Why extended families should not fly together

Four generations killed. Those that follow Katheryn's Report have seen this. Not the first time I've seen families wiped out like this as it happened a while back to two families from Greenville, SC. I cannot imagine the pain. So much lost for so little.

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/11/pilatus-pc-1247e-n56kj-accident.html?m=0

 

I just think that it is foolhardy for a group this large, fully loaded, all related, with huge corporate ownership and responsibility and in bad weather makes no sense. I love the PC 12, my favorite single, but i can think of at lease three PC 12 incidents where families perished. One was because the fuel transfer pump became inoperable and one wing ran dry so the weight imbalance on pattern took them out. The others were weather related. So it is almost always about the pilot and their decisions.

They should change the name of Katheryn's Report to The Beautiful Dead. I read it to learn and remain cautious.

 

“It seems a classic case of no deicing chemicals were sprayed or that there was some kind of buildup of new snow on the wings,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. “Or is it possible the airspeed indicator was clogged with, or again became clogged with, snow and ice? Or, did they damage something on the plane while clearing it of snow and ice?”

Ice and snow need to be properly removed from a plane for the flight to be legal, and if that doesn't happen, the consequences can be dire. Variations in drag and lift could be substantial if a plane is not properly de-iced, an aviation expert confirmed with AccuWeather.

Three of the plane’s warning systems – the stall warning, stick shaker and stick pusher – activated within 15 seconds after liftoff, the NTSB report noted. The airplane immediately rolled about 10 degrees to the left after takeoff. The plane then reversed to five degrees to the right before it “ultimately entered a 64-degree left bank as the airplane reached its peak altitude of 460 feet above ground,” according to the report.

It’s also possible the time taken to clear the plane’s snow and ice affected pre-flight preparations. The pilot and passenger worked for three hours before being joined by the remaining passengers shortly before the flight, according to the National Transportation Safety Board report. The pilot requested clearance from Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) at 12:24 p.m., saying he’d be ready in five minutes. At 12:27 p.m., he received clearance with a void time of 12:35 p.m. No radio communications were received from the pilot and radar contact was never established. At 12:40 p.m., Minneapolis ARTCC contacted the Chamberlain airport manager, who advised the plane had departed about 10 minutes earlier. An alert notice was then issued.

Another factor that could have contributed to the crash was a possible load imbalance. The Pilatus PC-12 pilot's information manual notes the "maximum number of occupants is 9 passengers" plus 1-2 pilot(s). According to the National Transportation Safety Board report, there were 12 people on the plane.

 

Goes for companies as well. Just read this comment on the tragic LA crash.

"This is just one reason, of many, why our firm does not permit executives, corporate officers, directors, board members to travel on the same aircraft at the same time. The reliability of air travel (private and commercial) makes the unthinkable seem impossible. Yet it may take one aircraft accident, one malfunction, or even a chain of the most unlikely events to spawn disasters and bring a company to its knees."

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2019/12/piper-pa-31t-cheyenne-ii-n42cv-fatal.html?m=0