Accident at Hawarden

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Member for

11 years 7 months

Posts: 702

The BBC are reporting a fatal accident at Hawarden this afternoon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24958766

Original post

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Sad news. A twin flying on a placid day. What could possibly go wrong?

Flying can always bite.

Moggy

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

I think all that we can do is offer our condolences to friends and family. A sad day indeed.

Member for

13 years

Posts: 422

Chester/Hawarden resident aircraft, Cessna 310Q G-BXUY.

Member for

14 years 11 months

Posts: 519

Seeing those images it's remarkable that the aircraft is still as complete as it is when it came to rest. I've no idea as to what went wrong but I wonder if the pilot had collapsed and the woman was trying to land it. What ever, a sad day indeed and I sent my condolences to their families.

Member for

17 years 1 month

Posts: 180

There is a 310 that passes over my house every day(Staffs/Cheshire borders) at about
1000' AGL either heading northwest toward North Wales/Liverpool area or heading back
southeast.

This accident at Harwarden seems too much of a coincidence:apologetic:.

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

That doesn't seem like a sensible way to build an aircraft. If the reserve tanks are lower than the mains surely they need their own fuel pumps to transfer fuel to the mains. Why not put the mains in the wing and make the tip tsnks he reserve? That way fuel from the reserves could be transferred to the mains by gravvity.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 16,832

Too many separate tanks, some of which feed into others, and some of which rely on electric pumps to feed correctly etc etc. It is unnecessarily complex. The 421C with its wet wing was quite an improvement, but the older tip-tank majority have killed or embarrassed many pilots.

An exciting featurette of the 300/400 Cessnas is that the pumps responsible for transferring from Locker (aux) tanks into the mains cannot keep pace with the rate at which the engines drain the mains. So, if you are low fuel on the mains and have overlooked transferring the locker tanks into the mains, you are in trouble and can't guarantee recovery even by switching the pumps on. (Not the cause in this particular instance though)

Another is that the transfer pumps are fuel-lubricated. If you leave the pumps on when the locker tank is empty, the pumps burn out.

All in all the fuel system wasn't one of Mr Cessna's finest efforts.

Moggy

(Info supplied by an experienced Cessna twin flyer)

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 8,505

Mind you, not the only company to do silly things with their fuel systems. If the pilot looks down at the fuel cocks in a P-38 ( located on his left) logic would say rear tap= left engine, fron tap= right engine but it's the other way round. If it's posible to make a mistake you can guarantee someone will, especially in an emergency.