Plane crash aftermath: 'It really came home, how fleeting life can be'
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WOODINVILLE, Wash. - A local family is recovering from a frighteningly close call as federal investigators try to figure out what caused a small plane to crash into their Woodinville home Saturday.
Meanwhile, the family of the plane's pilot is grieving his death while waiting at the bedside of his nephew, who was in the plane and survived the crash but suffered serious injuries
A crane removed the wreckage from the side of the Woodinville family's house on Sunday as a federal crash investigator gathered more evidence.
It was an emotional moment for the homeowners - who just returned from out of town and are just now able to hug their 21-year-old son, who was at home when the plane slammed into the garage, missing him by only a few feet.
"Just knowing my son was so close to the accident. He was right above it - it really came home, how fleeting life can be," says homeowner Rodney Korn.
His son, Tallon Korn, was playing video games with a friend in a room above the garage when the single-engine, four-seater plane smashed through the garage door and against the side of the house.
"I feel very lucky - if it hadn't hit where it did, if it hit 10 feet up, I would have been done," says Tallon.
The pilot at the controls, 45-year-old Jay Uusitalo of Redmond, did not survive. His only passenger, a nephew visiting from Eastern Washington, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center. He was initially listed in critical condition, but was upgraded to serious condition on Sunday.
"Finding out there was a young man involved - it really got into my heart," says Rodney Korn. "I feel very bad for the family that had this happen."
Investigators say it could take up to nine months to determine an official cause for the crash.
Witnesses say they heard the engine sputtering and saw the propellor stop spinning before the aircraft flipped over and came down, smashing into the Woodinville home.
Right now, Rodney Korn and his family want another family to know ...
"People are thinking about them and hoping for the best result out of what was a very terrible tragedy," he says.
Meanwhile, the family of the plane's pilot is grieving his death while waiting at the bedside of his nephew, who was in the plane and survived the crash but suffered serious injuries
A crane removed the wreckage from the side of the Woodinville family's house on Sunday as a federal crash investigator gathered more evidence.
It was an emotional moment for the homeowners - who just returned from out of town and are just now able to hug their 21-year-old son, who was at home when the plane slammed into the garage, missing him by only a few feet.
"Just knowing my son was so close to the accident. He was right above it - it really came home, how fleeting life can be," says homeowner Rodney Korn.
His son, Tallon Korn, was playing video games with a friend in a room above the garage when the single-engine, four-seater plane smashed through the garage door and against the side of the house.
"I feel very lucky - if it hadn't hit where it did, if it hit 10 feet up, I would have been done," says Tallon.
The pilot at the controls, 45-year-old Jay Uusitalo of Redmond, did not survive. His only passenger, a nephew visiting from Eastern Washington, was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center. He was initially listed in critical condition, but was upgraded to serious condition on Sunday.
"Finding out there was a young man involved - it really got into my heart," says Rodney Korn. "I feel very bad for the family that had this happen."
Investigators say it could take up to nine months to determine an official cause for the crash.
Witnesses say they heard the engine sputtering and saw the propellor stop spinning before the aircraft flipped over and came down, smashing into the Woodinville home.
Right now, Rodney Korn and his family want another family to know ...
"People are thinking about them and hoping for the best result out of what was a very terrible tragedy," he says.
:*(
Sorry the pilot died. How sad.
yes, very sad indeed. And with the threat of small airports losing the control tower people, who knows what will happen then?
sad
Sad
And you thought your weekend was exciting...
Don't yet know the cause? Airplane plummets out of the sky, Impacts the Earth... Seems pretty simple to me! (If a Person doesn't have their own Wings, when the Plane Fails, there is no Back-up! It's like Not Knowing how to Swim & Jumping into the Ocean!) I am glad the people in the house are all okay.
oh my gosh! How scary!
Sure is too bad :(
I feel so sorry for those who lost their loved one. I'm glad the other survived. It was real scary
Wow- how scary and sad!
This is an incredibly mixed emotion story. On the one hand, two incredibly lucky young men have lived through this ordeal, while on the other, the pilot's death has caused grief for the loved ones. As the nephew regains his health, I'm sure we will find out how the pilot tried his best to maneuver the plane as it went into a stall.Â
Condolences to the pilot's family - and speedy recovery wishes to the nephew. And to the family who's house was impacted - how incredible no one else was hurt. A house is replaceable. Life isn't.Â
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@Dr. Rawdog Any fake doctors want to try to start a flame-war on a story about a tragedy in the local aviation community? Sundowner, you two are going to have to have fun without me. I will not stoop to it here.
@Dr. Rawdog No fake ones but as a real one with hundreds of hours and with one of my best friends with 12,000 hours or more by now stalling a plane and how it reacts is very dependent on the type of plane. Most trainer planes are actually hard to stall you have to force it into a stall and the planes reaction is usually very tame. Having said that the load of the plane makes a big difference to.
First time I went out and stalled the plane with my 220lb instructor in it the pitch of the plane was twice as steep as all my previous stalls and the right wing dropped 90° as the plane stalled leaving me in perfect position to go into a spin and looking straight down at the ground out of the side window.
Fortunately after a couple seconds of initial surprise all of my training kicked in going full rudder to get the plane wings back to level and then pull out of the dive.
@FreedomRocks @Dr. Rawdog The FAA no longer requires spin training for anybody but aerobatics or flight instructors, because they decided more people were killing themselves in training-spins than in actual emergencies. I did mine in a 150, which is what most people do theirs in, and the problem is that the 150 is difficult to spin in both directions, and most of the time if you panic and do nothing it will recover itself. You get the kid-in-the-laundromat-drier ride but the airplane saves itself and you're already trained up and ready for it.
The experience might not be so gentle or the pilot so mentally-prepared when the s--t actually hits the fan. My next goal is taking aerobatics instruction down in Creswell because there's no such thing as too much flight training.
@FreedomRocks @Playanekes @Dr. Rawdog There's a split second between spin entry and a full spin. That's what's so creepy, but the training is probably for the best. I don't get queasy but sometimes in steep turns I get pressure issues in my outboard ear and it's very fatiguing. I can't imagine going out and doing aerobatic training and then having much of a social evening afterward. That took some intestinal fortitude! :>
@Playanekes @FreedomRocks @Dr. Rawdog Yep I did my license 25 years ago and only did spin entry in a 152 and immediate recovery no full on spins until I went to CA and took an aerobatic lesson.
@Dr. Rawdog Sorry that was without the instructor not with adding 220lbs of instructor made all the practice stalls very very tame compared to just me in the plane.
@Playanekes @FreedomRocks
I am thinking he ran out of air below him and had little choice in his decision making process.
Glide ratio only works if there is a lot of space below the wings.
@Playanekes @FreedomRocks Wow not sure I even could tell you without pulling out the logbook. It was a tail dragger with tube frame and fabric cover.
It was my first tail dragger experience so he did take off and landings.
Later on I got checked out in a tail dragger out at sportsman airpark. It was great fun and a nice challenge and cheap only $25/hour.
My only concern was the 2-3 million worth of helicopters always parked on the side of the runway. That made me sweat bullets every time I took off and landed...
If my training is what I paid for I am in trouble!!! My friend was an instructor at 18 and took me half way through his training as his first student and I taught him to drive in return.
Could not finish with him but another friend just got his instructors license at work and needed a student so finished up with him. Both were very good though....
When I took my test is was winter and had not flown in a month due to weather. The tester called me at lunch and said person air park is clear can you be here in an hour and take your test. So I went to a tough airport I had only been to once and flew a plane I had never flown before to get my license.
Everything went great until we returned and I tried to land in that hole they call person. First time around came in to high and did a go around. Did not feel to bad the pilot in front of me did the same thing. Second time in still too high I could have forced it I was 99% sure but choose to go around figuring I just lost my license. On the third try she said you had better make this one I have another flight after this. Went way way lower then I felt like I should be but came in fine.
She said I did great and complemented me for erroring on the side of caution even while under the pressure I was.
@FreedomRocks No doubt. What plane did you use?
Forgot to add but it was well worth it!!!
@Playanekes @FreedomRocks @Dr. Rawdog Ya did not like having to do stalls mainly lack of trusting if you really screwed up you might break the plane trying to recover.
Felt much better doing spins, rolls and stuff when I took an aerobatic lesson in CA knowing I could not break the plane without breaking myself and the kid in the back instructing me would most certainly pass out well after I did...
Needless to say a morning aerobatic lesson in Napa valley meant for a not so fun afternoon lunch and wine tasting tour the rest of the day. First time every in my life to break down and take seasick meds to help:)
@FreedomRocks @Dr. Rawdog I have a few gray hairs, and I attribute half of them having students demonstrate turning stalls or elevator trim stalls, or sending them out to practice them solo. Your training was worth whatever you paid for it.
The Maule is notoriously-STOL and one must assume he wasn't aiming for the house, so, somehow he missed his intended landing point. The first thing they'll have to do is figure out what that point was.
Things like this happen in a power-off base-to-final situation where the airplane isn't coordinated in the turn, such that one wing stalls first. If it's the outside (high) wing, the airplane will roll outboard sharply as the wing drops. But since it's the high wing, it will come through wings-level and usually the pilot will recover, but they might have lost too much altitude or heading at that point, and will end up flying into whatever is right in front of them.
If, on the other hand, the airplane is in a skidding turn at slow speed, the fuselage creates a windbreak effect on the root of the lower wing, which means less of the wing is producing lift, and it will drop. The problem is that since it's already at 30-40 degreees below level, when it drops the airplane is sideways or inverted with and only a couple of hundred feet off the ground. Impossible to recover. If the airplane struck upside down due to mechanical failure but the rigging was still intact, something like this is what the FAA will conclude happened.
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