What: Línea Turística Aereotuy Cessna 208B Grand Caravan en route from to Los Roques to Isla de Margarita Venezuela
Where: Over the ocean
When: 26 AUG 2009, 08:10
Who: 12 passengers and a pilot
Why: En route, the ditched in the ocean. There were no fatalitis and the passengers were rescued by a fishing boat.
What: Congo Republic (Aero Fret Business?) Antonov 12 cargo plane en route from Pointe Noire to Brazzaville
Where: SE of Brazzaville-Maya Maya Airport, in the cemetery of the village of Nganga Lingolo
When: Wed Aug 26, 2009
Who: Five 5 Ukrainian crew and one Congolese passenger
Why: Radio contact was lost at 3000 feet and the rear of the plane was on fire prior to impact with the ground. One report says “The airplane broke up in flight.”
Approaching the runway, the plane crashed in a cemetery.
What: Edge E40 in aerobatics competition
Where: World Aerobatic Championships at Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, Dadford Road, Buckingham.
When: 12.12pm
Who: 40-year-old Californian and US Aerobatic Team Champion, President of the International Aerobatic Club Vicki Cruse
Why: The crash occurred when the pilot was performing a vertical stall. Apparently she wasnt high enough when her engine stalled, or her engine ran out of fuel.
Link to bio of Vicki Cruse. Please note this is a .pdf
What: small tourist Cessna en route from Cannes-Mandelieu Airport
Where: Callas — north east of Draguignan near the Riviera
When: SUNDAY 23 AUGUST 2009 10:00 am (0800 GMT)
Who: Five passengers killed: the pilot, a friend of the pilot and a lady and two children
Why: The plane crashed in a wooded park near residences and burst into flames. Residents who witnessed the crash heard nothing as the plane seemed to be gliding, then there was a lound explosion as the plane hit the ground and burst into flame. The accident was close enough to the neighborhood that neighbors turned their garden hoses on the flames, but no one survived the crash.
Pictured: A Skybolt
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact Photographer Dubravko Sertovic
What: Fixed Wing Single-Engine Steen Skybolt (Cooper Skybolt) bi-plane en route from West Harrison Airport (Cincinnati West)
Where: McNicholas High School in Harrison Ohio
When: Aug 21, 2009 8:08 p.m.
Who: pilot and a female passenger
Why: Witnesses watching a football scrimmage between Harrison and McNicholas High School say that while en route, the plane climbed, pitched left, seemed to struggle, then took a nosedive, crashing near the high school and killing 47 year old pilot Raymond Robben of Guilford, Indiana, and passenger 52 year old Belinda Roy of Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The pilot and his girlfriend were on a pleasure ride when the plane failed, crashing a quarter of a mile from the end of the runway.
Robben was a corporate pilot for the JTM Food Group.
FAA registration lists the biplane as being manufactured in 1996, classified an amateur built experimental aircraft and Robben is listed as as a certified commercial pilot and flight instructor.
George’s Point of View
As with all tragic flights, we express condolences to the families.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact Photographer Tom Turner
What: Piper PA-32 registered to LCA Partnership in Fort Washington, Pa flying out of Teteboro Airport to Ocean City and a Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tour Eurocopter AS 350
Where: over the Hudson River between New York and Hoboken, New Jersey near West 14th Street
When: Sat Aug 8 2009
Who: Helicopter: 5 Italian tourists and a pilot;
plane: pilot and 2 passengers (including a child)
Why: The airplane flew into the helicopter. The impact (or rotors) severed off the plane’s wing. Both aircrafts are in the river. The helicopter is reported to have “dropped like a rock” when the aircrafts “clipped.”
All bodies have been recovered.
Though not necessarily considered directly responsible, two FAA employees (the plane’s air traffic controller and the ATC supervisor) have been put on administrative leave in connection with this crash. The ATC was engaged in inappropriate conversation, and the supervisor was not in the room as required.
Pictured: A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 Departing Orlando
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact Photographer Orlando Suarez
What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 en route from St. Louis to Orlando
Where: Orlando
When: Jul 14th 2009
Who: 134 passengers
Why: On approach to Orlando, an APU fire was indicated; however, after the passengers debarked, there was no trace of fire of heat or found by the fire crew.
We have found conflicting reports whether or not there was an actual fire within the apu that resisted being put out, or a control panel indication of a fire that did not exist.
*APU stands for Auxiliary power unit.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact Photographer Sean Mowatt
What: Turkish Airlines Airbus A340-300 en route from Istanbul Turkey to Casablanca, Morocco
Where: Ataturk Airport (Istanbul)
When: Jul 9th 2009
Who: 223 passengers
Why: The plane had an undisclosed problem and returned to the airport where it landed safely.
Now that the beacons have been heard, French Navy Divers at Comoros have begun following up the search. On the 12th, their search will be assisted by underwater robotic technology.
Only one survivor was found, 12 year old Bahia Bakari; and she has gone back to France to her father. Her mother was killed in the crash, and Bahia sustained a broken collarbone.
The entire island is in mourning; plus there is some local disquiet because the plane that crash had been considered unfit to fly in French and European airspace, but was still allowed to fly to Comoros. (Even though the average income is $300 a year, they are not second class citizens.)
What: crop dusting helicopter
Where: 1778 Richvale Highway, Richvale, Butte County California
When: Wednesday May 13
Who: pilot Craig Compton
Why: The pilot (and business owner of Avag ) was moving the plane when it crashed into a building. Compton was flown to Enloe Medical Center in Chico.
AVAG’s business is aerial seeding.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Giovanni Francisco Rodriguez Bravo
What: Single Engine Cessna 172 en route from Santa Cruz
When: May 11
Who: four people were killed: pilot Martyshev Basil, his wife and two children
Why: The plane took off from Santa Cruz 20 minutes after the expiry of the permitted duration of flights.
50 minutes after takeoff the plane fell from the sky. No cause is yet noted.
Apparently Martyshev was Russian and had U.S. citizenship, while his wife and children were citizens of Bolivia.
What: Saudi Arabian Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 en route from Riyadh to Taif Saudi Arabia
Where: Taif
When: Apr 28th 2009
Why: On landing, an overwing exit door opened and fell into the cabin. Plug-type doors are held taught by differential air pressure; but it has not been determined why the door opened.
George’s Point of View
I have shoes I refuse to throw away that are, I’m sure, 30 years old. I don’t even wear them but I figure they deserve to share space in my closet with my newer stuff just for old time sake.
Maybe the owners of some of these very old planes should do the same. Don’t put them out in the desert to rot away. Send them to a museum. But stop using them to for take offs and landings.
What: twin-engine Cessna 310
Where: marshy area near Pitt Street bridge Mt. Pleasant
When: Saturday afternoon April 25, 2009 2:56 pm
Who: Arthur Parker and (approx) ten year old son
Why: When something “popped” on the plane and he could not turn and started losing altitude, Arthur Parker did the only thing he could, and landed in the Mount Pleasant marsh. He and his son walked out on the wing and waded through the marsh, then walked to a local house. Police officers met them, but Parker declined police and medical assistance.
Now his biggest problem is how to retrieve his plane from the marsh…
George’s Point of View
Just call Triple A?
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Martin Eadie
What: CESSNA 210 en route from Concepcion to Santa Cruz
Where: Concepcion, Bolivia
When: April 13, 2009
Who: pilot and three passengers on a medical evacuation
Why: The plane “impacted terrain” during the night flight, but no reason is listed. The cause is under investigation.
Impacted terrain at night? I can’t wait to see what the NTSB has to say about this.
Brazil already says this is the pilots fault, though it is unclear what this quote is supposed to mean:
“Due to the fact that the pilot had violated flight rules, as explained by the representative of DGAC, the plane took off from the city of Santa Cruz 20 minutes after the expiry of the permitted duration of flights.”
Determining the cause at this point is a bit precipitous. Most accident investigations take years.
What: U.S. Airways passenger Airbus Flight 1549 enroute to Charlotte, N.C. taking off at t 3:26 p.m
Where: Hudson River off New York City
When: Thurs jan 15
Who: 155 on board scrambling onto rescue boat (50 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots )
Why: Pilot hit a flock of geese after taking off from LaGuardia. (Two bird hits) Four minutes after takeoff passengers report hearing an explosion from the left side of the plane.
The piliot set crash site co-ordinates by CB radio but had to spend the night out in the elements as conditions prevented his recovery until 1 pm the next day.
The wreck was located at 10 in the morning Dec 26th, lying upside down with a wing torn off
What: small plane, probably (but not definitively) Forney Aircoupe from the Avon Park airport
Where: among trees between the 10th, 12th and 14th fairways in Golf Hammock, a golf community west of Sebring in Highlands County
When: 11:30 a.m. Saturday
Who: Pilot James Weener, and passenger James Richer
Why: Witnesses saw black smoke, heard the plane’s engine over-revving, then the plane came apart and in fell in pieces from the sky. A witness said “Some small parts came off first, then the wing came off and the tail shot off. It just disintegrated in midair.”
What: four-seat Grumman Cheetah
Where: 40 miles northwest of Grand Junction/ 210 miles west of Denver.
When: Found Sunday September 7, 2008
Who: Charles Landry of Houston, born in 1947, and Steven or Stephen Bartlet of Green River, Wyo., born in 1958.
Why: Cause unknown. The crash is under investigation by NTSB
Pictured: A Piper PA-46-310P Malibu
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Lindsay Hockey
What: Piper PA-46-310P Crash
Where: Houston TX
When: Sept 17 2005
Who: 2 fatalities
Why: The 641-hour private pilot and passenger were departing on a 155-nautical mile night cross-country flight. The tower controller heard a weak transmission that she could not completely understand, but did hear the words “engine” and “power.” The controller asked the pilot to “say again”, but there was no response. She again asked, “say again” and the pilot transmitted, ” I’m going down.” There were no further communications from the pilot. impacting the ground, the airplane cartwheeled. 50 feet wide. Witness reports of the airplane’s flight path along with the wreckage distribution path were consistent with the pilot’s attempt to return to the airport. A post-impact fire consumed the fuselageThe reason for loss of engine power could not be determined.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Vernon
What: SilkAir Boeing 737-36N en route from Jakarta, Indonesia to Singapore
Where: Musi River
When: Dec 19, 1997
Who: 97 passengers, 7 crew
Why: SilkAir Flight 185, a Boeing 737-36N, was en route from Jakarta, Indonesia to Singapore, and crashed on 19 December 1997 after abruptly plunging into the Musi River from its 35,000 feet cruise altitude, killing all 97 passengers and 7 crew on board. For no apparent reason, minutes before the crash, the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder stopped recording, at different times, then the aircraft departed level flight and entered a steep vertical dive. All 104 people on board died in the crash. The pilot was deep in debt and had taken out an insurance policy on himself.