Plane Crash Into Flight Safety Building At KICT

[Veritas]

Speed at the time of the engine failure is a massive factor and if the auto feather failed there is just a useless sail on the left side. If auto feather works properly, it is almost a non event.

Thanks for the info. Is the auto feather function part of the pre-departure checklist? Is it an approved MEL item ( do they have that on GenAv ac)?
Really tragic and a little scary.

[Aargh]

In an interview with Ron Ryan, founder of Ryan Aviation, he said they order all their King Airs with the auto-feather feature. Evidently it's an option on the aircraft.

Witness reports are consistent that the plane drifted left across the runway just before it took off. That indicates the left engine was failing or dead just before the plane lifted off. As I recall the news coverage, takeoff speed for this aircraft is 115. Below 105, there's nothing a pilot can do, because there's not enough air speed for the rudder to counteract the asymmetrical thrust.

It's possible the pilot didn't have time to manually feather the prop before the aircraft lost enough air speed to be uncontrollable.

[I_Vector_Wu]

R.I.P. in Mark, thoughts and prayers to those at Flight Safety. Mark was a good friend and coworker for the last 25 years. He helped fly a few Shocker fans to the NCAA tourney in STL where we had a chance to meet up. He thoroughly enjoyed the aviation community. Some weeks suck more than others.....