Thursday, December 29, 2022

Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage JetPROP DLX, N5EQ: Fatal accident occurred December 14, 2022 near Goose Bay Airport (CYYR), Newfoundland and Labrador

National Transportation Safety Board - Accident Number: GAA23WA042

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards; International Field Office - Los Angeles

Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances. 


Date: 14-DEC-22
Time: 12:44:00Z
Regis#: N5EQ
Aircraft Make: PIPER
Aircraft Model: PA46
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Total Fatal: 1
Flight Crew: 1 Fatal Injuries
Pax: 1 Serious Injuries
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: DESTROYED
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: APPROACH (APR)
Operation: 91
City: GOOSE BAY
State: NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
Country: CANADA


A 52-year-old man from Switzerland who was aboard a single-engine plane that crashed near Happy Valley-Goose Bay on December 14, has died, confirmed the RCMP on December 16.

The man was an occupant aboard a Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage JetPROP DLX with a 45-year-old woman from Switzerland. He died in hospital later that day, according to a press release issued Friday morning by the RCMP, who said the woman remains in serious condition.

The RCMP also confirmed the privately owned aircraft departed Nashua, New Hampshire, earlier in the week. According to the FlightAware website, which tracks flight paths, the plane left Nashua on Tuesday morning and was supposed to arrive in Happy Valley-Goose Bay but diverted to Sept-Îles, Quebec.

The plane then left Sept-Îles Wednesday morning and was supposed to land in Happy Valley-Goose Bay at 10 a.m. to refuel before continuing to Nuuk, Greenland.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is involved in the investigation into the crash, say police, and the Happy Valley-Goose Bay RCMP detachment is working with the Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause.

9 comments:

  1. ADS-B appears dead stick with last return @ 7nm / 2200ft straight in approach.

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  2. They came up 3 miles short of the airport but never really achieved best glide speed. The report says they diverted to Sept-Îles, Quebec prior to continuing to Goose Bay. I presume they refueled there. This appears to be a ferry flight as they planned to continue to Greenland after Goose Bay.

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    1. Not a ferry flight, just reversing the trip across the pond that saw the Malibu make a trek to North America from Europe during September 17th and 18th.

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    2. The news reports said it was a Swiss couple that perished. The airplane is US registered. That don't add up.

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    3. Surprisingly I see a few US registered planes in Europe owned and operated by locals … not sure how that works.

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    4. The Swiss/Europe usage connection is straightforward:

      Note the distinctive N5EQ fuselage paint/striping detail seen in background of Professor Dr. Steven A. Brown's staff photo, University of Zurich's Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology:
      https://www.neuroscience.uzh.ch/en/research/sleep_and_sleep_disorders.html

      Compare to August 2022 photo of N5EQ in Portugal:
      https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/10699084

      Using N5EQ to travel around Europe makes sense in support of the Zurich Professor post and presentation of papers at conferences:
      https://biography.omicsonline.org/switzerland/university-of-zurich/stevenbrown-850240

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    5. The pilot worked and lived in Switzerland, but he was a US national. That is why the plane was registered in the US.

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  3. ETA; It's a PT6 so it will burn aviation fuel so if it were misfueled they would've been Ok from the safety standpoint. Airframe ice or fuel system ice probably.

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  4. Circumstances certainly favored airframe icing.

    Looking at weather conditions reported at the field:
    CYYR 141400Z 03016G22KT 15SM OVC010 01/M01 A3052 RMK SF8 SH DIST ALQDS SLP340
    Wind 30°@16 makes ADS-B ground speed 8 knots lower than airspeed.
    Altimeter 30.52 vs 29.92 ref'd ADS-B requires 500 feet to be added for true.

    Go get ADS-B track log data:
    https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N5EQ/history/20221214/1200Z/CYZV/CYYR/tracklog

    Copy FA's track log ending data, convert to UTC, remove "MPH":
    14:01:19Z 53.2640 -60.5441 53° 97 1,100 -485 Descending
    14:01:35Z 53.2676 -60.5355 57° 94 975 -469 Descending
    14:01:51Z 53.2709 -60.5272 54° 90 850 486 Climbing
    14:02:07Z 53.2742 -60.5198 55° 77 1,234 1,440 Climbing

    Map-pin the last captured ADS-B location @14:02:07Z:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&q=loc:53.2742+-60.5198
    Distance to RW8 threshold is 3.6 Statute Miles/5.8 Km.
    RW8 elevation is 160 feet MSL.

    If the ADS-B data is credible, N5EQ was climbing at the last captured data point that FlightAware shows. Correcting for local altimeter and reported wind suggests that airspeed was about 85 knots and true altitude was about 1,700 feet MSL at the last captured data point's distance of 3.6 SM/5.8 Km to the 160 foot MSL RW8 threshold.

    The climb suggests a discontinued approach to CYYR which was experiencing overcast at 1000 feet, temp and dewpoint at one degree C above freezing and showers distributed in all quadrants around the airport (SH DIST ALQDS).

    A RCMP media release stated that air traffic control recordings indicate the plane was cleared to land on Runway 8 but never did. There was no emergency call.

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