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PA46 Malibu N264DB missing in the English Channel

The issue of who was in Nantes could be that if the pilot flying asked Mr Henderson to file a flight plan on his behalf say using Rocketroute I know from personal experience that the default name (Hendersons, if the account is in his name) can & is very troublesome to remove from the page depending on the platform being used, he may have been in Greenland at the time but the French would have had his “passport” details digitally flying out of Nantes. Im sure there is nothing remotely nefarious in the alleged use of an improper passport.

Needle in a haystack doesnt start to describe it.

Also the sea bed down there is “covered” in aircraft wreckage, with so many planes flying to the Channel Islands with nearly empty tanks to get the cheap fuel.

I am back home so had a look at the wx, 22nd January, with the accident around 2000z.

Here is the skew-t for 4 hrs later (the nearest one)

which shows the cloudbase very roughly 1500ft and the top of the layer about 9000ft. Above that is clear VMC and then another thin layer further above.

Surface temp about +7C, 0C at about 3000ft and -5C around 5000ft – however the chart is very hard to read and interpolate. But if it was -5C at 5000ft he would have been liable to icing there.

However the ascent is not that close to the accident site:

France doesn’t seem to do the weather baloons, or if it does it doesn’t distribute the data freely.

Here is the MSLP.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Newbie question:
Does the aircraft had an ELT (121.5 or 406) and why it is not transmitting in order to locate them ?

LFPT Pontoise, LFPB

Romain wrote:

Newbie question:
Does the aircraft had an ELT (121.5 or 406) and why it is not transmitting in order to locate them ?

All aircraft have ELT and it most probably started upon impact, if operational.
But, the signal will not propagate through water, so useless for sunken aircraft.

A fixed and shock-activated ELT, possibly just a 121.50 one, is a legal requirement on any N-reg worldwide, but many Europe based N-regs don’t carry them. Also the installations are often duff, the batteries may be flat, the plane will sink in minutes or less…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

A fixed and shock-activated ELT, possibly just a 121.50 one, is a legal requirement on any N-reg worldwide, but many Europe based N-regs don’t carry them. Also the installations are often duff, the batteries may be flat, the plane will sink in minutes or less…

Fetching the ELT-less N-regs is part of the current ramp check initiative of FAA and EASA, so that will change soon.

One of the reason I like the ELT registry in UK – it is only valid for the time your battery is verified and you get an email to renew the registration, which is possible only after sending proof of the new battery and only until that expires. Best system I know.

Last Edited by at 26 Jan 16:28

Peter wrote:

I am back home so had a look at the wx, 22nd January, with the accident around 2000z.

I think the accident was 24h prior

Antonio
LESB, Spain

A 121.50 ELT cannot be registered, because it doesn’t emit an airframe specific signal, yet it is legal on an N-reg, and while nobody sensible with have one of these today, they are still the cheapest means of compliance.

it is only valid for the time your battery is verified

That’s news to me. The battery status is based on what is written on the sticker on the ELT, and is checked at each Annual.

Also my ELT is not registered in the UK. It is registered directly with NOAA in the US. It makes no difference to alert processing.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

The 24hrs prior ascent shows no solid IMC

and here is the MSLP

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Could you give very brief interpretation of the radio sounding? Thin layer of clouds at 20000ft?

Last Edited by a_kraut at 26 Jan 18:37
Bremen (EDWQ), Germany
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