What: DEL RIO AVIATION INC Arrow Falcon UH-58C crop-duster helicopter
Where: Escalon, about 70 miles southeast of Sacramento, CA
When: August 27, 2012
Who: 1 aboard
Why: 8 a.m. Monday a cropduster crashed in an orchard. According to his son, the 71-year-old pilot, Bill Cavanaugh, has 20,000 hours of flying.
Cavanaugh sustained injuries and was hospitalized at San Joaquin General Hospital.
Dec 20, 2012, at 16:30 a Bell UH-1D Huey en route from Balzers to St. Gallen, Switzerland developed engine problems.
The pilot touched down with skids, bounced, and crashed into a cottage in Rüthi in the Rhine valley about 200 meters from the highway. The gearbox and rotor were ten meters from the body of the helicopter.
The four people aboard the helicopter were hospitalized with minor injuries. Rescue services considered the damage to the helicopter and said that it was lucky there were no fatalities.
United Airlines Flight 1199 (Boeing 737-990/ER) had just landed from Newark with 175 aboard; Alaska Airlines flight 143 (Boeing 757-224) to Portland was departing with 182 aboard when they made contact.
The left hand winglet of the arriving 737 contacted the right hand horizontal stabilizer of the departing 757. Fortunately the Alaska jet was not on its take-off run, so the impact happened at a crawl (i.e. “taxiing at a low speed.”). Passengers said they felt a jolt. The planes were stuck together; and part of one plane had “snapped off.”
The impact occurred at 7:51, derailing travel plans of the passengers, and scheduling for the two damaged jets. Some passengers were put up at local hotels, but there were no reported injuries.
A passenger who shot a well-circulated picture that was released on twitter was besieged with reporter requests to post the image. Actor Peter Cambor who was aboard also tweeted that the jets were “stuck together.”
Southwest Airlines flight WN-3345 made a safe landing at Los Angeles International Airport, California, on May 17th.
The Boeing 737-700, flying from Sacramento, California, was about to reach the destination when it encountered turbulence.
The plane landed safely.
A flight attendant sustained injuries.
On July 16, 2013, a Bell UH-1H Iroquois #N775AR flying for Kinder Morgan piloted by A.J. Blain was on a seismic testing mission when it crashed in Delores county in rolling hill country.
The helicopter coordinates with a ground crew to position seismic sensors looking for oil and gas deposits
The Bell UH-1H Iroquois belonged to Billings Flying Service.
The pilot died in the crash, and debris hit and injured a person on the ground. There was no fire, but the helicopter is a total loss.
The crash is under investigation by the Dolores County Sheriff’s office, the BLM, the FAA and the NTSB.
The preliminary data states that during a lift operation, N775AR BELL UH-1H ROTORCRAFT went on its side and crashed. The one person on board was fatally injured near Dove Creek Colorado.
What: Skywest Embraer en route from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles
Where: Los Angeles
When: Dec 6th 2012
Who: 1 injury
Why: While landing in Los Angeles, the flight encountered turbulence.
The pilot made a safe landing, but one flight attendant was injured by turbulence.
An aerial fire tanker made an emergency landing at Chico Municipal Airport, California, on June 30th.
The DC-7 Erickson Aero Tanker took off from Chico Airport but had to return shortly afterwards due to an issue with its hydraulics.
Three wheels caught fire as the plane landed on the airport.
All four crew members aboard remained safe.
