associated FAR's, and I simply can not make my wings fall off. I must not be trying hard enough !

Ernie, I have a note in my history for this bird, with TTIS of 5300 hours, about 2002.

There's two things I find very interesting in the picture, 1. is the aileron 2. is the "saw toothing" of the spare. The aileron outboard side appears ripped; that certainly could have happened upon impact with the ground, but an investigator must determine the cause of the rip. The spare doesn't have a clean break...the saw tooth pattern may suggest preexisting cracks...I'm sure the investigator will dedicate great analysis resources to the spare.

Perhaps its time for Cessna to start buying back the airplanes...just like Beachcraft once did. Better yet, an Obama bail out.

After reading the report, I noticed it was night IMC, with cumulus cloud activity. I know the pilot was IFR rated, but vertigo can happen to any of us, myself included, not to mention the likelyhood of vertical drafts strong enough to fatigue a wing. From my analysis, night IMC is the #1 denominator amongst Cessna accidents. This may seem insensitive, but I wouldn't be surprised if the pilot is named as causal.

Full Narrative

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/br...11GA066&akey=1