Different angle:
You can see the area just above the wing roots; they are rippled from
leading edge to trailing edge. I can tell you, where the wings mate to the
fuse, it’s like ripple city and the rivets/screws looked like they were
riding on waves. In between each window, the same ripples as the other side.
STORY. This is what I was told by the people that were there when the plane
rolled in. They are employees of the FBO and know the owner and everyone
involved.
It came from Mexico back to FXE, the captain that flew it back was a
licensed Mexican pilot, no FAA licenses or ratings. Captain was hired as a
contract pilot just for this trip. The co-pilot was from here and he was
also just used as a contract pilot to get the plane back here. When they got
back to FXE where the owner was waiting, of course they flipped out as the
plane rolled into parking. The captain or the co- pilot had no idea YET of
the damage that was caused. When asked, “what the hell happened?” He
apparently at some point said he made a hard landing. YET, the tires and
gear were perfect. The FAA and insurance company had questioned them on what
happened and they stuck to that story for 9 days. Finally, the co-pilot
talked (good for him BTW). He said the Captain wanted to snap roll it…not
aileron roll it….SNAP ROLL it like a Pitts. Fuel wing fuel too, moron.
Supposedly it was done 3-4 times. By this time, when the co-pilot talked,
the captain had gone back to Mexico. Not sure yet what the FAA is going to
do with the co-pilot though. He’ll probably get a pass, he was just flying
with a scum bag captain. He should have smacked him in the mouth and took
the controls. But, thats just me.
Its being fixed I guess and returning to service. I heard it was very
low-time and only a few years old. Not sure on that. I certainly wouldn’t
fly it after seeingwhat I saw, no way. Maybe someone with more accurate or
detailed info can chime in.
MORE TO THE STORY…………..
New pictures and a story update.
Spoke with the mechanics working on it today. Still actually not sure if it
will fly again, they are still tearing into it. Found out yesterday that the
right wing is history, bent beyond repair. You can actually see it up close,
where the aluminum is actually stretched and separating at some points.
STORY UPDATE:
They did roll it 4 times. What caused all the damage was when on the last
two rolls, the pilot got scared and cranked the yoke back the other way to
stop the roll and go back to upright. He got about halfway around and got
scared and jerked it back real hard, that’s what twisted everything, instead
of continuing the roll in the original direction. What’s funny is, he got
scared on roll #3, then tried again and got scared again, so it was hardcore
twisted two times.
This wing is trashed and the wing root is twisted.
Hard to see here in the pic, but it’s a very obvious wrinkle in the nose
cone, right side. They haven’t gotten to that part of the frame yet.
Left side was the worst. Windows may never be perfectly even.
The bottom of the tail cone area had a bend in it and some wrinkles.
Empennage may be bent inside, still checking.
Engines were ok, pylons were ok, but a couple mounts are being replaced
because of stress. They haven’t even checked the airframe around the
windscreens yet, that could be the deal breaker.
