A small plane crashed in eastern Idaho near the Wyoming border, on January 4th.
Authorities said the vintage Yak 52 Russian trainer aircraft went down about 2 miles north of the Alpine Airport, Wyoming.
There were two people aboard, including Reade Genzlinger, 61, of Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, and MacKenzie Ruston, 17, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Both of them were killed in the crash.
The FAA is investigating.
What: microlight
Where: Silver-on-Sauldre, Soyers Field
When: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2009
Who: pilot and passenger
Why: The ultra-light crashed and burned in the field, killing the pilot and passenger. There were no eye-witnesses, but people described hearing the engine “cough” just prior to crashing. The pilot and passenger have not been identified, but they are said to be Belgian.
The type of ultralight has not been released.
What: U.S. Airways en route from Reagan National Airport to CHarleston SC
Where: Washington DC
When: July 6, 2012
Who: 35 passengers, 3 crew
Why: As the jet was on the runway, it sank into the hot tarmac, and got stuck. THe cart could not pull the plane with the tires embedded. Everyone aboard disembarked so the jet could get unstuck. Efforts delayed the flight for three hours.
A passenger reported online that there was a jerking motion going back and forth as if something was stuck and preventing the craft from moving, and then passengers waited 45 minutes on the tarmac fir a bus to the terminal.
On Friday, April 18th 2014, Dan Marcotte, an experienced aerobatic stunt pilot survived a fiery plane crash by parachuting out of his single-passenger plane.
The plane bursted into flames and crashed on interstate 89 near Burlington, Vermont, moments after he jumped out. Hearing the explosion, the fire fighters rushed to scene and found Marcotte’s parachute dandling from a tree.
Vt. State Police Lt. Garry Scott said that Marcotte probably got the intuition that something was wrong with the plane, and he jumped out in time. He got some minor injuries, but his life is out of danger.
Marcotte is well known for his amazing stunts at grand events like Independence Day celebrations on the Burlington waterfront.
The DBS Helicopters Bell 206L-3 LongRanger III helicopter in Silt, Colorado, that got tangled in power cables doing Holy Cross Energy powerline inspections crashed, killing the pilot and crew.
The accident occurred at 11:20 a.m. where the shared Holy Cross and Xcel Energy power lines cross Dry Hollow Road about 1.6 miles south of Silt. There were witnesses who saw the accident and attempted to help.
The poles that were being inspected were fifty feet high, and the helicopter was supposed to be flying thirty feet over that.
The small fifty-foot debris field is on rough hilly terrain.
Owner and chief pilot for DBS Helicopters, Doug Sheffer died in the accident. He had 22 years and 8,000 hours of flight time. Larry Shaffer who worked for Holy Cross Energy and Christopher Gaskill who worked for HotShot Infrared Inspections were also fatalities. They were filming the trouble spots along the route, and recording the locations on GPS.
I do not want to diminish the tragedy of this accident by saying that helicopter accidents such as this are common, but I will say they happen too frequently, even when the pilot has significant experience flying in mountain terrain, and rescue.
Southwest Airlines flight WN-1940 suffered a bird strike near Sacramento International Airport, California, on December 6th.
The incident happened when the Boeing 737-700 plane coming from Santa Ana, California, was on approach to Sacramento Airport.
The plane continued for a safe landing. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
A U.S. military helicopter crashed in Anbar province of Iraq, on March 16th.
The HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter was carrying seven personnel when it went down near the city of al-Qaim.
All seven people aboard were killed in the crash.
The incident is being investigated.