For those of you who do not know, a Leer plane crashed on the corner of Ocala and Tennessee streets. It's in walking distance of my house and we just got back from going to see it. It's SO surreal. Following are the crappy pics my cell took. My friend Jeremy took better pictures but it will take a while to get them onto a computer. There were no deaths, but there were people taken to the hospital. As far as I know, Florida State University campus is completely out of power. For those of you who need to know, it's across the street from Heritage Grove. It DID NOT hit a building as the news has been leading people to believe. It landed in the grassy area next to the road, although it looked like it may have been about ten or twenty feet from the road.
Replies
28
SoWal Insider
wow. thank goodness no one was hurt....
Beach Fanatic
Holy crap! My niece lives on campus and works at the Starbucks at Ocala Corners (or whatever the Publix / CiCi's Pizza strip mall is called)!
I need to call her...
I need to call her...
bean
wow. thank goodness no one was hurt....
Same.....
Beach Fanatic
According to Tallahassee Democrat Online, Power back on at FSU, which is east of the crash. Areas west of the crash will likely be out until tomorrow morning.
Pilot is in stable condition at one of the local hospitals. I don't see how he isn't dead. He went straight down, nose-first.
A Leon County sheriff's deputy saw/heard the plane over Tallahassee Mall and said it sounded abnormal then. Evidently the LCSO also had their helicopter up and watched it go down.
Really lucky/skillful flying to take it down, not on top of anybody. :shock:
Pilot is in stable condition at one of the local hospitals. I don't see how he isn't dead. He went straight down, nose-first.
A Leon County sheriff's deputy saw/heard the plane over Tallahassee Mall and said it sounded abnormal then. Evidently the LCSO also had their helicopter up and watched it go down.
Really lucky/skillful flying to take it down, not on top of anybody. :shock:
Beach Fanatic
Moderator
Looks like a Cessna 177RG Cardinal. I have a good number of hours in those. Good airplane. Judging from where the pole was hit I'm guessing they were trying to land in the road and may have had to manouver to miss a car. Looks like it hit the pole / wires with the left wing and got cartwheeled over.
Very lucky fellows...
Very lucky fellows...
SWGB
Linky to pictures
That always was a dangerous intersection.
Also the number of students who came out to watch and drink beer.
Beach Fanatic
Looks like a Cessna 177RG Cardinal. I have a good number of hours in those. Good airplane. Judging from where the pole was hit I'm guessing they were trying to land in the road and may have had to manouver to miss a car. Looks like it hit the pole / wires with the left wing and got cartwheeled over.
Very lucky fellows...
Diffinitely not a Leer......I agree SC, it looks like a Cessna 177RG. Notice that some of the pics have the retractable gear up however......I'm not sure about the landing on the road theory.... I would however guess that they hit wires and cartwheeled. It also appears that the engine may have been off when they crashed because the props are straight and not bent on the tips. They were fortunate not to get seriously hurt....
Edited
Moderator
Diffinitely not a Leer......I agree SC, it looks like a Cessna 177RG. Notice that some of the pics have the retractable gear up however......I'm not sure about the landing on the road theory.... I would however guess that they hit wires and cartwheeled. It also appears that the engine may have been off when they crashed because the props are straight and not bent on the tips. They were fortunate not to get seriously hurt....
Ya know...I missed the gear being up; however, if they had some sort of electrical mafunction, that would have kept them from extending. It takes a long time to pump them down, and they may not have had time. An electrical problem wouldn't have affected the engine, though, so I'm still a little puzzled. They were obviously going slow for whatever reason.
Then again they could have been flying like a-holes and got caught up in their own stupidity.
It will hit the NTSB page in a couple days. I'll post a link to the report. There will be witness statements from both people on the ground as well as the pilots...
Beach LoverAuthor
We were told last night as we were walking to the crash (we didn't drink beer there, we waited until we got back to my place) that it was a Leer. Reading the Democrat this morning, it's definitely a Cessna. There was only one person in the plane and he's in "fair" condition at TMH as far as I know.
There's a huge hold in the grass. It was like three feet from the sidewalk!
There's a huge hold in the grass. It was like three feet from the sidewalk!
Beach Fanatic
My kid called right after it happened.
The power was out all over the campus, and he could see copters hovering over the crash site.
Little planes scare me.
4 seat Cessna
The power was out all over the campus, and he could see copters hovering over the crash site.
Little planes scare me.
4 seat Cessna
Beach Fanatic
Inital reports were that he was flying from Maryland to Tallahassee. Ocala & Tennessee is probably 4 miles as the crow (plane) flies to the Tally airport. That's only as far as Point Washington to Seagrove. Obviously some reason he couldn't make it that much further, and if the gear wasn't down, electrical malfunction stands to reason (like I know anything about planes!).
That particular intersection is not one I would pick, if I had to choose where to make an emergency landing. Ocala at Pensacola St is a wide road, much less busy...there's also the Mike Long Track, not to mention Stadium Drive. He was heading for the airport, and just couldn't get there.
That particular intersection is not one I would pick, if I had to choose where to make an emergency landing. Ocala at Pensacola St is a wide road, much less busy...there's also the Mike Long Track, not to mention Stadium Drive. He was heading for the airport, and just couldn't get there.
Beach Fanatic
Wheels up, engine not running, short of airport, long flight......my bet is a fuel issue
Moderator
Wheels up, engine not running, short of airport, long flight......my bet is a fuel issue
No fuel = No fire...
We'll see...
Beach Fanatic
Never the less, AIT great info; thanks for posting.... very lucky folk as SC mentioned...... Wow..... very lucky....
We were told last night as we were walking to the crash (we didn't drink beer there, we waited until we got back to my place) that it was a Leer. Reading the Democrat this morning, it's definitely a Cessna. There was only one person in the plane and he's in "fair" condition at TMH as far as I know.
There's a huge hold in the grass. It was like three feet from the sidewalk!
Beach LoverAuthor
Yeh, we were talking about him trying to make an emergency landing. Ocala and Tennessee is one of the busiest intersections in town. While Pensacola would've been better, you have to bear in mind that it was Friday night in a college town. He probably wanted to avoid injuring anyone else, hence the reason he went down nose first. It must have been scary for him.
Moderator
Yeh, we were talking about him trying to make an emergency landing. Ocala and Tennessee is one of the busiest intersections in town. While Pensacola would've been better, you have to bear in mind that it was Friday night in a college town. He probably wanted to avoid injuring anyone else, hence the reason he went down nose first. It must have been scary for him.
One thing that instructors drill into you when you are getting your license is to avoid roads when making landings. Poles, wires, signs, and cars are all your enemy. It's easy to do in the daytime, but it's really hard to resist at night. Proper training tells you that at night to look for huge parking lots or dark spaces. The idea is not to save the airplane but rather to save yourself by using the airplane.
He went down nose first because he hit something. I just checked the NTSB page. Nothing there, yet.
Beach Fanatic
beat me to it;
Agreed; he possibly clipped a wire or another obstacle...;-)
We had an instructor here (from Spartan) about 8 yrs ago who took two of his students down a turnpike and was performing (horizontal) fly bys for lack of a better word; hit a large power-line and flipped killing all three on board....
Agreed; he possibly clipped a wire or another obstacle...;-)
We had an instructor here (from Spartan) about 8 yrs ago who took two of his students down a turnpike and was performing (horizontal) fly bys for lack of a better word; hit a large power-line and flipped killing all three on board....
One thing that instructors drill into you when you are getting your license is to avoid roads when making landings. Poles, wires, signs, and cars are all your enemy. It's easy to do in the daytime, but it's really hard to resist at night. Proper training tells you that at night to look for huge parking lots or dark spaces. The idea is not to save the airplane but rather to save yourself by using the airplane.
He went down nose first because he hit something. I just checked the NTSB page. Nothing there, yet.
Banned
Sorry just have to do this,
The correct spelling for the plane that it was not is
The correct spelling for the plane that it was not is
LEAR
Not LEER! 
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lear[/ame]
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Lear[/ame]
Moderator
Sorry just have to do this,
The correct spelling for the plane that it was not is
LEAR
Here's a useless piece of trivia for you. Bill Lear bought the design for his first jet from Italy. It was designed as a two seat fighter trainer but was never used by the Italians. He tweaked the design a bit to come up with his first airplane
Beach Fanatic
Sorry just have to do this,
The correct spelling for the plane that it was not is
LEAR
Not LEER!
THANK YOU!! I've been waiting for someone to mention that. I couldn't, because I'm too often accused of being pedantic.
Banned
Here's a useless piece of trivia for you. Bill Lear bought the design for his first jet from Italy. It was designed as a two seat fighter trainer but was never used by the Italians. He tweaked the design a bit to come up with his first airplane
Sorry Singing Chick, He bought the rights to the plane to tweak his 8 track tape player, Before the tweak it was only a 2 track. Next Trivia and most interesting, how many passengers did the Lear 23 seat? Wonder if he had the tracks on his mind
I own 3 Lear's and find them to be wonderful.
SoWal Insider
I just checked the NTSB page. Nothing there, yet.
I am still waiting a final NTSB report to be posted and it has been over a year!!!
Moderator
Sorry Singing Chick, He bought the rights to the plane to tweak his 8 track tape player, Before the tweak it was only a 2 track. Next Trivia and most interesting, how many passengers did the Lear 23 seat? Wonder if he had the tracks on his mind
I own 3 Lear's and find them to be wonderful.
My bad...It was a Swiss design...
"The starting point for what became the very symbol of the "biz jet" started life as an abortive attempt by a Swiss aircraft company to build a new ground-attack fighter aircraft, the FFA P-16. Development started in 1952 and prototypes were ordered the next year. The first prototype flew in 1955 and construction and testing continued until 1958 when an order for 100 was placed. This was reversed soon after due to a crash of the third prototype. Two additional prototypes were finished, the last in 1960, but the project was ended at this point."
He thought it made a good starting point for what he wanted to accomplish...
I won't throw a guess out there for the number of seats because the entry I found said how many. We'll let somebody else hazard a guess!
Edited
SWGB
Sorry Singing Chick, He bought the rights to the plane to tweak his 8 track tape player, Before the tweak it was only a 2 track. Next Trivia and most interesting, how many passengers did the Lear 23 seat? Wonder if he had the tracks on his mind
I own 3 Lear's and find them to be wonderful.
I'll bite, 2 in the front and 3 in the back?
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