It looks as though there may have been a mid-air collision, but we'll have to await the accident investigation to know for sure.

The question in my mind is, why there were five people in a camera chase plane? Yeah, it's probably a fun ride, and I'd like to have gone along myself, but I suspect that they'll rethink who are and are not essential personnel on such flights in the future.

My guess is that it's a bunch of people who like to fly and think a MiG is cool. A hobby more than a business.

Are there FAA regs against formation flying?

As the Cheyenne ascended after takeoff, an air traffic controller radioed the pilot to warn him about vapor seen coming from the right engine, Gregor said. The pilot radioed back saying he didn't think it was a problem.

...

"The plane was completely burned up," said John Ginn, fire district chief for Chino Valley north of Prescott. "The only thing left was a small section of tail and two engines. There was very little discernible."

Yet another example of sloppy reporting in the mainstream media. Piper Cherokees are single engined planes. If the plane was a twin-engined Piper, then most likely it could've been an Apache, Aztec, Seneca, or Navaho. If it resembled a Cherokee, then it was most likely a Seneca.

If there was no sign of damage on the MiG-21, then it seems unlikely that the planes collided.

If it was a Piper Cherokee, then finding two engines at the crash site would be a good indication of a collision since the Cherokee only has one engine.

I guess I'm missing something. What's the relationship between the crash (tragic though it is) and the X-Rocket? I scrolled down through your previous posts, down to the 19th, and couldn't find any other references to the crash. Was there someone on the plane that crashed who was associated with the XR?

Sorry if I'm being dense. I'm just not clear on the relationship between the title and the story, is all.

A piper Cheyenne is not a Piper Cherokee.
A Cheyenne is a twin engine presurized turboprop.

As far as formation flying, its allowed as long as both pilots agree before the flight.

Regs: far 91.111.b No person may operate an aircraft in formation flight except by arrangement with the pilot in command of each aircraft in the formation.

Also
91.111.c No person may operate an aircraft carrying passengers for hire in formation flight.

Damn, it looks like I misread the article. Sorry about that.

"Damn, it looks like I misread the article. Sorry about that."

Apologise to the mainstream media.

This article is inaccurate. The control tower tape is archived on liveatc.net. The pilot reports losing sight of the Piper and smoke on the ground, but at no point does the he say there may have been a collision.

From what I read, a mid-air collision was a guess but not much evidence to support that. Formation flying is certainly allowed, but how close do you have to be to verify whether the landing gear is stored or not? I would think 200 feet, especially with other observers onboard, is close enough.

wow 5 people dead, this is a tragedy al around.

Criminal investigations have to get opened,

lawyers show up like flies to sugar,

bad feelings exist everywhere,

people lose nerve, insurance rates rise,

This could be 10 years of litigation, I wonder
if it will end up like the "Bonfire of the vanities"

the NTSB report inmplies wake turbulence
tore the tail off in flight

"the NTSB report inmplies wake turbulence tore the tail off in flight"

That was my suspicion too. Several things to consider:

-tail was found half a mile from wreckage, implying that it came off in flight.

-plane flew under jet, then disappeared. If there's no evidence of a collision, then one assumes some kind of wake turbulence and structural failure.

-small, lightweight plane formation-flying with a bigger jet. Probably not the kind of thing you should do unless specifically trained for it. The private plane is not stressed for the same kind of flight as the MiG. Two MiGs doing formation flying are safer than this because they're both built tough.

Well, if it was wake turbulence, in some sense it was a collision, if only indirectly...

I had read on some other blog (can't remember which one now) that this was Ed Wright's company... is this so?

My heart goes out to the friends and families of the people who died.