KingAirpilot90

Here's the live ATC feed:

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/ki...2014-1430Z.mp3

~17:10 Takeoff clearance for N52SZ
~18:20 52SZ declares emergency, left engine failure
~21:40 In response to an unclear question from someone on freq, tower simply says "we just lost an aircraft."

My prayers to those lost

Flightcap

Quick bio on the pilot, who in another news story apparently had 3,000+ TT:

Pilot in Wichita airport crash "very experienced," friends say | The Wichita Eagle

What a loss. Tailwinds and blue skies Mark.

Hawker Driver

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Hawker Driver

Classic VMC incident (aggravated?)by a flight control malfunction?

I seriously doubt the flight controls suddenly malfunctioned when this occured. Maybe you meant "Flight control ineffectiveness as a result of......"

HD

Flew older 200 without auto feather. You only had about 3 seconds to react correctly before it was all over.

USMCFLYR

I've not flown the -200, but the following was written by Tom Clements (author of 'The King Air Book') on another site:

It is being reported that the pilot had over 3,000TT (over many years), but has there been a breakdown of the ME hours or KA hours?

Yoda2

Yes, Not making assumptions but something strange here... Of course it could all turn out to be mechanically related; though there are things that I, and many others, have seen that are disturbing in general. One of them is that I have seen pilots launch into the blue that I know were not prepared, or with an over reliance on the reputation, reliability, or systems of their machine. Sometimes it disturbs me when I hear how reliable an aircraft, engine or system is, especially when I feel it is lending to a degree of complacency. That is for aircraft sales departments, not for pilots. Many pilots perform admirably during training events, only to completely lock up under the real deal. I very much hope that is not what happened here. In anticipation of that potential event. I always tell students, as a last resort, to just feather both engines and fly the plane. This will be interesting. As an aside, If I recall correctly, the auto feather and rudder bias were options, so not all so equipped.

rickair7777

An amateur assumes the engine won't fail...he's thinking about where he's going flying with two engines. A pro assumes it will fail and is already planning on executing the appropriate procedure with one engine (or none as the case may be). The pro is pleasently surprised if he makes it on-course with all systems humming along normally.

All pilots, regardless of pay status, should strive to be pros. It's a real biatch to deal with a big unexpected performance loss that close to the ground. Better to always expect it.

Pavedickey

Helicopter pilots know it's going to happen. The only question is when.

dustrpilot

Speculation on the MU-2 forum I follow, from former King Air pilots is the possibility of a FCU over speed confusing the pilot into feathering the wrong engine.
Pure speculation mind you.

deadstick35

Harry Reasoner's exact words were

"That's why being a helicopter pilot is so different from being an airplane pilot, and why in generality airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant, extroverts. And helicopter pilots are brooders, introspective anticipators of trouble.

They know if something bad has not happened it is about to."