A not so good pilot. NTSB Accident Report PB2011-910405: âOn March 22, 2009, about 1432 mountain daylight time, a Pilatus PC-12/45, N128CM, was diverting to Bert Mooney Airport (BTM), Butte, Montana, when it crashed about 2,100 feet west of runway 33 at BTM. The pilot and the 13 airplane passengers were fatally injured, and the airplane was substantially damaged by impact forces and a post-crash fire. The flight departed Oroville Municipal Airport, Oroville, California, on an instrument flight rules flight plan with a destination of Gallatin Field, Bozeman, Montana. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was (1) the pilotâs failure to ensure that a fuel system icing inhibitor was added to the fuel before the flights on the day of the accident; (2) his failure to take appropriate remedial actions after a low fuel pressure state (resulting from icing within the fuel system) and a lateral fuel imbalance developed, including diverting to a suitable airport before the fuel imbalance became extreme; and (3) a loss of control while the pilot was maneuvering the left-wing-heavy airplane near the approach end of the runway.â The NTSB concluded that âif the pilot had added a fuel system icing inhibitor to the fuel for the flights on the day of the accident, as required, the ice accumulation in the fuel system would have been avoided, and a left-wing heavy fuel imbalance would not have developed.â
You should always carry a couple cans of Sea Foam in your flight bag just in case you need to walk out on the wings and ad it to the fuel in mid flight!
Wow, thats crazy, never seen that happen on a plane that big, its like someone just slammed on the brakes mid air/midflight.
I guess they have to climb fast to avoid anyone who might have a SAM downrange at that airport. It looks to me like a power failure in the climb causing the stall.
Pulling that steep, and not having the engines to back it up means lift can be quickly lost. Hate to see it.
It was concluded later that the cargo broke lose and shifted aft, moving the aircraft's center of gravity with it of course. With excessive aft CG the nose pitches up uncontrollably, the wings exceed the critical angle of attack, stall and the nose then drops sharply. In this case all at very low altitude. There was nothing the pilots could have done.