Phenom 300 Crash Provo Utah 2 Jan

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Theme: "Weightless" Aram Bedrosian

[reynolds]

This accident happened right in front of me. I happened to be pulling out from my hangar just as he rotated. The runway runs just about perpendicular to the hangar alleys, so the aircraft passed about 100 yards or so in front of me, about 15-20 feet off the ground. It was clearly stalled, and was wallowing at a high angle of attack, eventually rolling about 90 degrees to its left, dug the left wing into the ground and cartwheeled down the runway, breaking up in the process. I can’t speak to what happened on his initial roll, because it was hidden from view behind the ILS and glideslope equipment on the field. I can tell you that it was snowing pretty good, and the snow was accumulating fast. By the time emergency vehicles got to the plane, there was about 1-2 inches of heavy wet snow on the aprons. The plows were working the taxiways at the time and were the first vehicles on the scene. What struck me as odd in the moment was how early he was in the air. The airplane rotated, flew for a few seconds, and crashed-all in about 1500 feet of runway. If what you mentioned about the pilot trying to fly his way out of a loss of directional control on the ground is true, it would make sense as to how and why he became airborne so early. It was a very surreal experience, and one that I just can’t unsee.

[sganzerlag]

Phenom 300 and Phenom 100 pilot here. Both acft are extremely docile and have very benign flight characteristics, imo. So much so, that both aircraft can be easily hand-flown with the yaw damper off. Stick pusher is momentarily disabled on the very early stages of takeoff, so you can theoretically stall them at the time of liftoff. But honestly, you would have to be trying very hard. Especially on the Phenom 300, which has an abundance of excess thrust available and generous wing area. No autothrottle on the Phenom, but there is FADEC. Best regards from Brasilia, Brazil.

[jackoneil]

Yup, after a couple of rolling takeoff issues like that in turbo-charged twins, it hit home what a handful (or two handful and feet-fulls) it can become. What's worse is having one engine bog on a go-around on short final. I watched from the ground my dad almost kill himself and 4 people in an old fixed-waste gate Cessna 320 when he did an emergency go-around, applied power too fast, and one engine bogged and flooded, while the other had a turbo surge.

[Jungle_Jet_Capn]

FADEC runs the engines on the Phenom 300, but no auto-throttle system. I have seen directional control become an issue if pilots are using excessive differential thrust to make the hard turn onto the runway. It’s not as much poor technique as it is the handling characteristics of the airplane during taxi operations. Very narrow wheel stance, so lots of differential braking and thrust to make the tighter turns. It would be interesting to see if ATR was activated during the takeoff as that would indicate a greater than 20% split in thrust when the engines were spooling up for takeoff power. For the record, I have been flying the Phenom 300 for nearly 8 years and 2500 hours. Thank you Juan for your content.

[donh]

I'd feel comfortable having Juan investigate aviation crashes. His knowledge of the science of flight and how various planes act/react is impressive. He would be a valuable asset to the NTSB after the commercial pilot days are complete

[wengertgroup]

We’ve all heard about ‘get homeitis.’ The pilot owner of the aircraft was flying his wife (in the back seat) and friends down to SoCal for the Rose Bowl game that afternoon where Utah was playing Penn State. If I recall correctly, the game was mid to late afternoon, so he was probably feeling some personal pressure to ‘get there’ before the Provo weather got any worse. Nothing good ever happens in aviation when personal pressure to get somewhere overrides better judgment.

[brucemckelvy]

I love Juan how you do not jump to conclusions and make judgements. Your evaluations are always extremely professional and you lay out the things that will enter into the investigation. Well done, unlike some of the others in this arena that are quick to come to conclusions and make snap judgements. Keep it up. You do a great service to the GA community.

[Bpilot]

A pilot friend of mine witnessed this accident...Loss of directional control below V1 is a reject criteria in my shop...

[spadgerdog]

It is strange that unlike so many other aeroplanes, the Trent powered Airbus 330 has had MEASTO installed from the get go - it prevents asymmetric power application and prevents stall surge. It holds the first engine to reach a set thrust until the other matches, then advances them through a fan blade flutter avoid zone and onto the selected thrust.

Makes takeoff a breeze - just advance the thrust levers to either FLX/MCT or TOGA.

Shame other engine/aeroplane manufacturers haven't adopted a similar system.

[dmaeroflyer]

Very tragic indeed! I knew the pilot and he will be truly missed. Great explanations about the Rolling Takeoff!

[linwoodkent]

Hi Juan, When you said rolling takeoff I immediately re-played in my mind, as a passenger on big jet in mid 60's. He made the turn, and with NO hesitation gave it takeoff power. I thought we're dead!!
Thanks Juan, great video

[TrondBørgeKrokli]

Very good of you to take your time to share with us what you know of those incidents and accidents. Thank you also for helping us stay relevant on cases like those.

[chriscusick]

Where's another "$400 crepes" long format video? That's the best video I've watched in years of YouTube!!!

[John_Montgomery]

Looks like you are eating right and exercising Juan .. Keep up the Good Work

[zig]

Did a rolling Mito TO 3 ship KC-135E's and number 4 was really lagging behind 1 2 and 3 almost turned in to a cross country as we spun towards the woods.
Quick abort aloud us to take all three back around for static TO

[theflyingdutchman]

The Blancolirio Paradox: You don’t want to see him because there has been an aircraft accident, but you want to see him because there has been an aircraft accident.

[richb]

Thanks for explaining the possibilities.

[hernanhernandez]

Thank you. The right seater was our client and glad he survived. Condolences for the pilot and his family.

[thedude]

Beautiful background. Thanks for the update.

[TechiesRSA]

Good old Mike Patey back to work got me there.