'2 Dead After Bonanza 35 Crash'

[Panther_99FS]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,470658,00.html :frown:

[Drzook]

...Warner Springs has a gliderport but Foster says he doesn't know whether the plane was being used to tow a glider...
Now that's crazy talk.:isadizzy:
Makes me wonder if people will bring up the 35's reputation as a widowmaker; after all isn't that the model that Buddy Holly died in?
Sad news in any case.

[Drake]

Sad news. I thought the FAA made all the 35 owners (V&B models) do an upgrade on the tails to rectify all the original problems. I still think the V35 is one of the best looking airplanes ever made.

[srgalahad]

Those "initial reports" are so often misleading. No intelligent details except that they crashed... landing?, taking off (or attempting to)?, enroute at altitude or running thru the valleys?, mechanical problems?, engine failure?

Having flown out of Warner Springs there are a lot of factors that could come into play depending on the above. It's mountainous so there's often turbulence, there can be long-lasting fog in the valleys, winds aloft can be significant - and then there's the pilot's medical condition, all sorts of things before anyone decides that the Bonanza is even a factor itself.

As for the "widowmaker" reputation, many of the widows were married to wealthy pilots who were shown to have operated an aircraft at or near the limit of their skills in conditions they had little experience with. You know.. get a license, run out and buy the hottest thing you can... and bear in mind this particular Bonanza could have been built anywhere in the last 58 years. IIRC, Beech never lost a product liability suit against the -35 design. However, the penchant for lawyers to support wealthy clients led to the mass of lawsuits that killed the GA industry in the US for a decade.

In the next 72 hours we'll either get meaningful data or just a bunch more media hype, including replays of the Buddy Holly Story. :banghead:

Rob

[Henry]

I have had a few friends with 35's
one crashed in one he is fine
the other two died in plane crashes in Barons
didnt know Buddy holly crashed in a 35
one of my favorite Ga planes V tailed
H

[N2056]

According to a witness interviewed on a local station the plane pulled up steeply, then went into a dive that the pilot did not quite pull out of. The pic seems to agree with the observation :frown:
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