Comments on: Perfect plane for a faked suicide mission: Piper Malibu/Meridian

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:40:47 +0000

Re fuel (or why the plane didn’t crash at sea): Low-wing airplanes don’t usually have a “both” setting on the fuel selector–I wonder if that may have had something to do with the airplane not making it all the way to the ocean?

By: philg

philg — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:33:09 +0000

Meridian Driver: I don’t turn up my nose at either the Malibu or the Meridian. I would be delighted to own one, but the costs scare me! After the Crash of 2008, I will be lucky to be flying an Ercoupe….

Rick S: It does seem odd that the guy had only a Commercial certificate with an instrument rating. No multi-engine rating and the Commercial was only recently issued (January 2007). It is odd that no medical shows up in the airmen registry. Let me check some pilot friends… Hmm… medicals for all of us! I guess the guy was flying without a medical, which is presumably the least of his problems at this point.

By: Rick S

Rick S — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:33:59 +0000

Pilot question – saw several attributions that this guy was a 10,000+ hour
pilot. Which seemed at odds with his stated age of 38, I mean in the sense
that unless your an airlines guy that seems to be quite a bit of flying for
anyone with a day job. For grins, looked him up on the FAA site also,
no medical listed. Bridge stunt struck me as a bit reckless, no surprise
it was outside the US.

By: Meridian Driver

Meridian Driver — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:09:18 +0000

lets get the facts straight
*The Meridian is not the same plane as a Malibu. it has a completely redesigned and wing and horizontal stabilizer, fuel system, avionics, landing gear…
* The pt6 engine is the gold standard for reliability
* The big problem with the windshield is that the pilots leave on the deice on the ground. The deice is nice to have when the weather is heavy.
* As for the long walk to the door. Well the auto pilot is really nice and will fly the airplane for hours without any help from a money manager.
* And yes it could use some more headroom
* Range is 1,000 miles, but perhaps he did not want to spend the money on the fuel. Flight planing for this trip is a little counter intuitive for me.

So Phil, as turbo props go it is a bit entry level. If you have more than 1.9 mil to spend on a plane god bless you, but don’t make fun of the poor folk

By: Jens

Jens — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:09:48 +0000

I think his intent was to have the airplane go down in the Gulf, although his fuel reserve was probably only a few minutes short of that:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N428DC

I’m sure the Meridian has more than 1:36 endurance. Dumbass.

By: jane carpenter

jane carpenter — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:40:08 +0000

Phil, I have to agree with David — jumping out of a Meridian at night at low altitude might have been damn nervy, perhaps even taking some skill, but it was a coward’s way out of Schrenker’s self-created financial chaos. Given that one of the many allegations against this arrogant jerk is that he conned “dozens” of Delta Airlines pilots out of their pensions, I was hoping the alligators got him. Plus, it’s a waste of a beautiful airplane.

By: David Wihl

David Wihl — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:59:28 +0000

From my perspective, it’s more cowardly to run from your obligations (especially family) than to have the desperation to jump out of a plane and hide, leaving others to clean up your mess. I have a Hellenistic view of bravery:

From Thucydides:
“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.”

and from Aristotle:
“When their adventures do not succeed, however, they run away; but it was the mark of a brave man to face things that are, and seem, terrible for a man, because it is noble to do so and disgraceful not to do so.”

By: philg

philg — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:39:49 +0000

David: Cowardly? I almost got a concussion flying a Meridian from BED to ASH (10 minutes) because the ceiling is so low that moderate turbulence slammed my head against the metal. This guy was brave enough to make the big jump. Of course, it is too bad that the Meridian doesn’t have any range. Otherwise the plane might have made it all the way into the ocean and the authorities wouldn’t have discovered the lack of a body. He seems to have been rather timid about facing his soon-to-be-ex-wife and the SEC (Madoff and Enron didn’t bother them, apparently, but this guy sure did), but I’d say that his Meridian bail-out was pretty courageous.

By: David Wihl

David Wihl — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:12:03 +0000

What a dope! Not only does the cad run away from his family and business obligations, but he gets caught. Why didn’t he fly to Bermuda or some other island to improve his chances of escape as well as not endangering anyone by having the plane crash into the water (and getting rid of the evidence)?

After trial, he deserves to go behind bars for awhile and rethink his life.

So in case you the reader are planning something equally cowardly:

1) I recommend a Caravan. Bigger door, slower speed.
2) Go over water to an international destination.
3) Don’t get caught. Don’t speak to a policeman in suspicious clothing.
4) Don’t ever come back.

By: Dumitru Hociung

Dumitru Hociung — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:57:02 +0000

Being a single engine it is pretty low, probably around 60-65 knots. But yeah, that door-tail combination is tricky for a skydiver. One misstep and you become stabilizer soup….