Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Jack Hannen

What: Victoria Air Douglas C-47B Skytrain freighter en route from Manila to Palawan/ Puerto Princesa, Philippines
Where: Villa Fidela subdivision in Las Pinas; abandoned warehouse
When: Oct 17th 2009
Who: 4 on board (7?)
Why: After takeoff, the crew reported a mayday situation. After reporting engine trouble, they were returning to the airport. Witnesses say that the airplane began to “wobble” (roll left and right). The pilot was approaching runway 6 when plane lost altitude, went down in Villa Fidela subdivision in Elias Aldana village and struck a house and a warehouse. 14 houses were damaged and four on board were killed. Two houses by the warehouse caught on fire. The manifest states that 7 were on board but that is unconfirmed.

The Victoria plane had been on a test flight. The same plane had encountered trouble at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) runway three weeks ago when its brakes failed.

Published reports identify the dead as Jaguar Huane, flight captain and co-owner of the plane; Benjamin Rivera (another Victoria Pilot), Richard Sinaya, and a “Mr. Cedingan.”

(Apologies for the audio quality of the video)


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Jet Blue Emergency Landing in Florida


Pictured: A JetBlue Airways Embraer ERJ-190-100IGW 190AR over Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Klaus Ecker

What: Jetblue Embraer ERJ-190 en route from Westchester County, NY to West Palm Beach,FL
Where: West Palm Beach
When: Dec 26th 2009 (just before midnight)
Who: 95 people
Why: Prior to landing, the pilot realized that the plane had lost nosewheel steering. After landing, he came to a full stop on the runway, and the plane was towed to the gate.

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Eleven Die in Belgium Plane Crash


A Paraclub Namur Pilatus PC-6/B2-H4 Turbo Porter out of Namur-Suarlée Airport crashed in Belgium in a field. Ten sky divers and a pilot were aboard when the plane lost height. No one survived.

Investigators found that three of the skydivers had open chutes and the wing of the plane was broken off.

Apparently the pilot lost control of the plane. A witness said a wing was torn from the plane, then the crash made a lot of noise. Emergency responders arrived to find the plane on fire 250 meters from Wohnhäusern der Ortschaft Marchovelette, a village and a few of the parachutists were alive.

The plane had been in use since November 1969.

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Helicopter Crashes in Washington Park

update:
Survivor eighteen year old Jordan Wells critical at Boston Hospital where she was operated through the night Sunday, which alleviated fears that they might have to amputate one or both of her legs. When Ashley Younger (the other victim) never showed up, Younger’s mother probed the hospital staff, learned the helicopter had been rerouted to Andrews Air Force Base. The three women rushed there only to find that no helicopter had landed, so they returned to the hospital where they found Wells rushed through on a gurney. In spite of asking ‘Where’s my daughter? Where’s Ashley?’ ” no one told her that her daughter had died on the scene. The medical helicopter was carrying victims of a Saturday night traffic accident when it went down around midnight.

What: American Eurocopter Dauphin II
Where: Helicopter left its hanger at Andrews Air Force Base. suburban Washington park in a wooded area of Walker Mill Regional Park off of Ritchie Road.
When: Sunday
Who: Killed in the crash besides Bunker were Trooper First Class Mickey Lippy, EMT-B Tonya Mallard of the Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department and Ashley Younger, a 17-year-old who was the second victim from the Waldorf car accident.
Why: The helicopter was transporting car crash victims to the hospital. One eighteen year old crash victim survived both the car crash and the helicopter crash, and was transported to the hospital in critical condition.

On the twenty-five mile trip from the traffic accident to the hospital the flight was diverted due to bad weather. On approach to the runway, the pilot radioed that he was having trouble assessing his surroundings. Under deteriorating weather conditions, the pilot had requested an instrument approach and reported problems “capturing the glide slope”. The glide slope is the part of the instrument landing system that helps keep the aircraft at the proper altitude during the approach. It appears the helicopter first hit a tree at about 80 feet above the ground. The chopper landed on its left side with a tree crashing down on top of the helicopter.

Accident victim Jordan Wells, 18, survived the crash and is at a hospital in critical condition

The law enforcement agency’s helicopter fleet has been grounded until further notice.


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LOT Polish Airlines Flight Returns to Warsaw due to Engine Vibrations

LOT Polish Airlines flight LO-6523 made an emergency landing in Warsaw, Poland, on February 27th.

The Boeing 787-800 plane took off for Mauritius, but had to turn back due to engine vibrations.

The plane landed safely after burning off excess fuel. Everyone aboard remained unharmed.

The airline arranged a replacement plane for the passengers.

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Southwest Airlines: Hole in fuselage


Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact Photographer Tim Perkins

What: Southwest Airlines 737 en route from Nashville to Baltimore
Where: Charleston’s Yeager Airport
When: 6:30 p.m Monday July 13
Who: 126 passengers and five crew
Why: While en route, the cabin depressurized when a hole (metal fatigue?) approximately the size of a football appeared in the fuselage. The plane managed to land safely in Charleston West Virginia. The NTSB is investigating.

(News photos don’t look football sized, but it is sure big enough to see plenty of daylight through.)

George’s Point of View

The 737 is a true workhorse, built to land and takeoff almost without too much delay except to load and unload passengers.

I fly Southwest to Las Vegas all the time. It’s a short hop.

I must admit, that every time I fly in one of these planes I have begun to worry about the age and/or the fatigue of the structure. A trip like one from LA to Vegas, most times, is a beating on the passengers and the plane itself. My guess is that 4 out of 5 of these short trips encounter turbulence, sometimes bad turbulence. This beats up the plane. In this case, the plane being beaten up was manufactured in 1994. That’s a lot of years of turbulence abuse. Metal fatigue in these conditions is not surprising, and neither is it completely unexpected. An inspection on this plane last January revealed eight cracks in the frame that required repairs.

I’m just glad it was a BOEING, and that the pilot remained in control of the aircraft. And of course, it’s a good thing that Southwest is now inspecting all of their planes for fatigue. Last year Southwest was fined $7.5 million for overdue inspections. I hope this is not going to be a repeat of last year. All the timely inspections in the world aren’t going to make this plane any younger. Maybe it’s time to put this particular plane out to pasture.

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Helicopter Crash In Germany Kills 4


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Contact photographer András Mihalik

What: Robinson R44 helicopter, Austrian registration OE-XKS en route from Augsburg – EDMA, Germany to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Airport- LOWS, Salzburg, Austria
Where: Teisendorf, Germany
When: June 9, 2012
Who: 4 fatalities
Why: Moments after the pilot told ATC he would be making an precautionary landing 15 km from their destination, ATC lost contact with the aircraft, and the helicopter crashed into trees and mountaneous terrain, bursting into flames near Teisendorf, Germany.

The pilot and three passengers on board the helicopter were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The foreign, non-scheduled cross-country flight originated at Worms, Germany, and was en route to Salzburg, Austria.

At 1520, the weather conditions at Salzburg, Austria, 12 miles east-southeast of the accident was wind 200 degrees at 3 knots, few clouds at 500 feet, broken ceiling at 6000 feet, visibility 6 miles, rain, temperature 57 degrees Fahrenheit (F). The German government is investigating.

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