Piper Aztec Tragedy, 17 Oct 2025, Early Lessons

[FrankPilot]

On 17 October 2025, a Piper Aztec twin-engine, on a short flight, crashed in a mountainous, wilderness area of Montana, USA, in bad, freezing weather, killing all 3 on board. The NTSB investigation will shed more light on the circumstances, but in the meantime, it is useful to re-iterate the same old safety lessons yet again.

 

[jmbiii]

Yep, "Get there-itus" is a very real cause of too many GA crashes.

 

[Mike71]

Lot of time above 10,000 MSL - any on board oxygen? Hypoxia?? Even 10,000 MSL can be iffy if you are not in good health like over weight, high blood pressure etc.

 

[rvn817j]

Starting to sound like Grampaw Pettibone around here....https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/naval-aviation-history/naval-aviation-news/grampaw-pettibone-collection/history.html .

Sorry for the distraction, now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

 

[collensr]

Just checking that this is still a Flight Sim forum.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

"Get there-itus" is a very real cause of too many GA crashes

So true, but not just GA. This holds true for commercial and military as well.
We've all been there at one tome or another and luckily are here to talk about it.
It can happen to any of us.

Frank has once again, though his well thought out presentation, used MSFS as an amazing tool to inform and educate.
Well Done, Bravo Zulu

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

Just checking that this is still a Flight Sim forum.

Not sure what generated this comment.
The presentation uses MSFS to discuss a recent real aviation incident.
And then people commented based on having watched his video.
Sounds like a Flight Sim forum to me.

 

[Bushpounder]

Nice job, Frank. We need an Aztec in 2020!!

Don BP

 

[Tom Clayton]

Sounds like a Flight Sim forum to me.

Agreed!

Besides... Those that have been around as long as some of use (and I'm certainly not a much of a long-timer as others) know that it wouldn't be SOH without a thread taking a sudden left turn once in a while!

 

[Priller]

Agreed!

Besides... Those that have been around as long as some of use (and I'm certainly not a much of a long-timer as others) know that it wouldn't be SOH without a thread taking a sudden left turn once in a while!

I think that lately, we've been doing a lot better than "once in a while". I remember when derailments were a lot more prevalent!

Jan

Back to flightsim!

 

[collensr]

I'm very sorry if I missed the left turn - it's happened before !!