From: phil@eecs.nwu.edu (William LeFebvre)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation
Subject: Twin Beechcraft crashed in Hinckley, IL
Date: 8 Sep 92 15:03:35 GMT
Article-I.D.: eecs.1992Sep8.150335.5783
Organization: EECS Department, Northwestern University

Bad news from the midwest.  A Twin Beechcraft (B-18?) went down
just north of the Hinckley airport yesterday (Labor day) afternoon
shortly after takeoff.  The plane had a full load of skydivers.
12 people on board, no survivors.

>From what I have been able to learn, there were 4 skydiving instructors,
4 students (3 of them on their first jump), 2 photographers, and one
report said there was one "free jumper", plus the pilot.

Eyewitness reports (which can be unreliable where aviation is concerned)
said that the plane was going very slow and never gained altitude.  Someone
said that as the plane came down towards the ground, one of the wingtips
came down and hit the ground and the plane flipped over.

The meterologist for one of our TV stations is himself a pilot, so I
paid extra careful attention to what he had to say.  When I first heard
about the accident, it sounded to me like an overloaded plane.  But
what this pilot/meterologist said made me change my mind.  This is
what they know:

	That particular plane has made many successful jump flights
	with 12 people on board.  This was a flight very similar to
	many many other flights that the skydiving club had made.

	The pilot had over 20 years of experience piloting jump planes,
	and many more as a pilot (I haven't heard an hours figure yet).

	They currently believe that the plane was not over the gross
	weight limit (they said nothing about balance and CG, however).

	The plane underwent some sort of inspection last month.  The
	reporter used the term "ramp inspection", but the
	pilot/meterologist made it sound more like it was an annual
	or a 100 hour.

	The winds were not a factor.

	The density altitude was not favorable:  it was hot and humid
	yesterday.  But, that airport (0C2) is only at about 800 feet.

One witness said he thought one of the props was not spinning.  It 
*could* have been an engine failure and insufficient performance with
the remaining engine (given the load and the density altitude) to gain
altitude for a return to the airport, followed by a botched emergency
landing.  Unfortunately, the fuel tanks had plenty of fuel (they had
just taken off, so there was as much fuel in the tanks as they normally
use for a jump), and what was probably intended to be an emergency
landing turned in to a crash.  The fuel caught fire and the whole plane
burned rather quickly.

Another depressing note, this crash has gotten *extensive* local media
coverage.  Why I don't know, other than it is "sensational".  One
TV station spent the first TWENTY minutes of their 10 pm broadcast
on it.  Others spent 10 and 15 minutes.  The whole time I was watching
this rather exaggerated coverage, I kept asking myself "how many people
died in automobile accidents around here this holiday weekend, and why
don't they report that stuff as well?  And what about all those protestors
in South Africa?"

And the skydivers are defending their avocation with statements like
"this was a plane crash---not a skydiving accident."  But I guess I
can't blame them, given the bloodthirsty media.  :-(

The NTSB says it may take 3 to 4 weeks before they have any determination.

		William LeFebvre
		Computing Facilities Manager and Analyst
		Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
		Northwestern University
		<phil@eecs.nwu.edu>