Tuesday, April 05, 2022

Cessna TU206F Turbo Stationair, N858JA: Fatal accident occurred April 05, 2022 near Marlin Airport (T15), Falls County, Texas

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. 

The National Transportation Safety Board traveled to the scene of this accident.

Additional Participating Entities:  
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Irving,  Texas 
Textron Aviation; Wichita, Kansas
New Era Technology; Boardman, Ohio

AMS Aviation LLC


Location: Marlin, Texas
Accident Number: CEN22FA168
Date and Time: April 5, 2022, 12:31 Local 
Registration: N858JA
Aircraft: Cessna TU206F
Injuries: 2 Fatal
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Aerial observation

On April 5, 2022, about 1231 central daylight time, a Cessna TU206F airplane, N858JA, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Marlin, Texas. The 2 pilots were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 aerial observation flight.

The airplane departed the Houston Executive Airport (TME), Houston, Texas, on a pipeline inspection flight with a destination of Waco, Texas. Preliminary radar and Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) data indicated the airplane first appeared at 1038 near TME. The airplane tracked north-northwest toward Waco, Texas, and climbed to 4,000 ft msl. About an hour and a half into the flight, the airplane turned southwest and began a series of maneuvering turns over the area where the pipeline was located. The airplane continued to maneuver southwest and worked its way to a location 20 miles south of Waco. It then turned to the east toward the Marlin Airport (T15), Marlin, Texas. The pilot contacted Waco Approach Control and informed them that he was landing at T15.

The airplane overflew the airport and entered a left downwind traffic pattern for runway 17. The airplane continued to a left base leg and then final. An Armory security camera located on the airport recorded the airplane on final approach.

The airplane touched down just past the approach end of the runway and bounced back into the air. It touched down a second time in the grass just right of the runway, struck a runway light, veered back on the runway, crossed the runway, and departed the left side of the runway.

The airplane then disappeared behind a building. Mode C position reporting data showed three more airplane positions in close proximity just east of the airport. All track data was lost at 1231. The airplane was about 1,800 ft. southeast of the approach end of runway 17 at T15 when track data was lost.

The accident site was in a treed pasture located on the east side of a gravel road that ran along the east side of T15, and 1 mile northeast of Marlin, Texas. The elevation of the accident site was 410 ft and the terrain was predominately flat. 

The airplane impacted in a near vertical attitude and rested upright on its main landing gear and nose on a heading of 281°.

The airplane main wreckage was located about 340 ft east of the runway and consisted of the fuselage, both wings, main landing gear, engine, and empennage. 

The propeller and nose landing gear were located west of the airplane. A debris field that contained broken pieces of the windscreen, cowling, glareshield, and instrument panel was located between the airplane and the propeller. 

An additional area of debris that consisted of the left wing tip was located beneath a tree about 90 ft west-northwest of the airplane. A broken tree branch was located among the debris.

The airplane’s propeller was located 33 ft. west of the airplane main wreckage and was embedded about 1 ft into the ground. The propeller was broken torsionally at the flange. All three blades showed S-bending and chordwise scratches. A 4 ft by 4 ft impact crater was located beneath the propeller. Pieces of the windscreen were found in the crater. Two 6 in wide and 15 ft long impressions in the ground extended east and west from the impact crater. At the end of the east impression were pieces of the right wing tip and position light.

A second tree located 15 ft south of the impact crater showed several broken branches, which were found on the ground between the propeller and the tree.

An on-scene examination of the airplane revealed no preaccident malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.

Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information

Aircraft Make: Cessna
Registration: N858JA
Model/Series: TU206F 
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Amateur Built:
Operator: On file 
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None
Operator Designator Code:

Meteorological Information and Flight Plan

Conditions at Accident Site: VMC
Condition of Light: Day
Observation Facility, Elevation: KACT,498 ft msl
Observation Time: 11:51 Local
Distance from Accident Site: 25 Nautical Miles
Temperature/Dew Point: 30°C /17.8°C
Lowest Cloud Condition: Clear 
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: 15 knots / , 240°
Lowest Ceiling: 
Visibility: 10 miles
Altimeter Setting: 29.62 inches Hg
Type of Flight Plan Filed:
Departure Point: Houston, TX (TME) 
Destination: Waco, TX

Wreckage and Impact Information

Crew Injuries: 2 Fatal 
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries: 
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 2 Fatal 
Latitude, Longitude: 31.339384,-96.85044 (est)

Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances. 

Date: 05-APR-22
Time: 17:43:00Z
Regis#: N858JA
Aircraft Make: CESSNA
Aircraft Model: TU206
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Total Fatal: 2
Flight Crew: 2 fatal
Activity: OTHER
Flight Phase: LANDING (LDG)
Operation: 91
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: UNKNOWN
City: MARLIN
State: TEXAS

Those who may have information that might be relevant to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation may contact them by email witness@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov. You can also call the NTSB Response Operations Center at 844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290.

 Cinnamon Franklin


Thomas Sands Jr. and Cinnamon Franklin


MARLIN, Texas (KWTX) - The people killed when a small aircraft crashed near the Marlin Airport in Falls County on Tuesday were identified as Thomas Sands Jr., 55, of Sugar Land, Texas, and Cinnamon Franklin, 27, of Greenwood, Indiana, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The occupants of the Cessna plane were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities do not yet know who was operating the plane since both Sands and Franklin were pilots and the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

“Right now, it is a mystery. We have a lot of information we still have to look at,” said David Bowling, an air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

The federal agency’s investigators spent Wednesday in Marlin investigating the wreckage and plan to have it transported to a warehouse in Dallas where they can continue their examination.

Falls County Sheriff Joe Lopez said the crash was reported at about 12:45 p.m. on April 5 near the airport located off McClanahan Road (FM 147) and CR 134.

The plane was reportedly heading to the airport in Waco from Houston and the NTSB has learned the pilots were planning to stop at the Marlin Airport before arriving in Waco.

“From my understanding, (the people killed in the crash) are experienced pilots so I don’t know if it was mechanical (failure) or maybe something else,” Sheriff Lopez said, “Our heart goes out to the people involved. Like the old saying, you never know when the good Lord is going to call.”

The NTSB said Sands and Franklin were in the middle of a pipeline patrol flight, which means they were surveying a pipeline from the air. Experts said those flights involve a lot of maneuvering and flying close to the ground.

The plane did not erupt in flames after it crashed and the NTSB said that will help in the investigation, which will examine three factors: the state of machinery, the environment and the pilots.

Investigators are examining the engine, the plane’s controls and its fuel. So far, they have uncovered no evidence of anything malfunctioning. “Both wing tanks have adequate fuel in there,” said Bowling, “We aren’t finding anything yet that may have contributed to the accident.”

Investigators also plan to speak with pilots who landed at the Marlin Airport earlier on Tuesday to learn more about weather conditions. The weather in Marlin was hot, but not windy at the time of the plane crash.

The final piece of the puzzle will be to investigate the pilots. “We are going to look into the experience and background of the crew,” Bowling said.

Autopsies and toxicology reports have been ordered but those results could take months.




INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Family and friends say Cinnamon Franklin died doing what she loved.

The 27-year-old Greenwood pilot was killed Tuesday afternoon in a plane crash in Texas.

The crash also killed the other person on board the plane, 55-year-old Thomas Sands, of Sugar Land, Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

It’s not clear who was flying the plane.

Franklin’s best friend and cousin, Darian Hornaday, says Franklin didn’t always know she wanted to be a pilot.

“Once she went to Germany … like, a lightbulb just went off in her head, and she was like, ‘I have to see everything I can,’” Hornaday said.

Hornaday says that trip changed Franklin’s entire life. She says Franklin knew that if she wanted to travel and get paid for it, the only direction she could go was up.

“She wanted to fly the big planes, make the big bucks, and, you know, be able to live that kind of life she wanted,” Hornaday said.

Franklin spent most of her life in Martinsville and later began working at the Greenwood airport. She became a licensed commercial pilot in 2021 and moved to Ohio to start her career.

“I know that she really loved her job and she was really loving her life and she overcame every adversity that was ever thrown her way,” Hornaday said.

Hornaday says Franklin’s job took her all over the country, including to Texas, where she died.

Franklin and Sands were in a  Cessna TU206F Turbo Stationair when it went down in a field near the Marlin Airport in Marlin, Texas, about 30 miles southeast of Waco, says the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“I called her phone and I just … it rang and I let it ring and ring and ring and she didn’t pick up and I was just hoping that she would, you know, maybe they were wrong, maybe it wasn’t her. Maybe it wasn’t her plane,” Hornaday said, in tears.

Hornaday shared stories of Franklin taking her up in her plane. She says those are the memories Franklin would want her to think of whenever she looks up at the sky.

“‘It’s not fair, but, you know, all I can hope for is that she’s flying high in the bluest skies that she’s ever seen,” Hornaday said.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. The cause of the crash has not been determined.




MARLIN, Texas (KWTX) - The people killed when a small aircraft crashed near the Marlin Airport in Falls County on Tuesday were identified as Thomas Sands Jr., 55, of Sugar Land, Texas, and Cinnamon Franklin, 27, of Greenwood, Indiana, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The occupants of the Cessna plane were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities do not yet know who was operating the plane since both Sands and Franklin were pilots.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are in Marlin investigating the crash and plan to have the wreckage transported to a warehouse in Dallas where they can continue their examination.

Falls County Sheriff Joe Lopez said the crash was reported at about 12:45 p.m. on March 5 near the airport located off McClanahan Road (FM 147) and CR 134.

The plane was reportedly heading to the airport in Waco from Houston and the NTSB has learned the people on board were planning to stop at the Marlin Airport before arriving in Waco.

“From my understanding, (the people killed in the crash) are experienced pilots so I don’t know if it was mechanical (failure) or maybe something else,” Sheriff Lopez said, “Our heart goes out to the people involved. Like the old saying, you never know when the good Lord is going to call.”

The plane did not erupt in flames after it crashed and the NTSB said that will help in the investigation. It is looking at three factors: the machinery, the environment and the pilots.

Investigators are examining the engine, the plane’s controls and its fuel. So far, they have uncovered no evidence of anything malfunctioning.

Investigators plan to speak with pilots who landed at the Marlin Airport earlier on Tuesday to learn more about weather conditions. The weather in Marlin was hot, but not windy at the time of the plane crash.






MARLIN, Texas — Two people are dead after a plane crash near Marlin, Texas Tuesday afternoon, according to Marlin City Manager Cedric Davis. 

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a  Cessna TU206F Turbo Stationair crashed around 12:40 p.m. east of the Marlin Airport, 500 block FM 147. The plane was flying from Houston Executive Airport to Waco Regional Airport, per FAA. 

City officials told 6 News around 1 p.m. a call came into the Marlin Police Department and Marlin Fire Department about a small plane down in a field. 

DPS Sgt. Ryan Howard told 6 News FAA will lead the investigation alongside National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB will provide additional updates.

44 comments:

  1. N858JA is registered to AMS Aviation in KSBN. A quick search shows AMS Aviation to be an aerial survey operation. One crash photo looks to show a computer hardware rack mounted on the floor adjacent what I assume is a circular opening through the fuselage belly, presumably for optic sensors.

    It is unknown if this aircraft was actively flying an aerial survey mission or, repoing to get into position. The flight track seems erratic for normal flight.

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    1. An update added after the above comment was posted states that The NTSB said Sands and Franklin were "in the middle of a pipeline patrol flight".

      Pipeline right of way patrol and imaging is done to check for vegetation overgrowth, soil disruption and construction encroachment. Unfortunate to have an accident on the way to landing after safely maneuvering during the much more challenging image-taking portion of the flight.

      Comparing the busy diagonal flight track portion to the public access pipeline viewer and google maps terrain imaging reveals the particular diagonal pipeline right of way that was associated with the flight track.

      Example location where a portion of the right of way is visible for the buried 30" gas pipeline they were focused on:
      http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=loc:31.425292+-96.968130

      Public pipeline viewer (watch video on steps to select pipeline viewing, then launch the "Maps - Public GIS Viewer" link shown below the video, make selections and zoom in to the location):
      https://rrc.texas.gov/resource-center/research/gis-viewer/locating-pipelines/

      Aerial imaging for pipeline safety is important and praiseworthy employment by aviation professionals that is largely unknown to the local communities being served. Like so many others who perish during performance of duties, the nation should be grateful for their efforts.

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  2. Fuel starvation? No post crash fire

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    1. Wings are intact so no fuel tank breach it would appear. This has the hallmarks of a stall-spin-die on final as it appears that the a/c nosed in and has the characteristic accordion impact. Obviously will wait for the investigation, but that would be my initial guess.

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    2. Exactly: "accordion" damage is pathognomonic of stall-spin.

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    3. Best place to run out of fuel. Over the runway

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  3. It looks like on the last segment, the aircraft changed from a discrete transponder code to squawking VFR and turned to head straight for Marlin airport, although the descent rate doesn't indicate a loss of power. Perhaps some sort of emergency (fire, low oil pressure, etc) that necessitated an immediate return to the closest field.

    https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=abc5d9&lat=31.331&lon=-96.816&zoom=10.0&showTrace=2022-04-05&trackLabels&timestamp=1649179720

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  4. The T15 airport's wind sock on it's distinctive 4-lamp pole shows up in the news photo of vehicles parked on CR134 while working the crash scene directly across from the runway:

    https://gray-kwtx-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/JNMZet6kkYXB0-jkByQiyS7YAg8=/980x0/smart/filters:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/G4IPPAMWEZCPHI2Q2I2DHS25YI.jpg

    If the lighted windsock pole has not changed location from the brown circle it resided in on google's image of the field, the photo above should put the crash location in the area near this map-pin:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=loc:31.339908+-96.850277

    Sock photo is from this news story that named the two pilots:
    https://www.kwtx.com/2022/04/05/dps-identifies-two-people-killed-after-plane-crash-near-marlin-airport/

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  5. Pilot Franklin's commercial ticket achievement was celebrated by Indy South Greenwood Airport Co-workers on Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227942694656585&set=a.1868958247543

    She also was awarded an AOPA scholarship in 2017:
    https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2017/august/09/aopa-foundation-awards-2017-flight-training-scholarships

    Condolences to family and friends of both pilots.

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    1. Wow, what a sad ending to Miss Franklin's story. (And, Mr. Sands.)

      Condolences to all who knew them.

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  6. After learning more about Cinnamon, it is clear she was a smart, talented, and driven young lady who overcame many challenges and was doing great things and going places with her life. The tragic loss of having such a promising young life cut so short is truly heartbreaking!

    A video where Cinnamon talks about her journey to be a pilot:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9t5qBtYppU
    https://www.maryrigg.org/cinnamons-success-story/
    https://www.facebook.com/obviouslycinna

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  7. ugh... this is a sad one for sure. Always sad when you hear some old pilot in a fatal crash, but it's tempered by the thought that they were doing what they loved, I mean, what a great way to go... sure beats dying from some disease or something. But to hear a young pilot in a fatal wreck, that's hard to take. She was doing everything right, got her IFR rating, her CFI rating, was driven and enjoying life after getting over some rough times in her life. Yeah, this is a hard one to hear. RIP to both pilots, and I hope this encourages instead of discourages other young pilots-to-be, or just young kids who are going through rough times in life... you can pull yourself out of it, and find something to brighten your life. RIP Cinnamon.

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  8. N858JA, 1974 Cessna TU206F Turbo Stationair, S/N U20602387.
    Performance specifications
    Stall Speed: 53 KIAS.

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  9. "... the Stationair is reluctant to stall. Pitch forces are fairly heavy to begin with. Compounding this is the generally nose-heavy loading of the airplane. Since the CG envelope is so long, and most everyone wants to sit up front, the CG is often at or near its forward limit. Also, with power on, the deck angle required for a wings-level stall is alarming. Put it all together and the Stationair is not generally a willing participant in stalls. If you do stall the airplane, the behavior is pure Cessna: There is a definite break and it will roll off if the ball is not centered. Recovery requires lowering the nose by at least relaxing back pressure. When heavy, especially with full flaps, it may take some altitude before you can establish a positive rate of climb.

    A drawback of the forward CG tendency is a proclivity for inexperienced 206 pilots to arrive nose first during landing, especially at light weights. It takes a hefty pull on the yoke to flare properly. Thus, Stationairs are no strangers to hard, nose-first landings that sometimes damage the aircraft. In the 207, the nose baggage compartment can simply add to the nose heaviness. However, using less than full flaps for landing (say only 20 degrees) can ease the control forces required to flare. Also, as one reader aptly put it, “That is what trim was invented for: Use it.”

    When loaded toward the aft CG limit the equation changes significantly. It doesn’t take nearly as much effort to flare to land. A pilot who isn’t ready for the lighter control forces can get surprised at how easy it is to get the nose up." https://www.avweb.com/features/cessna-206-stationair/

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  10. Texas Flyer's suggestion of a RW17 landing attempt seems reasonable based on wind direction and the ADS-B track crossing south of the field before ground reception of the transmitted ADS-B signal reached it's coverage limit and prevented further capture of the flown track.

    The crash location in the woods directly east of the windsock and across CR134 is 1,800 feet from the beginning of RW17 and thus cannot be regarded as stalling while on course coming down the glideslope for the RW17 approach/landing.

    Was it a stall/spin after a go-around? Since there was no fire, maybe there will be recorded flight track data recovered from the onboard avionics that can answer that question.

    Map-pinned approximate crash location:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=loc:31.339908+-96.850277

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  11. Is anyone aware if the aircraft had an AOA fitted to it?

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    1. No idea but I highly doubt it. It's not just commonly seen nor used in single engine pistons, especially old stock legacy ones like the 206. People flying these learned how to fly in 152s/172s (as shown in her photo) where your AOA gauge was the sound of a stall warning horn.

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  12. Play the flight path graphic:

    https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N858JA

    There is speculation CO poisoning could have been involved, though EJETdriver's comment is very telling regarding pipeline flying:

    https://mooneyspace.com/topic/41951-c206-crash-in-texas/

    Condolences to the families of both pilots. Very sad.

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    1. The busy portion of the flight track reflects the multiple maneuvers required to get the desired imaging done for the pipeline right of way photo survey. That portion of the track is over a specific pipeline segment operated by Atmos. A comment up-thread details how the track was compared to the pipelines in the area.

      Nothing suspicious about the busy portion of the track.

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  13. She was really low time... like 300 hrs. Also she only got her high performance endorsement recently per her posts. So one can speculate a botched go around. The plane is 101 stall-spin with engine compartment crushed and compression damage on wings showing it was turning at the moment of impact.
    Perfectly good plane, perfectly good weather, qualified pilots. Senseless tragedy that reminds us all it takes is one mistake to end it all on Aviation.

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    1. Don't forget there were TWO pilots onboard. Why not look into how many hours the other guy had? Maybe he was the one flying and had even less hours! No one knows which one of them was flying, so to talk about the female pilot's low hours and launch into a bunch of conjecture about stall-spin is just muck-racking at this point.

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    2. Unlikely that it will be possible to tell who was in control unless one of them was in the back seat observer position as could be determined by a first responder. Pilot Sands's public profile shows he had been with ERA since August 2020.

      https://www.theladders.com/expert/thomas-sands-e63f3b

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    3. Sadly that didn't stop the usual Youtube clown from predictably posting a disgustingly misogynistic video entitled "Her Fatal Error - What she did Wrong" where he tries to pin all the blame on the female pilot.

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    4. Exactly, thank you.

      Behind a pay wall, but a good perspective of the kind of person she was:
      https://amp.indystar.com/amp/9495205002

      I highly doubt she was the one flying. Most insurance companies would require 500 TT to be PIC of a Turbo 206 these days.

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    5. Try 900+ for most CPL insurance, say for skydiving etc... but here there were no passengers.
      No amount of good will will change probable facts and what the NTSB determines. Whoever was in the left seat will be assumed to have been flying, and the public records show both pilot's experience level and qualifications.
      Sadly real life stalls are sudden, unannounced and close to the ground in most cases, unlike the sterile sanitized version taught to pass the ACS. A botched go around and a power on stall is the 2nd most dangerous situation one encounters after the famous base to final one.

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    6. Go around stalls are deadly. But, look at the preliminary, it's more of a loss of directional control on runway with a exacerbating crosswind on a fairly narrow runway. Maybe a go around stall post that, but being a privately owned airport it didn't have much protected area. After going off the runway the second time, it seems they were going to hit the trees stall or not.

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    7. Preliminary states "impacted in a near vertical attitude" which does indicate getting airborne briefly at the end of the runway excursion sequence after camera view was obscured.

      The 4 by 4 foot impact hole containing torsion-separated s-bent propeller suggests significant power to the prop.

      Report didn't estimate how high the initial bounce was, but the overall scenario and distances suggest bounce response was power applied to go around, settling back that was almost prevented, but the swoop and right-of-pavement ground drag at high power went divergent left after over correction, with a panic pullup (still at high power) when they got pointed toward the trees in what was now a tailwind.

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    8. I agree with what was said about the YouTube "Clown". I wish YouTube would band this Want-to-be Investigator.

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  14. Cinnamon was a friend. She was an excellent pilot. What a tragedy.

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    1. I am very sorry for your loss ... my prayers to all who knew and loved her and her colleague

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  15. Preliminary is out:

    https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/104891/pdf

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  16. The camera used by investigators is at the previously abandoned National Guard Armory building at the south end of the airfield that was taken over in 2021 by a private energy technology company.

    Investigation was helped by the armory building having a new tenant with that camera in place and operating.

    https://energycentral.com/news/new-alternative-green-energy-inc-announces-headquarters-marlin-texas

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  17. It really hits home with this one because me and the airport manager knew Tom when he would fly into our airport on Thursdays for fuel and a lunch break while doing the pipeline patrol. May both RIP....

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  18. I fly a T206 regularly in my job. This looks like flaps extended, 206 is real heavy on controls when not trimmed. You really have to over power it until you get it in trim. Trimmed for landing with flaps extended then a full power go around, lots of P factor, elevator trim stall perhaps...I don't teach full power in this for most routine go-rounds

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  19. I agree with what was said about the YouTube "Clown" . I wish YouTube would band this Want-to-be Investigator.

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    1. The YouTube "Clown" commingled an half-assed apology with begging for $cash money$ be sent to him.

      Delete
  20. I have done some teaching in the 206, and found it to be a nice handling airplane and stable IFR platform, not real fast, like an overgrown skylane...it does need attention to trim on a go around, as any 300 HP single...it looked like it may not have properly lined up on the skinny runway 17. With a gusty right crosswind you can get blown off the centerline quickly in that airplane with those big flaps down. Getting onto a short, skinny runway with a 60 degree crosswind with gusts to 21 kts is a bit "sporty", not as easy as it looks

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  21. Bummer. Seems like they were on the ground but out of control and decided to try to get back into the air. Should have just rode it out at that point :(

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    1. Better be on the ground wishing you were up than...

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    2. While purely speculation, reading the report and other people's dissemination it seems that this was just what happened. They came into land without a stabilized approach and elected to go around, but for whatever reason did not have the airspeed or coordination and ended up stalling the aircraft on the departure. Tragic.

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  22. Most accidents are pretty easy to point to and say "that wouldn't happen to me, they were doing something dumb" but this accident sure reminds me how serious flying is, one bad landing and you're dead. Condolences to the friends and family of the pilots.

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    1. To be fair we all had our dumb moments. Human beings are all like that. This one sadly was of serious consequences.

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  23. As someone who flew and used to work with Mr. Sands I unfortunately can say that I am not supprised. (I hate to speak ill of the dead) but his macho additude about remedial training concerning his decision making, landings, and go arounds. This accident makes very much sence.

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    1. To the anonymous pilot posting above, let me introduce myself. I am Tom’s brother. I have flown with him and trust his qualifications and skills at the time of his death were as good or better than most. As a former Air Force KC-135 Aircraft Commander, T-37 Instructor, and current 777 International First Officer, I agree a pilot’s attitude and judgement is the most important quality in a good pilot. Your comments on his macho attitude are inconsistent with his life and were likely misconstrued by you. Tom’s confidence in himself coupled with frustration of additional training standing in the way of his goals could be confused as “macho.” Anyone who has had a less than perfect check-ride (all of us) will understand. Tom was meticulous and I take issue with your questioning his judgement. I also suggest you learn attention to detail because three spelling errors in your short reply could cause others to discount your credibility. This doesn’t mean he was immune from screwing up a bounced landing and go around or relieve him of his P.I.C. obligations, but I will not have your false characterization of his abilities and attitude as the final word on this forum.

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