Metroliner crash in Malta.

[Phil Perry]

Watch: Five dead as plane crashes in Luqa - Times of Malta

 

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20161024/loca... - 12 hours ago

 

Other sites claim that this particular type of aircraft has been involved in 22 accidents / incidents over the last few years.

 

( I have not researched to see if this has a hairsbreadth of truth in it. . . )

 

It has caused a political storm in Malta as it was alleged to have been a French crew, working for the EU ( denied ) headed to Libya, for surveillance work on People Traffickers ( Denied ) Read the BTL comments yourselves. . . .

 

 

[IBob]

Watch: Five dead as plane crashes in Luqa - Times of Maltahttp://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20161024/loca... - 12 hours ago

Other sites claim that this particular type of aircraft has been involved in 22 accidents / incidents over the last few years.

 

( I have not researched to see if this has a hairsbreadth of truth in it. . . )

 

It has caused a political storm in Malta as it was alleged to have been a French crew, working for the EU ( denied ) headed to Libya, for surveillance work on People Traffickers ( Denied ) Read the BTL comments yourselves. . . .

ANZ used those: known as the flying pencil, you make your way to your seat in a crouched position, the headroom is so low, seats lower still. I don't know that they had any problems with them here.

 

 

[Litespeed]

Metroliners have a very poor record.

 

It is the passenger equivalent of a F104 starfighter.

 

Very small amount of wing for the type. Very unforgiving.

 

A friend pilot always tells me if offered a ride in one, best to walk.

 

Some liken it to slow motion Russian Roulette. Only a matter of time.

 

It has the nicknames of "flying lawn dart" and "flying pencil"

 

The crash appears to be engine failure on takeoff, plane has rolled to right on its back and speared into the ground.

 

A sad event

 

 

[facthunter]

If you don't have your safety speed, VMC (a), they all do that. They stretched a nice little plane and that tends to ruin them. Wheels are small too. They have been around for a long time now. Nev

 

 

[red750]

A few operating regional and freight services out of YMEN and YMML. - Sharp Airlines, Toll Freight among others.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Video here.

[fallowdeer]

The wing loading and stall speeds of a Metroliner III (SA 227) and a Beech 1900D are very similar; I don't think the F104 comparison is too valid.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I vaguely recall something about the ATR type, very narrow chord wings, which appear from below to by ridiculously tiny for the length of the airframe. I think that there were two crashes attributed to uneven ice build up on the trailing edges when the flaps had been lowered slightly to allow a more level cruise descent. Both aircraft flipped over into a non recoverable condition. Not that this has anything to do with the abovementioned incident.

 

I DID read a Twitter posting earlier today, which someone else had placed on another site ( I don't do twitter ) from some Flight enthusiast who claimed that he had posted this actual aircraft on his site a while back, after it was alleged to have been heavily modified for aerial surveillance duties.

 

Can't get back on and copy it at the moment, as any site to do with Google Blogger is running so slowly that it times out. This site is fine. This is either ongoing crap from the recent cyber attack and / or my Mobile Wifi running too slowly. Can't get through to their Tecchies at the moment, all client service lines busy. . . .( ! )

 

 

[ben87r]

Operated by a couple of Darwin operators too, used to be operated in FNQ,was made up until about 2002 from memory? Not that any of ours would be that new. Few notable accidents here.

 

 

[dutchroll]

Around 700 Metros of all variants produced. Around 22 accidents/major incidents as far as I can tell.

 

3 were lost in midair collisions, so I think we can accept the aircraft wasn't at fault. A bunch have been lost on approaches in poor weather - usually pilot error (Crossair and Manx2 being classic examples). Continental Express 2286 was pilot error (Captain tested positive to cocaine). One had a major lightning strike and consequent electrical failure. A couple of engine failures/fires. Another flew into the middle of a thunderstorm and both engines flamed out. A few others I haven't bothered looking up the causes of.

 

Nothing really glares at me as far as aircraft design problems go. Sure by GA light twin standards it's a fairly high performance aircraft and that generally has consequences in the GA and regional airline world which is run on a shoestring budget. However, implying that flying on a Metroliner is some sort of death-wish is a bit harsh and I think tending towards popular myth rather than reality.

 

 

[IBob]

Around 700 Metros of all variants produced. Around 22 accidents/major incidents as far as I can tell....................implying that flying on a Metroliner is some sort of death-wish is a bit harsh and I think tending towards popular myth rather than reality.

Sure. I was a paying passenger on them in NZ a number of times, and it's never bothered me.

 

As previously mentioned, they are very tight inside: you duck through the little door, then discover you have to stay ducked to get down the aisle. And there was a sense of being cast on your back in the seats, rather than sitting up. Wouldn't be much good for the fatties...not that any of us are, right?

 

But they go. And the crew look as though they enjoy them....)

 

 

[KRviator]

Eastland used to fly one out of Toowoomba many moons ago, I did a school project on it! There was one that went into Botany Bay on a postal run a few years ago too, IIRC, the pilot forgot to turn on the inverters so he had no attitude information. The ATSB worked it out from the lack of a 400Hz signal on the radio transmissions!

 

 

[Pearo]

I used to fly on a metroliner out of Brisbane to Hervey Bay on a mail run. Worst RPT plane in summer because the aircon was turned off on take-off. Sucks for a 6ft bloke also.