What: Rotorway Executive 162F experimental helicopter
Where: north end of the airfield at Summit Aviation
When: November 9, 2008
Who: Amanda Randall, 51, of Fenwick Island
Why: While flying a few feet off the ground, the helicopter flipped on its side. Randall sustained a non-fatal head injury.
Chinese billionaire Lam Kok purchased a French vineyard, and boarded a helicopter with three others, including his son, the former owner who was flying the helicopter, and a translator, to take an aerial tour of the 65-hectare (160-acre) vineyards and surrounding grounds. Lam Kok’s and James Gregoire’s wives had declined to fly.
Twenty minutes after the flight took off, the helicopter went missing.
The helicopter, flown by James Gregoire, former owner of the vineyard, was missing but a witness came forward and told a mounted policeman that the helicopter had been seen falling into the Dordogne river, and people had been seen struggling in the water.
Emergency helicopters, divers and a hundred foot officers converged on the scene, and were deployed to search. After dark, a helicopter with a searchlight joined the searchers.
Lam Kok, new owner of the vineyard Château de la Riviere was head of the Hong Kong-based Brilliant group which plans to develop a tea and wine tasting center and hotel in Bordeaux.
One of the bodies was recovered around midnight. Rumors are that the body is of Lam Kok’s twelve year old son. The search was halted overnight, but resumed on the morning of the twenty-first. The search has been hampered by strong currents in the river.
Ironically, John Leprince, a former owner of the vineyard, died in a plane crash in 2002, not far from the crash site in the Dordogne. Combined with this crash, this means the last three owners of the vineyard were lost in aviation accidents.
JetKonnect Airlines flight S2-4364 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Hyderabad, India, on December 3rd.
The Boeing 737-800 plane heading from Kolkata to Bangalore, India, was diverted after the crew reported a hydraulic issue.
The plane landed uneventfully. There were 147 passengers and 8 crew members aboard at the time; all of them remained safe.
Spring Airlines flight 9C-8617 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Shenyang, China, on February 18th.
The Airbus A320-200 plane heading from Harbin, China, to Nagoya, Japan, was diverted after a smartphone and a power bank caught fire in the overhead locker.
The crew had cooled down the items before the plane landed safely. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.
Hawaiian Airlines flight 118 had to divert and make an emergency landing at Kahului Airport, Hawaii, on May 12.
According to the airline, the plane was heading from Honolulu to Kailua-Kona when it had to be diverted due to a “left engine surge.”
The faulty engine was smoking when the plane touched the runway and the firefighters had to spray foam to douse it.
All 73 passengers and 5 crew members remained uninjured in the incident.
Cathay Pacific flight CX-469 made an emergency landing in Hong Kong, China, on April 6th.
The Airbus A330-300 plane was flying from Taipei, Taiwan, when the pilot declared emergency due to hydraulic problems.
The plane landed safely. There were 320 people aboard at the time; all of them remained unharmed.
What: Sky Blue Helicopters Robinson R44 Helicopter
Where: Theodore Roosevelt Lake in Gila County
When: Dec 7 2012
Who: 3 aboard
Why: Two men and one woman were aboard a helicopter on a sightseeing tour when it crashed in Theodore Roosevelt Lake in Gila County. The water where the helicopter crashed was 60 feet deep. Boaters pulled the passengers from the water.
The two men and one woman were hospitalized in Phoenix. Julie Barba, 49, remains in the hospital, but Fred Cleeves, the 62-year-old pilot, and George Riedel, 64, were released from Scottsdale Healthcare Osborne Medical Center.
Gila County Sheriff’s Office Divers attached a buoy to the helicopter to mark its location before removal.
Sky Blue Helicopters leases the helicopter.
