oxcrow

Im in Aerospace, just my perspective.. about todays plane crash in Florida. Icing and moderate turbulence lead to a phenomenon called Mach tuck. It is common in Learjet 60’s and older Learjet’s. Essentially, you exceed the maximum airspeed at altitude and it is unrecoverable to the point that you continue to speed up while not being able to produce lift with your wings. Further description: your coefficient of lift eventually moves too far behind the wing making it impossible to produce lift, this causes the aircraft to lose altitude like a falling dart, in turn gaining airspeed and crashing. All Pilots are aware of this, some just push too close to the maximum speed threshold, and when you experience clear air turbulence or other factors like icing that would push you too far past the maximum speed threshold without the capability to control the wing normally, this happens. Long story short...icing changes the shape of the wing critically and adds weight to plane (double whammy, but mainly airflow issue over the wing), Learjets are vulnerable to over speed situations because of the type of wing is small, sleek, and unforgiving in the name of efficiency and performance, mix all of that together with moderate turbulence which can fluctuate your airspeed, this causes the aircraft to enter Mach tuck over speed condition. The result is a lawn dart scenario that you see here. Very sad.