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.

 

 

 

[Cyrano]

The Aztruck is not a startling performer on a cavok day. Icing would not go well.

[facthunter]

None of those Planes have effective deicing.  Nev

[KRviator]

14 hours ago, Cyrano said:

The Aztruck is not a startling performer on a cavok day. Icing would not go well.

The 250HP Aztec has a better power to weight ratio at MTOW than does my RV-9, and the RV goes like a scalded cat.  10.4Lbs / HP for the Aztec vs 10.9 for the RV-9. With only 3POB and a short flight, it'd be well below gross.

 

All bets are off in icing conditions though, no matter what you're flying. You can't say the airframe is at fault when it's operated beyond its' limits.

[facthunter]

The Aztec will turn in a short radius.  Nev