What: ATA Flight School Cessna
Where: Pompano Beach Air Park
When: November 1, 2011 reported at 5:52 pm
Who: 2 aboard, 2 survivors
Why: A 27 year old instructor Vincent Paul Citrullo and 42 year old student pilot David Bakalar survived a crash at the intersection of Northeast 10th Street and Fifth Avenue in Pompano Beach Florida.

The crash occurred during a ATA Flight School (Pembroke Pines) training flight while the student pilot was flying and losing altitude due to engine trouble. The instructor took the controls, and the plane struck a palm tree and a concrete pole, landing shy of Pompano Beach Air Park. Both were taken to North Broward Medical Center.

Two fire trucks used foam on spilled fuel.

Pilot Vincent Paul Citrullo, a former C130 crew chief and vet, is credited with landing the plane after the throttle became inoperable, and securing their survival, in spite of the plane breaking in half.

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Light Plane Crashes in Pretoria South Africa

What: light aircraft
Where: Pretoria South Africa
When: Dec 18, 2009
Who: Pilot and passenger
Why: After takeoff, the plane failed to gain altitude and crashed into the ground in a ball of fire. Apparently the pilot tried to ditch in a stream.

There are no survivors.

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Update: F/A-18 Crash in San Diego

What: F/A-18 Military Jet from the carrier Abraham Lincoln landing at Marine Corps Air Station Miramir
Where: San Diego neighborhood
When: DEC 8
Who: the pilot, who was part of a training squadron, ejected. He had been aiming the plane at a deserted canyon to avoid homes and the 805 Freeway. 4 Individuals in the house are dead. The pilot has been transported to Balboa Naval Hospital
Why: Witnesses said, “It was mushing through the air…iIt was chugging along with what seemed like one engine. Then I heard a roar of engine and all of a sudden, woop, dead silence.”

The deceased have been identified as 4 members of a Korean family. Dong Yun Yoon is the sole survivor–Lost in the crash were Young Mi Yoon, 36; her daughters Grace, 15 months, and Rachel, 2 months; and her mother, Suk Im Kim, 60.

Apparently caused by power failure, the crash is considered unrelated to the previous discovery of cracks in hinges on the wings of more than a dozen F/A-18s ( This writer, however, does wonder if the two problems reveal a maintenance factor in common–though hinge cracks seem that they would be related to parts, wear or broader manufacturing issues.)

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Piper Medical Evacuation Crash Under Investigation


Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
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What: 0640 UTC, a Piper PA42 Cheyenne III
Where: Grand Case, St. Maarten
When: May 5, 2012
Who: Pilot and three passengers
Why: On May 5, 2012, at 0640 UTC, a Piper PA42 Cheyenne III, French registration F-GXES, was destroyed when it crashed about four minutes after takeoff into the Atlantic Ocean, three miles from Grand Case, St. Maarten. The pilot and three passengers on board were fatally injured. The aircraft was airborne at 02:39 LT and crashed approximately five minutes later about one nautical mile off coast.

The passengers were a doctor, nurse, and the patient, Panagiotis Vryonides of Nicosia, a sick man from the cruise ship Allure of the Seas.

Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The foreign, non-scheduled cross-country flight was en route to Fort de France, Martinique.

Witnesses saw the airplane explode and crash into the sea.

The plane and remains were later found off Le Galion Beach.

This investigation is under the jurisdiction of the government of France.

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Helicopter Crash in Schoemanskloof Kills Lion Sands Game Resort CEO


A privately owned Robinson R-44 with four aboard crashed in the vicinity of Schoemanskloof outside Nelspruit in South Africa. The flight had taken off from Johannesburg and was en route to White river when it crashed in heavy mist. No one aboard survived. The fatalities were listed as Nick More, Pierre de Villiers, Lance Cooper and Elmarie Martens.

Remains of the victims will be handled at the state mortuary in Pretoria.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority will be investigating the crash site, Zondagskraal farm, four kilometers from the N4 highway.

Pilot Mr Nick More, owned the helicopter and was CEO of Lion Sands Game Resort.

Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport indicated that the flight plan listed that More departed from Nelspruit Airfield at 06:30, collected passengers at Casterbridge. The destination was listed as Grand Central Airport in Gauteng.

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NTSB Interview Regarding Gainesville Partenavia Crash

What: Partenavia P.38 registered to Robert Valle of St. Croix.
Where: Found short of the runway at about 7:40 a.m.
When: 2:45 a.m Friday
Who: 3 occupants killed in the crash
Why: Under investigation. (See video)

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No Fatalities in Bangladesh Helicopter Crash


On Feb 12, 2013, at 4:15 p.m. a Meghna Group McDonnell Douglas Md600N en route from Nimertek village in Rupganj upazila, Bangladesh hit a tree while en route.

One account says the helicopter struck the tree in Narayanganj after suffering technical glitches.

Two were hospitalized at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. There were two crew and four or five passengers. (Accounts vary.)

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