Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Bill Shull
What: Mesa Airlines Canadair CRJ-700 en route from Portland to Chicago
Where: South Bend
When: July 22 2011
Who: 57 passengers
Why: Some time after taking off from Portland, the flight developed hydraulic issues. The pilots diverted to South bend, and made a safe landing.
Passengers were provided transport to Chicago via bus.
What: Cessna 172
Where: North Bend, Washington
When: Feb 15, 2012
Who: 3 fatalities
Why: Around 2 a.m. a King County resident heard the sputtering engine of a plane in distress, and called in a 911. Deputies on foot patrol heard the sound of a crash in the same area. The FAA picked up the emergency beacon (transponder). Emergency teams were using portable emergency locator receivers to follow the beacon to find the crash site. At 4:15 a.m., the King County’s Guardian One helicopter crew with night vision goggles assisted in discovering the fuselage from a single-engine Cessna 172 near a sheer face of Little Si mountain. The bodies of three individuals were found by teams of rescue hikers traveling about a mile by foot from the local base of operations.
Two men and a woman were found. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said the flight was not in contact with ATC.
Two of the three people killed in the small plane crash on Mount Si were swim coaches in King County. 31-year-old “Coach Seth” Dawson’s memorial was held Thursday night. Federal Way’s Decatur High School swim coach, Rob Hill was also killed in the crash, as well as Liz Redling. Hill was pursuing his commercial pilot’s license.
There may have been ground fog at the time of the crash.
A military aircraft had to divert and make an emergency landing at Yokota Air Base, Fussa, Japan, on September 15th.
The KC-135 Stratotanker was on its routine mission when it encountered some complications mid-air, forcing the pilot to divert.
The plane landed uneventfully.
No one was injured.
What: Skyranger II, a home built single-engine kit plane
Where: nose down in a soybean field in York County SC in a very rural area near the Chester County line along East Chappel Road near Horse Road
When: crashed between 10:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Thursday
Who: 51-year-old Theodore Hargett of Rock Hill
Why: Cause is unknown. The pilot had not long owned the Skyranger and was inexperienced.
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Matthew I. Smith
What: TAM Linhas Aereas Airbus A330-200 en route from Sao Paulo Brazil to Buenos Aires Argentina
Where: Sao Paulo
When: Dec 1st 2009
Who: 169 passengers
Why: After takeoff, the plane experienced hydraulics failure. The crew decided to return to the airport. The Airbus landed safely, although it had to be towed from runway 09L.
What: Republic Airlines Embraer ERJ-170 en route from Omaha to Milwaukee
Where: Milwaukee
When: Apr 3 2010
Why: While en route, the flight encountered turbulence that injured a flight attendant. The flight made a safe landing, without further injury.
Contact photographer Galen Burrows
What: Air Canada Jazz de Havilland Dash 8-100, en route from Sudbury to Pearson,ON
Where: Sudbury
When: May 12th 2009 21:07 (eighteen minutes)
Who: 21 on board
Why: While en route, the oil pressure and ITT indicators came on for engine number two just before it made a big “bang.” The pilot shut down engine two and returned to Sudbury for a safe landing
George’s Point of View