N690BM down.

[Adam Frisch]

Apparently one or two fatalities. RIP.

Been few TC accidents lately - anyone know this ship?

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/387673

[donv]

Not another one!

Climbed up to FL200, accelerated normally, and then fell out of the sky. Weird... will be interested to hear what happened with this one. RIP...

[SKYFLYER]

I do not recall having ever seen an "end of flight" track like this one on FlightAware. the ultra sharp change, (Degrees), in direction of flight would be enough to overstress the airframe. Will be interesting if parts are found away from the crash site.

[Bruce Byerly]

Not another one!

Climbed up to FL200, accelerated normally, and then fell out of the sky. Weird... will be interested to hear what happened with this one. RIP...

Not sure that’s how it went given the turns and there’s audio of the event and it sounds and looks like possible spacial d. Like what might happen if the gyro gave bad info and you didn’t catch it?

[donv]

Was it someone you knew, Bruce?

The track log didn't look that odd to me, although I see the last eight minutes had a bunch of turns.

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N690BM

[donv]

This has some audio... not good.

https://youtu.be/v1BJ97zwEJc?si=CJ6O3hjeuQoLiPda

Definitely sounds like a spatial disorientation issue.

[Bruce Byerly]

Was it someone you knew, Bruce?

The track log didn't look that odd to me, although I see the last eight minutes had a bunch of turns.

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/N690BM

I did not know them and had not been around the plane. About 4 years ago, however, they contacted me about finding the plane a new home and it seemed as though both the pilot and the owner were ready to retire. I understand that the pilot I spoke with retired and the owner since died but his son was flying the plane. RIP.

As I recall, at the time, the plane was a mostly stock plane with original style avionics.

On that audio, when he asked for higher, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

I wonder what the tops were in the area?

[donv]

NTSB prelim is out. Again, not much new here-- although it does say the tops were up to 30,000 feet, so higher wouldn't have helped him much.

On May 5, 2024, about 0854 eastern daylight time, a Rockwell International 690A, N690BM, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Palmyra, Virginia. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

According to preliminary air traffic control information obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration, the airplane was in cruise flight at 20,000 ft when it reversed course. The controller queried the pilot, who replied “We have lost...We need to climb.” When the controller asked the pilot “what is your issue?”, the pilot responded, “we have lost autopilot.” There were no further communications from the airplane.

A witness stated he was inside his house when he heard what sounded like thunder. When the noise became louder, he went outside, looked up and saw an airplane flying “on its left side and on fire in the middle of the airplane.” The airplane impacted trees and the ground across the street from his house.

The accident site was in a wooded area and the wreckage path was scattered over 3-1/2 miles. The airplane was heavily fragmented and scattered along the debris path on a course of 180° magnetic. The left wing, left engine, left propeller and empennage were heavily burnt and located at the main wreckage site, which came to rest inverted and on a heading of 310°. The right wing was separated at the wing root and was located about 1/4-mile north of the main wreckage. The right wing was fire damaged. The right engine and right propeller were not located. The vertical, and horizontal stabilizers were located about 3/4-mile north of the main wreckage.

Preliminary weather observations from satellite imagery depicted cloudy conditions across the accident region from the surface to above 30,000 ft. Weather data also identified the potential for rime and mixed icing from 12,000 ft to 25,000 ft.