N611VG crash in Virginia

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Rich
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N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by Rich »

This looks like a cabin pressurization failure, but the baffling thing is the flight path. Apparently the plane flew on A/P all the way to Long Island and then turned around and was headed back to Tennessee. Likely it ran out of fuel, stalled while trying to maintain altitude and crashed.

Would this be something a Flight Director could have been programmed to do? Would an Autoland system attempt something like this?
Screenshot 2023-06-06 at 13.27.04.png
I don't intend this as some alarmist or critical post. I'm just wondering how such a flight path would have occurred on A/P :scratch:
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Chris
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Re: N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by Chris »

There's a long Beechtalk thread which discusses this in a fair bit of detail (and speculation), but the most plausible explanation I read is that the pilot entered a flight plan that terminated at the destination airport via the route clearance, as would be logical. Then the pilot went unresponsive before TOC and the plane flew the entire route until it had no more waypoints, at which point it just kept going on the same heading. I.e. it's just coincidental that the final course was headed back the way they came from.
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Rich
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Re: N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by Rich »

Chris wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 8:47 pm There's a long Beechtalk thread which discusses this in a fair bit of detail (and speculation), but the most plausible explanation I read is that the pilot entered a flight plan that terminated at the destination airport via the route clearance, as would be logical. Then the pilot went unresponsive before TOC and the plane flew the entire route until it had no more waypoints, at which point it just kept going on the same heading. I.e. it's just coincidental that the final course was headed back the way they came from.
This report would probably need to be inaccurate, which it could be: Just 15 minutes after the plane took off in Tennessee, the FAA lost contact with the small jet, according to a statement from the agency and data from the agency and FlightAware. We'll have to wait to see if this is confirmed.

It flew directly over the intended destination with no indication of descent for the approach, not aligned with any runway, making a beeline that looks to be directly back to the origin. Simple coincidence?
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waynemcc999
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Re: N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by waynemcc999 »

Per FlightAware here was the cleared route that would have been picked up at the departure location and almost certainly programmed into the FMS:
0A9 PSK GVE SIE BRIGS Q439 SARDI CCC KISP

The penultimate waypoint (CCC) and destination (KISP) create a course of 253 degrees. Project this to CCC KISP KISP/253/500 (without wind drift) and that puts the aircraft over western Virginia.

Seems to me if we put that route into our G1000s... 0A9 PSK GVE SIE BRIGS Q439 SARDI CCC KISP... soon after takeoff set ALTS at 34000' (or any top altitude)... we'd get the same result if we had that range.

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Rich
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Re: N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by Rich »

waynemcc999 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 10:10 pm Per FlightAware here was the cleared route that would have been picked up at the departure location and almost certainly programmed into the FMS:
0A9 PSK GVE SIE BRIGS Q439 SARDI CCC KISP

The penultimate waypoint (CCC) and destination (KISP) create a course of 253 degrees. Project this to CCC KISP KISP/253/500 (without wind drift) and that puts the aircraft over western Virginia.

Seems to me if we put that route into our G1000s... 0A9 PSK GVE SIE BRIGS Q439 SARDI CCC KISP... soon after takeoff set ALTS at 34000' (or any top altitude)... we'd get the same result if we had that range.

Wayne
grab218.png
Yep, looks like simple coincidence that it happens to be headed right back to the origin.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Rich
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Re: N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by Rich »

For grins I went into Foreflight and created a flight plan KISP->0A9. Course shows as 253deg M.
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Re: N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by mdieter »

I've played with the G1000 / GFC700 autopilot and it will indeed continue on the last heading when it goes past the last waypoint in the flight plan. It doesn't change indication to heading mode, but does in fact act that way. I think Wayne's explanation is right on.
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Re: N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by mfdutra »

The AP doesn’t maintain a heading after arriving at the waypoint. It proceeds again to that same waypoint, just going around the planet, literally. The GPS is always flying a great circle, like a precise orbit.
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Re: N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by dmloftus »

mdieter wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:50 am I've played with the G1000 / GFC700 autopilot and it will indeed continue on the last heading when it goes past the last waypoint in the flight plan. It doesn't change indication to heading mode, but does in fact act that way. I think Wayne's explanation is right on.
No change to lateral mode indication?
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Re: N611VG crash in Virginia

Post by mdieter »

dmloftus wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 2:32 am
mdieter wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:50 am I've played with the G1000 / GFC700 autopilot and it will indeed continue on the last heading when it goes past the last waypoint in the flight plan. It doesn't change indication to heading mode, but does in fact act that way. I think Wayne's explanation is right on.
No change to lateral mode indication?
Not in my experience. It stayed in GPS.
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