Key Points:
Crash occurred Thursday but reported Friday
No sign of occupants, no reports from hospitals
Wreck described as ‘abandoned’
Authorities in southern Alabama are apparently still looking for the pilot of what appears to be a Piper Tri-Pacer or Colt found overturned in a field in Baldwin County east of Mobile. It is believed the mishap occurred in the late afternoon of June 26 but was not reported. When police arrived the next morning they found blood in the aircraft cabin but the pilot was nowhere to be found. Remarks by Baldwin County Emergency Management Director Tim Tyler suggest there were at least two people onboard. “It was flipped upside down and the occupants were no longer there,” Tyler said. “They apparently had walked away and were transported somewhere.”
The aircraft appears to have been seriously damaged in the mishap, with extensive wing, fuselage and cowl distortion. There was a report suggesting at least one occupant sought medical care at a hospital in nearby Florida, but Tyler said on Friday that his office had heard no reports. “I certainly have not heard from any area hospitals,” he said. “We were not called to the scene to provide any assistance,” Tyler said. “We were standing by but there was [no] need.” The FAA was expected to arrive on Monday and considers the wreck to be abandoned.
Interesting that there was no mention of whether the FAA knows who the pilot, or at least the owner is, based on the registration number.
From Russ
I think they probably know by now but I could not find any confirmation of that.
Hand propping gone wrong?
The real mystery is how does one get a Colt onto it’s back without damaging the landing gear or the nose of the plane!
Colts didn’t have rear windows.
Definitely a mystery! The nose gear doesn’t even look bent, yet the prop tips are. The appears to be a pothole in the field by the nose?
There are many ways its owner may not be able to be contacted: deceased, non-compos-mentis, moved to assisted living by folks who didn’t know he owned an airplane, … If I’m not mistaken, a registration remains in the file for a period of time after the last renewal is missed, before the N-number is released for re-assignment.
Occam’s Razor suggests it could be 1) teenagers with just enough exposure to light planes to kill themselves, 2) inebriated adults with some flying experience, 3) extremely lucky idiots. That milk-stool gear is pretty robust. I’ve seen a Tri-Pacer in that position after a botched landing and porpoise, that tripped on the prop at relatively low speed and flipped like that. The low speed meant that the injuries were relatively minor and the aircraft was repairable.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen “Occam’s razor” be cited whilst giving 3 different possibilities.
Years ago, while landing a C172 at an OKLA breakfast, I slowed to make the first turnoff on a crossing grass strip. As I glanced to my left, I saw a Tri Pacer passing by upside down and backwards. It hit nose first and did another flip before coming to rest upside down. Three persons just crawled out uninjured. The fuselage structure was somewhat compressed into a box, more so than designed by Piper. All that tubular steel of the structure was tough and kept it survivable. Years later, I owned a Tri Pacer and then a Colt. A bit like a truck in handling with a fast sink rate, but one of my favorite airplanes.
Call it “extremely lucky inebriated teenagers” and the three possibilities become one super-possibility.
PA 22 Tri Pacer. Colts did not have flaps. Curved rear window used on 1954 and earlier aircraft.1955 and later had segments of straight lines around rear window. Extremely robust nose gear. They have been flipped with no visible nose gear damage, but the damage is probably there under the cowl.
Yes, it is the Gillette Mach 3 model.