Graphic Video Captures Departure Crash

The accompanying video is tough to watch but even in an age where cameras are just about everywhere, it’s rare to get such a clear shot of anything like the catastrophe that unfolded at Paramillo Airport in Venezuela on Wednesday. Two people onboard were killed when a Piper Cheyenne (Piper PA-31T1 Cheyenne I) immediately rolled left after takeoff and tumbled in a ball of flame. It’s not clear what went wrong as the aircraft rotated but it rolled past 90° before the left wing hit the ground. Again, the video is very graphic and might be upsetting.

Russ Niles
Russ Niles
Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AvBrief.com. He has been a pilot for 30 years and an aviation journalist since 2003. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.

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avbriefuser1980
avbriefuser1980
4 months ago

Did the pilot forget to remove the control locks? While hard to watch, like the Dale “Snort” Snodgrass crash video, it’s a vivid reminder of what can happen if we forget important parts of our checklists. RIP to the two souls on board. 🙁

roger m anderson
roger m anderson
4 months ago

I read that the pilot indicated he would be making an immediate turn towards the crowd. So very sorry, but twins can get tricky, except for Bob Hoover.

roger m anderson
roger m anderson
Reply to  roger m anderson
4 months ago

If he did start an immediate left turn, at an already high angle of attack, slow speed, that left wing could have immediately stalled and VMC took over.

ZeroGee
ZeroGee
4 months ago

Lift off below Vmc and loss of the critical engine? Suspiciously looks like a Vmc LOC and roll over at the worst possible moment.

Greg P Niehues
Greg P Niehues
4 months ago

It does look suspiciously like a Vmc roll, but the video quality is low enough I can’t quite make out the position of the control surfaces.

Jim K
Jim K
4 months ago

Did anyone else see something see something fly into the scene from the high left, then circle and plummet and hit the ground? What was that? It happens at the 6 second mark in the video. Very confusing!

Phil
Phil
4 months ago

Looking at the AOA on rotation, he may have been well below blue line and perhaps lost power on the port engine.

Rick S
Rick S
4 months ago

Jim K, looks like an insect.
This looks exactly like what Roger suggested: an attempt to make an aggressive turn to buzz the crowd at too low an energy state to support the turn.

Bill B.
Bill B.
4 months ago

May not be the case here, but decades ago I watched a C310 do the exact same thing on its first flight out of the paint shop. The ailerons had been hooked up in reverse and it was not picked up on the preflight.

TV
TV
4 months ago

Abnormally high AOA after rotation, and the woman who can be heard saying something like “el quire impresionarlos” (he wants to impress them) makes me think the pilot is trying to get off the ground quickly to do something for the observers, maybe fly over or close to the crowd, or just maneuver in an abnormal way.