20120204003279A

The aircraft departed the Show Low airport on runway 24 in route to las vegas NV. The flight began before the first light of day.a witness who was driving by the airport noticed the airport landing lights were on. They then noticed an aircraft with strobe lights above RUNWAY24. They stated they saw the airborne aircraft descending towards the end of runway 24 at a high rate of speed, and it appeared that the aircraft was attempting to land at the end of the runway. This is noted because the witness was concerned the aircraft would over run the end of the runway and cross onto the road they were traveling on. After the witness slowed their vehicle to ensure the aircraft would not hit their car. They witnessed the aircraft turning to the right in a northerly direction and lost track of the aircraft as it flew on behind trees. Then the witness observed a bright fireball and realized the aircraft had crashed. The witness called emergency and reported the crash immediately. Fire and police responded to the accident and found the aircraft broken apart and on fire. One female survivor was found sitting outside the aircraft and directed the firemen to her husband who was in the back seat of the aircraft. Firemen were able to extract the male back seat occupant as the fuselage was being engulfed in flames. It is noted that the first responders had to cut the male passengers seatbelt with a sawzall to enable them to extract him. The two front seat occupants were determined to be deceased after the fire was put out. Both back seat occupants were heli-evaced to phoenix hospitals with serious burn and broken bone injuries. Investigation of the accident site revealed that the aircraft was located approximately 1/3 mile to the north of runway 24. The aircraft impacted the ground with the right wingtip first and then the right main landing gear. The aircraft then broke up and tumbled thru a three strand barbwire fence and came to rest approximately 80 yards from the initial impact point. The aircraft fuselage was broken open aft of the right hand front seat doorpost, the tail feathers were twisted 90 degrees to the right. The right hand wing was broken loose from the fuselage at the wing root, and was lying upside down underneath the left wing and engine compartment. The inboard left hand wing, engine compartment, right hand inboard wing, and forward half of the fuselage sustained high heat damage caused by the post crash fire. Discussion with the airport management revealed the Show Low airport corporate gate was opened by card holder hatch at 5:51A.m that morning. The aircraft owner had a hanger located on the south side of the airport where the aircraft was stored. An employee of the airport was driving into the airport at approximately 6:25 am and noticed the airport landing lights were on. The employee did not see any aircraft traffic moving into or out of the airport area. He noted there was fog moving into the airport at the time he checked into the airport. A few minutes after 6:30 he noted fire trucks were dispatched out of the airport fire station. He also noticed a comanche aircraft which was based at the airport took off on runway 24 as he was getting ready to leave to perform runway inspections for the day. He noted that while he was conducting the runway inspections the visibility was less than ¼ mile with fog. He then received a call from the Show Low police department at approximately 7:15 am informing him that an aircraft had crashed. Reviewing the airport automated weather reports from the time of 5:55 am thru 6:55 am it reveals the temp was 21 (f); dew point was 19 (f), relative humidity was 93%; winds were calm; visibility was 10.00 miles with clouds BKN002; altimeter at 30.14; & visibility was deteriorating. An interview with the pilot of the previously mentioned comanche revealed he had encountered IMC conditions just after take off and was able to climb out of the cloud layer within a couple hundred feet.