Accident in Phoenix

[Bill Greenwood]

We dont have a category for safety items or accident discussion, so I will put it here. Sadly,Monday night was a fatal accident in the Phoenix area. It was a Piper Pa-24, a single engine Comanche, and had just taken off from the Scottsdale airport. We dont have any real info as to possible engine problems or anything else, but one thing comes to mind, that there were six people on board. Now, I dont have any weight and balance info for that model, but I know in my own plane,Be 36 I could not take six adults with any baggage and much fuel. I recently flew with 4 adults, probably close to 170 lb average and with bags had to ship one bag fedex as well as use half fuel to just barely stay under gross weight allowed. And I have 300 hp turbocharged, I think the Piper may be 260 hp, though some are 400 hp. The runway is long there, so may have taken off ok, but had problems climbing, and or turning on course. The plane was at least 46 years old, since it hasnt been made since '72, but obviously not an engine that old, may well have been in good shape, we dont know details on that, nor any info on the pilot's experience or time in type.
A sad thing, no more know at this time as to where they were from or may have been going.
And I know some people will say not to discuss an accident till all facts are known. I think a better approach is if there is a likely cause or factor, like weather or loading, lets remind everyone to use caution for that. And we are getting to the time of year when a lot of people start flying again.