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In a message dated 5/12/2006 5:12:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, Sky2high@aol.com writes:
So far all we know is that the engine sputtered on takeoff and an attempt was made to turn back to the airport. They didn't make it.
Grayhawk,
So far all we know is that the engine sputtered on takeoff, YES. An attempt was made to turn back to the airport--MAYBE NOT! This is NOT a definite. I flew to Somerset County Airport this afternoon to look at the crash site. The NTSB (I assume) put little flags on the direction of the crash and where the airplane came to a halt. This spot was just a few hundred feet from the runway threshold of Rwy 25. Dave took off from Rwy 7. IF he decided to fly straight ahead, he would have hit a bunch of trees and maybe even some houses (which may have been a better choice if aircraft remained controllable, but I don't know for sure). Just a few degrees to the left was an industrial building.
Upon leaving the airport, I decided to depart from RWY 7 and if the engine quit somewhere midpoint of the runway, from the pilot point of view, a sharp left turn to the open field would have been the instinctive choice, IMHO. I doubt very much that Dave tried to make it back to the runway, it would have been obviously impossible!
Again, IMHO, the engine quit at 100 feet or less and Dave made an instant decision to land on the open field directly to the left of the runway. Unfortunately. he probably ran out of airspeed and options at the same time. :-( Sad, sad, sad day....
-Grease
PS I took both aerial and ground pictures of the runway and crash site but will wait for Dave's immediate family for permission to be released. -R
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