A small plane flipped over during take off at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia, on March 26th.
Authorities said the Cessna 172 Skyhawk aircraft was carrying two people when it overturned and caught fire.
Both occupants of the plane were taken to hospital where one of them succumbed to his injuries.
The cause of accident is being investigated.
What: Beechcraft A36TC Bonanza 36 en route from Albany Int’l Airport
Where: Clifton Park, NY
When: August 15, 2012, 7:30 a.m.
Who: 2 aboard, 1 fatality, 1 injury
Why: After taking off, the plane stalled 12 miles north of Albany. The plane crashed in a suburb. passenger Walter F. Uccellini and his business partner, Jim Quinn were aboard. Uccellini died in the crash; Quinn suffered head trauma and was hospitalized at Albany Medical Center.
The plane landed stopped between trees and did not strike any buildings. Quinn may have been attempting to land on the road. Before the land became a subdivision, it was an emergency landing field.
It is a strange, sad phenomenon how tragedies live on.
On August 31, 1986, a Piper and a Douglas DC-9-32 collided over Cerritos California. The Piper, carrying the pilot and two passengers was going from Torrence to Big Bear. They departed Torrence at 11:46. The DC-9 from Mexico City was approaching Los Angeles with 58 passengers and 6 crew aboard. At 11:52 am, the DC-9’s left horizontal stabilizer sheared through the Piper’s cockpit like a can-opener.
The Piper crashed in the Cerritos Elementary School playground; the DC-9 in a Cerritos neighborhood destroying five houses, damaging seven more and killing an additional 15 on the ground.
Descriptions of the collision still fill me with horror.
The accident predates some of the precautionary measures we have now. Now, the Piper would have a Mode C transponder, which would indicate that it was too high, breeching LAX Terminal Control area; LAX was not at that time equipped with automatic warning systems.
It has been twenty-five years since that accident happened. A memorial ceremony now is being held commemorating the tragedy in the Cerritos Sculpture Garden, and another in Loreto, Mexico. The tragedy is being remembered by at least 30 US families, 20 Mexican families, in at least one home in Colombia, and one in El Salvador. It is being remembered in the neighborhood the wreckage demolished, where families neither need nor want a plaque to remind them of their loss.
There is a reminder of this crash in every light plane, and every jet. In fact, everyone who flies now, everyone who has flown and not died in a crash owes a debt to the victims of this senseless tragedy, because this was the event that spurred the FAA to require “Mode C” transponders that could report three-dimensional positioning on light aircraft. This was the event that spurred the FAA to require TCAS on airliners.
I still live to breathe the smoggy air of Los Angeles. And as long as I still have the breath of life, I will remember the day when these 82 souls breathed their last.
Aviation tragedies shatters lives like broken glass, and there is no lawsuit, no settlement, no “all the kings horses, nor all the kings men” who can ever put families back together again.
What: Táxi Aéreo Hercules Piper PA-31T2 Cheyenne II XL
Where: Almirante Tamandaré, Paraná Brazil
When: Nov 6, 2012
Who: 4 aboard, 4 fatalities
Why: The Táxi Aéreo Hercules Piper left Dourados for the Bacacheri Airport, in Curitiba with the pilot, copilot and two passengers. Táxi Aéreo operates out of Bacacheri Airport. The flight was chartered for Brinks and was carrying money.
One security personnel named Wilmar survived the crash and was taken to Hospital do Trabalhador where he later died.
The plane crashed fifteen miles short of its destination.
Seripa (Serviço Regional de Investigação e Prevenção de Acidentes Aeronáuticos) is investigating. Currently no cause for the accident has been released.
A Thai military helicopter crashed into a field in Muang district, Phayao province of Thailand on November 17.
The Bell 212 helicopter, heading from an army base in Phayao to Chiang Rai province, crashed just about 10 minutes into the flight.
There were 9 people aboard, including the Deputy Third Army Area commander, Maj Gen Songpon Thongjeen. According to the deputy army spokesperson Sirichan Ngathong, all 9 people aboard the ill-fated chopper were killed.
The cause of crash is not clear at the moment.
Yamal Airlines flight YC-9773 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Tyumen, Ural, Russia, on March 14.
The Boeing 737-400, en-route from Ufa to Noyabrsk, Russia, was mid-air when the crew detected power supply problem, prompting the plane to divert to Tyumen.
The plane landed uneventfully.
All 154 passengers and 6 crew members remained safe.
The incident is under investigation.
