Rockwell Aero Commander 690A crashed near Palmyra Virginia

[KB4TEZ]

https://www.29news.com/2024/05/05/update-2-confirmed-dead-fluvanna-county-plane-crash-police-say/

(Picked him coming into Washington Center, never shot off a Mayday or PanPan, just that something with the autopilot.  RIP and thoughts, prayers with the families)

FLUVANNA COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - Virginia State Police (VSP) have confirmed two deaths following an early Sunday morning plane crash.

At 8:54 a.m. officials were alerted to reports of a plane crash in Fluvanna County.

Debris from a small, private plane was located in a wooded area near the 200 block of Miles Jackson Road in Palmyra.

The impact of the crash caused portions of the plane to catch fire. The Palmyra, Fork Union, Kents Store, and Lake Monticello Fire Companies responded to the scene to extinguish the fire and assist law enforcement.

According to a press release from VSP, both the pilot and passenger within the privately owned, twin-engine aircraft did not survive the crash.

VSP is still in the process of notifying the next of kin, and both bodies are being transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond for examination and autopsy.

The aircraft left the Manassas Regional Airport early Sunday morning and was flying toward South Carolina.

The crash remains under investigation.

[pinger]

Thanks for finding this and sharing.  Question: was silence removed between transmissions in this clip or is it real time?

Just wondering how quickly things went from his first transmission to radar contact lost (it was 1 min 50 sec in the shared clip).

[KB4TEZ]

I took out other transmissions from other airlines, (Wash. Center is a tad busy) and the long silences, from the initial contact to Wash Center, to Radar Contact lost is about 12 minutes.

More info from JuniorGA:
The preliminary automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) track data shows that the airplane departed from runway 16L at MNZ and climbed to an enroute altitude of about 20000 ft. The airplane was flying south at an average course of about 200°. At 08:50:25, the airplane began a sudden descending right turn towards 17000 feet. Towards the conclusion of the turn, the airplane began a climb back to 20000 feet but was now on an easternly heading. A few seconds later, the airplane began a series of uncoordinated turns until the flight track ceased. While the data suggests the airplane was still at 20000 feet during the end of the flight. The groundspeed values dropped from about 228 knots (when the aircraft climbed, right before the weird turns towards the end) to about 27 knots (at the conclusion of the flight).
The FR24 data shows a similar pattern, but without the turns at the end.
While there are still no photographs published as of the time of this writing, the early report from the sheriff office suggests there was an inflight breakup. The "main body" (as described in the news) was located in a wooded are and consumed by a post crash fire.
“If you live in the area affected by the plane crash and you locate a piece of the wreckage, contact the sheriffs office immediately and please do not disturb it,”