A Piper PA-28 plane crashed near the Diavolezza mountain in Switzerland, on August 4th.
The incident happened when the plane was transporting three teenagers who were participating in a week-long youth camp organized by Swiss Aero Club.
Three people, including the pilot and two 14-year old boys were killed in the crash. A 17-year-old girl was injured and was flown to a hospital in serious condition.
The cause of crash is being investigated.
An Air New Zealand pilot collapsed shortly after she landed the Flight NZ175 full of passengers in Perth, Australia, on October 26.
It is suspected that Captain Ann Barbarich, 59, one of the first female pilots to work for Air New Zealand, suffered a brain aneurysm, just minutes after landing the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. One of the 3 other pilots took controls and taxied the aircraft to the gate.
Captain Barbarich was examined by 2 doctors aboard and was then rushed to the Royal Perth Hospital where she died 2 days later on October 28.
None of the 233 passengers aboard was injured.
According to Air New Zealand chief pilot David Morgan, “Ann was at the controls when the aircraft landed in Perth and the aircraft landed normally…Unfortunately after landing she became seriously ill. Another pilot took over and taxied the aircraft to the gate while the other pilots began to assist Ann. The aircraft was safe and under control at all times…Ann will be sadly missed by everyone at Air New Zealand. We have been actively supporting her family over recent days and will continue to do so. Our thoughts continue to be with them at this difficult time.”
QantasLink flight QF-1623 made an emergency landing at Perth Airport, Australia, on September 23rd.
The plane was flying from Newman, Western Australia, when it experienced hydraulic issues.
The plane landed safely. There were 102 people aboard at the time; 2 of them complained of eye irritation and were taken to hospital.
Pictured: A Spanish-owned Agusta-Bell AB-139 filmed in Spain, February 14, 2009
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Rafael Alvarez Cacho
What: Spanish Navy Agusta-Bell 212ASW
Where: Fond Verrettes area, about 50km from Port-Au-Prince Haiti
When: April 16, 2010 10:30
Who: 4 on board. No survivors.
Why: One of a detachment of four Spanish Navy Agusta-Bell 212ASW helicopters assigned to the Spanish navy amphibious ship Castilla crashed in a sparsely populated remote
rugged location called Mount Toro. The helicopter, which is part of an independent detachment is said not to be part of the 400+ Spanish soldiers engaged in Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction efforts, reportedly struck trees and slammed into the ground before catching fire. The rugged terrain is reportedly hampering recovery.
A small plane crashed in the parking lot of a gas station in Chesterfield, Missouri, on December 6th.
Authorities said the plane was heading to Spirit of St. Louis Airport when it lost power and went down.
The pilot, who was the only one aboard, was killed in the crash.
The FAA and the NTSB are investigating.
A Navajo Chieftain aircraft, operated by Ferguson Air and conducting a charter flight for Southern Air, crashed near New Providence Island in the Bahamas on December 2.
The plane took off from Governor’s Harbour in Eleuthera Island and was making an approach to the Lynden Pindling International Airport in New Providence airport when it lost power. According to the police, the pilot informed the authorities that he was facing some problems and attempted to bring the plane near shallow water before it crashed.
A 77-year-old U.S. man was killed in the accident. His identity has not yet been disclosed.
The other 10 people, including the pilot, were injured and were shifted to Doctors Hospital in Nassau.
An underwater locator beacon (ULB) such as the one on the black boxes (CVR) Cockpit Voice Recorder and FDR (Flight Data Recorder) of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 37.5 kHz for about 30 days at 4°C temperature. They run on lithium-ion batteries, and “mileage” may vary; 30 days is the minimum expectation. This is all relevant to today’s news because the Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 which is one of the ships equipped with a pinger locator, has heard a ping in the South Indian Ocean.
The particular frequency was selected because it is not one that occurs in nature.
Although Malaysia Airlines told the public that “This battery is not replaceable,” the ULB batteries had been scheduled for battery replacement in 2012, but were not replaced by Dukane Seacom, the original equipment manufacturer of the beacons. (Dukane Seacom either replaces the entire pinger or installed new batteries.) If replacement was not performed by toe OEM or other parties, the actual ping time may be less than 30 days.
One ping in an ocean does not a discovery make. The wreckage has not been located, nor the ping confirmed. But we can still hope this is a step in the right direction.
