Whatever our individual politics, we are one nation, one people, one flag knit of many histories. That may be our greatest weakness, but it is also our greatest strength. Thanks to those who have walked before us. May we all continue to hold our flag high.
Wishing you the happiest 4th of July.
George Hatcher
What: Privately owned Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee B
Where: Four miles south of Perryville, AR
When: Nov 17 2011
Who: 4 aboard, 4 fatalities
Why: Women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant women’s basketball coach Miranda Serna were on a routine recruiting trip to Arkansas, when the plane crashed in steep terrain in the eastern Ouachita Mountains in the Winona Wildlife Management Area. The other two aboard were Former State Senator Olin Branstetter and his wife, Paula. A local deer hunter’s wife told 911 when she saw the airplane nose-diving in a swirling pattern and crashing in the forest. By 6pm, the wreckage had been located. The passengers had been ejected from the plane, which drove a six foot deep furrow into a ridge but did not catch on fire. Rescuers reached the site on YO4 Forest Access Road via four wheelers.
Miranda Serna was in her seventh season as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State.
The cause of the crash is unknown but it was the catalyst of an outpour of support for Oklahoma State.
That the plane was co-owned by the Branstetters, who were from Ponca City. 82 year old Olin Branstetter was a longtime pilot.
Eleven years ago, a plane carrying 10 crashed, killing two OSU men’s basketball players, two members of its radio broadcast team, three members of the team’s support staff and two pilots in a snow storm in Byers, Colorado.
PIPER PA-28-180 Serial 28-1756 #N7746W
Year of Manufacture: 1964
Number of Seats: 4
Certification Issue Date: 29 Sep 1978
Builder Certification Code: Type Certificated
Aircraft Speed: 107
Aircraft Type: Fixed wing single engine
Aircraft Category Code: Land
Airworthiness Date: 17 Jun 1964
Aircraft Weight:
Mode S Code: 52475442
NTSB investigating Aviation Accident in Perryville, Arkansas
November 18, 2011
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has dispatched investigators to examine the circumstances of an aviation accident that occurred yesterday afternoon near Perryville, Arkansas, involving a Piper PA-28-180 (N7746W).
Jason Aguilera is the NTSB Investigator-in-Charge. He will receive headquarters support from air traffic control and meteorology. Parties to the investigation include the Federal Aviation Administration, Piper Aircraft and Lycoming.
Terry Williams will be the public affairs officer on scene.Once he arrives in Perryville, Mr. Williams can be reached on his cell phone at (202) 320-2594 or via email at terry.williams@ntsb.gov.
NTSB Office of Public Affairs: 202-314-6100
What: Herman Hassinger Architects Beechcraft A36 Bonanza en route from Nashua to Laconia
Where: Hooksett, New Hampshire
When: Oct 25, 2012 1:30 pm
Who: 2 aboard, 2 fatalities
Why: According to reports, the single-engine Beechcraft hit a light pole alongside I-93 northbound.
The two aboard, Husband and wife Herman and Doris Hassinger, were on their way to a board of trustees meeting at a New Hampton boarding school, and died when the plane crashed on to the shoulder and guard rail after glancing off the pole.
Herman Hassinger was ejected into the woods about 25 yards from the plane.
The plane sustained heavy front-end damage. The debris included parts fallen from the light pole and about six feet of the plane’s wing.
The Bureau of Aeronautics, FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating.
A Delta Connection regional jet en route from Lansing to Atlanta had to divert and make an emergency landing at Indianapolis International Airport, Indiana, at around 10:10 a.m. on August 16.
Airport officials confirmed that the jet diverted to Indianapolis because of flight control issues.
The plane landed safely and all 44 people aboard remained unharmed.
Endeavor Air flight 9E-3885/ DL-3885 made a safe landing at LaGuardia Airport, New York, on April 21st.
The Canadair CRJ-900, flying from Madison, Wisconsin, was on approach to New York when a bird impacted the aircraft.
The plane received minor damage.
All people onboard remained unharmed.
Too fast for Sunday delivery of USPS, UPS or Fed Ex.
If you ask Victoria Haller which is the better airline, she’ll tell you it is JetBlue. That’s because she’s the aunt of Noah Pozner, one of the victims of the massacre in Newtown Connecticut; and when a friend tweeted airlines asking if one could get family letters to Connecticut in time for Noah’s funeral so family letters (including that of Victoria’s five year old son) could be buried with his cousin Noah, JetBlue stepped up. Jetblue called back and made it happen. The letters went from Aunt Victoria to JetBlue flight attendant Craig M. to flight attendants Trisha and Heather.
The letters made it from Seattle to Connecticut in time for the 1 p.m. funeral.
All of this was tracked on Twitter (search the hashtag #LoveforNoah), Huffington Post, MSN, UPN, Jspace, etc…
It does the world good to hear of your kindness. When someone takes an extra step, goes beyond, it reminds us that businesses are not made of steel and ink and the bottom line; they are built of human beings. We are all human, and sometimes we are all we have. JetBlue is an example to us all. A simple act of kindness. A light in the darkness. Thank you.
So there you have it: the short version of the investigation’s reading of the Cockpit Voice recorder.
If you missed it, we have posted it here in this blog in it’s entirety:
https://airflightdisaster.com/?p=17147
If you don’t like the visual rendition, you can click at the bottom for the .pdf.
The problems seem to begin at 2 h 08 min 07; then at 2 h 10 min 05 autopilot & auto thrust disengages. The pilots note that the speeds do not agree,( which means the speeds are incorrect, and it is an indication that pitot tubes are malfunctioning. Around this time, ACARS sent a PITOT error message, which was not mentioned in the CVR summary.) The PIC (captain) re-enters at 2 h 11 min 40 and it is all downhill from there.
As far as we can tell, everything in the cockpit voice recorder still indicates that the main cause for this crash is Thales defective pitot tubes which froze over and sent incorrect data back. How could anyone make correct decisions without knowing the speed at which the plane was traveling? How would the pilots have discerned when the incoming data was faulty and which of it—if any—was correct?
Based on the pilots’ response to the stall, we can also reiterate points made at the February 24 hearing, where Justice Zimmerman pointed out a lack of training for pilots on how to respond to a catastrophic failure. Shouldn’t pilots (and not just the PIC) be trained in this procedure to the point that the correct corrective response is second nature? The time to try to figure out how to respond is not during the catastrophe, with 228 lives hanging in the balance.
There does not appear to be an emergency procedure from the manufacturer. (This was also noted in the February hearing by Justice Zimmerman.)
It appears that the plane stalled, and that could not be corrected in time to prevent the catastrophe.
So now, all eyes will turn to the DVR, which will hopefully help decode what happened mechanically in the stall.
And I do have questions about the notation, which seems to imply that even if autopilot is not online, some (background?) processes continue to be determined by digital input, which may be faulty.
When the measured speeds are below 60 kt, the measured angle of attack values are considered invalid and are not taken into account by the systems. When they are below 30 kt, the speed values themselves are considered invalid. (Or I am misreading the data and the fact of unrecoverability is due to other system factors. It does appear that the Flight Control System is unwieldy or badly conceived.)
It seems to me as a layman, that this is a fly-by-wire conundrum. If the plane is in crisis, but it is logically disregarding the correct input when it is beyond a “safe or logical” range, then how can it be corrected, if there are no manual controls? (Not to mention no emergency procedures to fall back on.)
