VIDEO: Cessna 310 Crash after LEFT Engine Failure (29 Oct 2020)

[challenger_nami]

Cessna 310 Crashes into Construction site 9 minutes after takeoff.
Seems to be the left Engine Failure, which is feathered.

29 Oct 2020
Las Vegas, Nevada
Fatalities: 2, Rest In Peace. condolences to their families.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/8OPiDaAHbv4

TV NEWS COVERAGE: https://youtu.be/KWi8ddIuzMg

Home Surveillance VIDEO shows Crash: https://youtu.be/gxFvUY5ec6Y


RADIO COMMUNICATION With ATC:
https://youtu.be/XMLCzbqUo9o


Video of similar accident ( December 10 2011) added by user @Pelmet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqmomTUVsAw





MY SPECULATION:
Looks like it rolled INVERTED to left (Dead Engine) when it slowed down bellow it’s Rudder Effectiveness Minimum Control Airspeed, Vmca, and fell from around 150 ft.

The pilots intention probably was doing a forced landing in one of the empty fields beyond the construction site and lost track of the airspeed.

Otherwise looked like the pilot had it made.

Crash site is located 4 miles from Henderson Airport where aircraft was heading to for landing, after engine shutdown.

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[jschnurr]

Looks like the LEFT engine is feathered, and the right engine is running (but appears to be slow because of camera shutter).

Either way, sad ending. RIP.

[challenger_nami]

You are very correct, @schnurr. Thanks for pointing that out. The record is corrected now.

I first saw it on the small display of my phone, and it seemed like the right engine was windmilling. And I assumed the left engine was operating, as I could not see the left prop on my phone.

I just looked at it on the bigger screen of my tablet.

Condolences to the family members of the victims.

Does anyone here have any flying experience on Cessna 310?

[cncpc]

Not a long flight and 1 passenger, so probably a bit below gross. Gear is up, flaps up, one seems to be turning. If that one is turning full up, I'd expect to see a better performance than that. No idea what the pilot was seeing, or how long before the video the issue developed. Gotta be an audio somewhere coming out of North Las Vegas and into the TCA. No 2 wasn't making full power?

It looked like he had it in hand.

[Guilden]

I did my Multi-IFR training on the C310. Years ago we used to actually shut the engine down as a demonstration for multi training.. During mine we could not get it to start again and had to declare a mayday and come in on one and land. Doing about 20 hours in it, I found it not to be a very forgiving airplane..That was a mere 15 years ago now when I was quite inexperienced..

[valleyboy]

2000 ft above sea level and I wonder what the temp was. Was it just 2 people or was there freight in the back?? There should be no control issues in a 310 given the information provided.

What I found strange is that it does not sound like the good engine is operating at a high output. It could be but you would expect to hear more snap. The witness also stated high angle of attack, that is very bad. There also appears to be so much flat ground to pick from, off strip landing could have also been an option. The outcome of this accident should not have been fatal. This is the stuff that makes these tragic events like this so sad and unnecessary.

[DHC2eater]

Definitely the left prop is stopped but I can't tell if it's feathered or not.....the elevation is 2181 and with a plus temp the density alt could be much higher......

Very sad

Eater

[alkaseltzer]

"Friends don't let friends fly the Cessna 310" - Heard that many years ago.

[challenger_nami]

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NEW VIDEO: https://youtu.be/gxFvUY5ec6Y

Looks like it rolled INVERTED to left (Dead Engine) when it slowed down bellow it’s Rudder Effectiveness Minimum Control Airspeed, Vmca, and fell from around 150 ft.

The pilots intention probably was doing a forced landing in one of the empty fields beyond the construction site and lost track of the airspeed.

Otherwise looked like the pilot had it made.



.

[Roar]

You are very correct, @schnurr. Thanks for pointing that out. The record is corrected now.

I first saw it on the small display of my phone, and it seemed like the right engine was windmilling. And I assumed the left engine was operating, as I could not see the left prop on my phone.

I just looked at it on the bigger screen of my tablet.

Condolences to the family members of the victims.

Does anyone here have any flying experience on Cessna 310?

I have about 1500 hrs in a T310R, that was 20 years ago though.

[Bede]

Twins don’t roll over that fast when they hit Vmca unless there is a power change. My guess is that they had less than full power, slowed down and added power suddenly to extend glide without sufficient rudder input.

[PilotDAR]

I did my multi training and ride on a 310R, including actual engine shutdowns, and simulated single engined overshoots. And, I had a sudden power loss taking off from Meig's Field with six people aboard, but got it running smoothly again, and continued home safely. I flew it a hundred or so hours, and then the 340 after that. A 310R needs to be flown a few knots faster than the published Vmca figure to be fully controlled flying straight. This was trained to me by Stan Miller, the Seneca College examiner, who trained with 310's. I have great confidence in the 310, though like any twin, it demands proper flying when slow or on one engine. My friend let me fly it, and I was happy for the privilege.

[pelmet]

Once a Vmc rollover starts, it seems to happen very quickly. The pilot needs to be prepared to reduce power on the good engine and take whatever he can get when things start getting low and slow. Instinct is to keep on going, struggling with full rudder, probably full aileron and desperately trying to continue and hope for improvement. How any one of us will end up reacting in such a situation is likely unknown until the real situation is encountered.

But if one reminds themself just before takeoff, that if a critical situation is encountered(ie. low and slow with max power not helping).....that a Vmc rollover is guaranteed death while removing the power on the good engine might allow survival, it might make it more likely for the pilot to put that into action as things get closer to being hopeless and things will happen suddenly.

Try reminding yourself of that before each takeoff in a light twin(ie "If things get bad after an engine failure, I will reduce the power and land somewhere"). It is easy to be just thinking about other things such as the normal takeoff procedure. Who knows....it might help.

Twins don’t roll over that fast when they hit Vmca unless there is a power change. My guess is that they had less than full power, slowed down and added power suddenly to extend glide without sufficient rudder input.

This one was slower......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqmomTUVsAw

[PilotDAR]

Twins don’t roll over that fast when they hit Vmc

Is true. And, once you're on the wrong side of Vmca, and trying to control your way back to straight flight, most everything you do will worsen the situation, unless you remove the asymmetry, and trade lots of altitude for airspeed with very little of the good engine's power being used.

The document titled "Always Leave Yourself an Out, which can be found in a Google search, is good reading on this topic. (I can't find it as a web page any more).

[Capt. Underpants]

I read elsewhere that the C310 pilot added power on the good engine to avoid a power line and that’s when it rolled over.

[challenger_nami]

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RADIO COMMUNICATION With ATC:
https://youtu.be/XMLCzbqUo9o



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[Bede]

I read elsewhere that the C310 pilot added power on the good engine to avoid a power line and that’s when it rolled over.

Exactly.

I'm still not sure why he couldn't maintain altitude. Yes Vegas is high/hot, but he only had 2 people on board.

[co-joe]

I've flown almost all of the piston twin Cessnas, and they are all really good single engine performers. The turbo 310R I flew would climb at 700'/min on one engine. They all have a laminar flow wing with very abrupt stall characteristics. It's either flying or it isn't, there's no mush, or sloppyness, it just drops out from under you.

A normally aspirated 310 on a hot day in Vegas might not be such a performer as a well maintaned turbo machine in yyc though. Sad.