This happened about a mile from our home.

@mycya4me @lisaviolet
Yeah, really! So sad and horrific. Decades ago a small plane was deliberately brought down by a suicidal pilot about 3 blocks from where we lived. Amazingly, he came down in the one empty lot in a dense neighborhood. But he took down his passenger too, just a stranger he was supposed to be transporting.

@endi1276 It was on the corner of Pepper Dr and Bevin Lane. About a quarter mile from the section of 2nd and Pepper (where Winter Gardens in Lakeside turns in to 2nd St in El Cajon).

So, if Pepper Dr is on your route, you’ll most likely be affected.

@lisaviolet oh ok, so it won’t affect the route we take on major roadways, but it’ll definitely affect SOMEONE’S delivery route!

@lisaviolet i had a ridiculous time trying to read Pepper Dr and not think “dr pepper” before i finally translated in my head the dr was drive and not doctor. Ugh it’s the last day before a long weekend for me and my brain is not functioning at 100%

I even forgot the word productivity on a call with my boss this morning

@lisaviolet horrifying.

@lisaviolet Yeah, just a guess, but I suspect that the aircraft was no longer controllable by the time it hit the ground. An engine fire can do that easily enough by itself on some airframes, but an ignited fuel leak is even deadlier.

@werehatrack http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2021/12/learjet-35a-n880z-fatal-accident.html

@lisaviolet Oof. That sure reads like pilot error. Multiple errors, most likely - but that tends to be the case.

@lisaviolet @werehatrack Pilot error? Because there’s a button on every plane for the pilot to press to start a fuel leak and ignite a fire in the engine?

What’s sad is the passenger (and likely spouse) on the plane. It was an air ambulance transporting a patient.

According to a FAA report filed on Tuesday, December 28, the plane was carrying two crew members and two passengers and performing as an ambulance.

@mike808 A fire in either engine should have had the pilot declaring an emergency. He did not. What he did was wave off from landing on his original runway, with speculation being that he decided not to use it when it became apparent that lighting needed for a safe approach was not functioning - which he should have known before departure. His path after changing runways included a sharp turn under conditions under which a Lear 35 stalls easily; the safer choice would have been to fly past the airport, go around via the longer turns, and then approach the better runway from the appropriate altitude and distance given the terrain. He was too low and probably too slow for the turn he attempted, and the sudden descent seen in the videos is consistent with a stall during a turn. The supposition of an in-flight fire is based on insufficient evidence; the video does show a bright spot, but that could just be his running lights against the very dark sky in slightly misty conditions. The reports of excessive engine noise during the approach are probably attributable to the low altitude and the Lear’s relatively loud engines. (The 35 is quieter than its predecessor, the 25, but still well short of the noise abatement that Boeing has achieved.)

The pilot was heard saying “Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!” over the radio immediately prior to the impact, which is also consistent with a low-altitude stall. That’s about all he would have had time to do.

@mike808 @werehatrack When we had the “WTF is that sound” moment, the plane was over our immediate area. It was seconds later when the power flickered, then went off.

Yes, planes go over our house on a regular basis, but this isn’t their path to land.

Here’s a photo from our back yard. The hill on the right? That’s Rattlesnake Hill. On the other side is Gillespie Field. Planes going in to land usually go over the hill on the low side, the left side of the hill in the picture.

Using the windchimes in the tree as a guide, if you look straight down, into the distance, that’s where it went down.

The news this morning is reporting the deaths were the pilots and two nurses, done for the day.

The weather was abysmal. There was a light rain and, due to the fog/low clouds, the top of the hill was pretty much hidden from view. The entire area was dark (power outage), except some flood lights on the main street (Winter Gardens, turns in to 2nd St.) There’s a fire station there.

Reporters keep saying “rural”, “remote”, words like that to describe this area. Yesterday, they had video of the surrounding hills, with just a few houses. The reality is different. (What the hell is their agenda?)

This is a google map screenshot. The plane hit the ground where the words “Pepper Dr” are to the right of the marker. If you look to the left of the marker and see “Castlewood Dr”, there’s a mobile home park. Pretty dense homes.

It was a miracle that more people weren’t hurt. Kudos to the pilots for taking it down as they did.

@werehatrack you fly (eg pilot) planes?

@Kidsandliz
I have some stick time, but never carried through to get the ticket. I used to do some engine work on Lycoming and Continental, under the supervision of the inspector who owned the shop, when he needed a hand getting something out. I still have some friends in the business. I know that some aircraft are pretty forgiving, and a Lear isn’t any of them.

@lisaviolet @mike808
Sadly, the pilot(s) likely had no time to make any choices here. It was mostly just blind luck, and a heck of a bunch of that. A couple of hundred feet away, it could have caused a bunch of ground casualties. But there weren’t. Small mercies are better than none.