Overdue Cargo Airplane Bound for CYXS

[altiplano]

CTV reporting wreckage found.

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/wreckage-fo ... -1.2325046

Still hoping for good news on the drivers.

[lostaviator]

Based on those radar tracks (if they are accurate) something is off with their climb profile. 230 knots over the ground in a metro (given winds aloft at the time) would imply a pretty low rate of climb.

[boeingboy]

Flightaware graph shows a 1400'/min climb

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CA66 ... S/tracklog

[lostaviator]

Yea. Just an observation. I'd hope if they were encountering bad ice they wouldn't be sacrificing climb for speed.

Seems like a bad year in aviation. Thoughts are with the company and families.

[boeingboy]

Seems like whatever it was - it was sudden and catostrophic. No calls and they just disappeared. A sad day for us west coasters.

[cncpc]

There's a photo here of what appears to be a SAR tech going down a line onto either a piece of fuselage or a wing.

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/

I think it's Global that is reporting they have found "the fuselage" and a wing, but not the two pilots. That leads to thinking the fuselage must be in more than one piece.

One interpretation of that CTV photo is that the guy is above the tube, with the cockpit sheared off at the front bulkhead, at lower left.

Certain something catastrophic, as BB says.

[Prodriver]

How many hrs would those airframes have?

[PointyEngine]

One of the Metro 3s had 42,000 hours from memory - the 2's didn't have as much but still high 20s / low 30s. Rock solid birds though.

Super sad day...

[BE20 Driver]

I still know a guy or two there and haven't heard from anyone.
If someone knows who the crew is, please PM me.

[boeingboy]

That is not a wing in the photo, must be part of the fuse.

[grimey]

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/wreckage-found-in- ... -1.2325046

Gives you a better idea than the still photo, it's fairly obviously not the wing. It's at around 0:55 in the video.

[CFM Symphony]

Never flew Metros, but I wonder what capacity the cabin has for a cargo shift if it is not secured properly? Also, what does a typical load consist of on these flights? DG etc?

[Hozer]

Most of the time that run "bulks out" in the morning on its way up, so there isn't anywhere for the cargo to shift. They use good cargo nets, and the planes are maintained well. DG is rare and when it is on board it's usually small amount's of dry ice keeping "medical stuff" cool.

[MrWings]

I'm a bit surprised about the lack of national and local news coverage about this crash. Especially with the sudden demise of the flight and all that could imply.

[FICU]

There is little coverage because there were no passengers on board. Nothing overly sensational for the national media to report.

[PositiveRate27]

This will dissapear in a couple days. The media won't care, TC won't care and us pilots won't care.

Go have a look at the last Carson Metro thread. Plenty of guys who know more than the rest of us willing to fly these machines for this particular operator.

[MrWings]

This will dissapear in a couple days.

It has already disappeared from the CBC website. Top aviation story is about the rampie who went for a ride in the cargo hold.

[PositiveRate27]

[iflyforpie]

Honestly I'm glad for the lack of news coverage. GA doesn't need any more bad press... because in the eyes of the general public anything from a twin turboprop to an ultralight are all just 'scary little airplanes with propellers.'

This accident does not look survivable--especially in that type of terrain at any speed a Metro would still be under control. My thoughts are with those directly affected.

[floydfrank]

Most of the time that run "bulks out" in the morning on its way up, so there isn't anywhere for the cargo to shift. They use good cargo nets, and the planes are maintained well. DG is rare and when it is on board it's usually small amount's of dry ice keeping "medical stuff" cool.

I agree, I used to commute to work in the back of the metro when I was with Westex. I also flew some of the bag runs myself after the Navair crash in YXT, and Ntair was filling in, everything was above board with the loads, nobody flew overweight or with unsecured cargo.
My wife came across some guy posting comments on ctv or bctv, stating aircraft were routinely flown overweight etc.

[cncpc]

It seems more likely than not that this airplane had come apart in the air.

It's hard to tell what part of the fuselage is lying there. No wings, but a wing has been found. The fuselage is broken at both ends. No tail, no cockpit. Could be wrong, but it looks like the tube we see just fell straight in there.

No Mayday, sudden stoppage of transponder, pilots lost communication and ability to control aircraft.

[MrWings]

It seems more likely than not that this airplane had come apart in the air.

This is why I find this so concerning.

[boeingboy]

Ever since I heard about this crash - I've had this nagging feeling I suspect I know what happened.....for now I'm not going to post my thoughts as there is not enough evidense to speculate on what happened. Last thing I want is some news nut or rumors starting based on some feeling I have.

If my feeling turns out to be true - it is tragic and I feel for those others involved as it would be a nightmare senario.....it also would be a one off thing and not a sestemic fleet problem.

[goldeneagle]

It seems more likely than not that this airplane had come apart in the air.

I'm not so sure about that, it's VERY steep terrain. If there was ground contact at high speed at the higher levels, I would expect lots of pieces scattered over a fairly large area on the downslope. Last radar hit was around 240 knots, so, this airplane wasn't 'low and slow' when it made ground contact. Based on what I've seen in the news, from the last radar hit to the location of debris, there wasn't enough room or time for the plane to be slowed down when it made first ground contact.

I think I would wait till a little more information is available before coming to this conclusion, even tho it does tend to jump out at us right now.

[cncpc]

I think I would wait till a little more information is available before coming to this conclusion, even tho it does tend to jump out at us right now.

Yes it does.

And the intact impact case you make is also valid.

You'd think they'd have got some returns at YVR as it went down though, or some radio comm.