gman5250
December 11th, 2015, 19:21
A couple of days ago we had an incident with a Piper Mirage that crashed on take off at Mammoth Yosemite Airport (KMMH). On the day of the crash we had Lenticular clouds which are a sure sign that you are going to get wind...big wind...at any moment.
Mammoth is well know for it's infamous cross wind landings and if you are not familiar with wind and 7K altitude it is not a good idea attempt to fly in or out of here in 35 knot winds. Thing is, we get katabatic wind conditions when it does blow...and it blows like this often in early winter. If the wind is 35 steady you can get gusts to 50 that will whip around in all directions at once. The wind comes up the western face of the Sierra Nevada and crashes down the vertical east face like a wave breaking on a reef. KMMH is snuggled at the base of that "reef". The shear can be pretty nasty.
A few years ago we had a blow that picked up a neighbors 16' aluminum boat and flew it a half mile into someone's backyard, of course that wind was 100 MPH sustained and 140 up on the ridges.
The day of the incident with the Mirage, the Lenticulars were massive and the wind was already up when the pilot risked the takeoff during a short lull. Unfortunately, that was a bad call. From the location of the crash site it looks like he had barely lifted off from RWY 27 and got slammed into the pucker brush.
Glad to see no one was hurt...pity about the airplane.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/dec/04/stringers-san-diegans-crash-plane-mammoth-lakes/
Mammoth is well know for it's infamous cross wind landings and if you are not familiar with wind and 7K altitude it is not a good idea attempt to fly in or out of here in 35 knot winds. Thing is, we get katabatic wind conditions when it does blow...and it blows like this often in early winter. If the wind is 35 steady you can get gusts to 50 that will whip around in all directions at once. The wind comes up the western face of the Sierra Nevada and crashes down the vertical east face like a wave breaking on a reef. KMMH is snuggled at the base of that "reef". The shear can be pretty nasty.
A few years ago we had a blow that picked up a neighbors 16' aluminum boat and flew it a half mile into someone's backyard, of course that wind was 100 MPH sustained and 140 up on the ridges.
The day of the incident with the Mirage, the Lenticulars were massive and the wind was already up when the pilot risked the takeoff during a short lull. Unfortunately, that was a bad call. From the location of the crash site it looks like he had barely lifted off from RWY 27 and got slammed into the pucker brush.
Glad to see no one was hurt...pity about the airplane.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2015/dec/04/stringers-san-diegans-crash-plane-mammoth-lakes/