Please give comprehensive safety briefings to ALL onboard or else...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/14/florida-pilot-reports-passenger-fell-into-ocean-faa-says/?intcmp=latestnews

Sounds hokey to me. Ever try to push open a door with a 100+ wind holding it shut? Highly unlikely anybody is just going to "fall out" if the door comes unlatched.

I smell a Rat.

Shoved or Jumped. Nobody falls out of a Piper Malibu on accident. Chase the life insurance policy

It would take a frick'n good kick to blow somebody from a Malibu! Pretty sad story!

Uh, guys, I believe the PA 46 has a split air stair door.....it doesn't open forward.

One would still suspect skulduggery.

MTV

One would still suspect skulduggery.

Really?

Cary

The Malibu cabin door...

I'm asking because I don't know.

Since the Malibu is pressurized, aren't there several failsafe mechanisms on the door to prevent loss of cabin pressure that would need to be overcome? Wouldn't there be annunciator lights on the panel and audio warnings that would tell if these were not properly engaged?

I'm with the folks calling shenanigans on this whole scenario...

The Piper PA-46 Malibu and Matrix are a family of American light aircraft manufactured by Piper Aircraft of Vero Beach, Florida. The aircraft is powered by a single engine and has the capacity for one pilot and five passengers. Early Malibus were all piston-engined, but a turboprop version, the Malibu Meridian, is also available.[1]

The PA-46 is the third single-engine piston aircraft with a pressurized cabin to ever reach the market, after the Mooney M22 and Cessna P210 Centurion. It is sold mainly to civilian customers.

Maximum speed: 234 kn (269 mph; 433 km/h)
Cruise speed: 196 kn (226 mph; 363 km/h) at 55% power
Stall speed: 58 kn (67 mph; 107 km/h)
Range: 1,555 nmi (1,789 mi; 2,880 km)
Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,600 m)
Rate of climb: 1,143 ft/min (5.81 m/s)
Wing loading: 24.3 lb/sq ft (119 kg/m2)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-46

It would be very hard to get somebody to "Fall" from a PA-46. Agreed.

I didn't read everything available on this story so far. Was there other pax on the airplane other than the PIC? In the end , Follow the money.

More links;

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Authorities-Search-for-Person-Who-May-Have-Jumped-Out-of-Plane-231945401.html

http://news.sky.com/story/1168839/florida-pilot-says-passenger-fell-from-plane

NTSB November has nothing yet...

that would be a good way to fake ones death?? or maybe i have watched to many movies

If the door was not latched properly, could someone moving around in the cabin fall into it and then fall out of the plane. Just a thought! Yea I know its a reach?

Av8r3400 wrote:I'm asking because I don't know.

Since the Malibu is pressurized, aren't there several failsafe mechanisms on the door to prevent loss of cabin pressure that would need to be overcome? Wouldn't there be annunciator lights on the panel and audio warnings that would tell if these were not properly engaged?

I'm with the folks calling shenanigans on this whole scenario...

There three versions of the PA 46: A piston powered pressurized version, a turbine powered pressurized version, and the Matrix, a piston powered non pressurized version. This could be any of those, but in any case, at the stated altitude of 2000 feet, msl, it's likely the cabin wouldn't have been pressurized.

If the cabin HAD been pressurizd, it'd be next to impossible to open the door, but there'd be no reason to pressurize at that altitude.

MTV

mtv wrote:

Av8r3400 wrote:I'm asking because I don't know.

Since the Malibu is pressurized, aren't there several failsafe mechanisms on the door to prevent loss of cabin pressure that would need to be overcome? Wouldn't there be annunciator lights on the panel and audio warnings that would tell if these were not properly engaged?

I'm with the folks calling shenanigans on this whole scenario...

There three versions of the PA 46: A piston powered pressurized version, a turbine powered pressurized version, and the Matrix, a piston powered non pressurized version. This could be any of those, but in any case, at the stated altitude of 2000 feet, msl, it's likely the cabin wouldn't have been pressurized.

If the cabin HAD been pressurizd, it'd be next to impossible to open the door, but there'd be no reason to pressurize at that altitude.

MTV

Maybe the door could of opened? Photograph looks like the piston version? I know the Navajo doors do not last for ever.

Here is the guy who tried to fake his death in a Piper Meridian, same family of aircraft. Didn't work out for him so well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Schrenker

dogpilot wrote:Here is the guy who tried to fake his death in a Piper Meridian, same family of aircraft. Didn't work out for him so well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Schrenker

That is truly an amazing story! I knew a guy like that in high school. Guessing there are more of those personalities out there, from the article, too.

Update:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/16/bo ... latestnews

Littlecub wrote:Update:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/16/bo ... latestnews

Mangrove swamps are very tough to find anything. This story is getting more and more strange.