wrongful death

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    Chinese Cargo Flight Runway Excursion in Taiwan

    China Airlines Cargo Boeing 747-409F was en route from Abu Dhabi to Taipei when it suffered runway excursion on landing. The right landing gear went off the runway on landing, damaging runway lights, a taxi light and tires. The gear left a track of 570 feet

    The airport advance team measured, tested the aircraft, performed preliminary interviews with the pilot, removed the CVR FDR and collected data. The preliminary report is being developed according to http://www.asc.gov.tw/asc_ch/news_list_2.asp?news_no=530

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    MH370: One Ping Does Not A Discovery Make. Or Does it?

    An underwater locator beacon (ULB) such as the one on the black boxes (CVR) Cockpit Voice Recorder and FDR (Flight Data Recorder) of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 37.5 kHz for about 30 days at 4°C temperature. They run on lithium-ion batteries, and “mileage” may vary; 30 days is the minimum expectation. This is all relevant to today’s news because the Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 which is one of the ships equipped with a pinger locator, has heard a ping in the South Indian Ocean.

    The particular frequency was selected because it is not one that occurs in nature.

    Although Malaysia Airlines told the public that “This battery is not replaceable,” the ULB batteries had been scheduled for battery replacement in 2012, but were not replaced by Dukane Seacom, the original equipment manufacturer of the beacons. (Dukane Seacom either replaces the entire pinger or installed new batteries.) If replacement was not performed by toe OEM or other parties, the actual ping time may be less than 30 days.

    One ping in an ocean does not a discovery make. The wreckage has not been located, nor the ping confirmed. But we can still hope this is a step in the right direction.

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    Guatemala Plane Crash Kills 2 Americans

    GuatemalaA fatal plane crash in Guatemala killed two Americans on Tuesday April 1, 2014.

    The Cessna T210L Turbo Centurion #L732JY crashed into a mountain in El Carrizal village, Esquipulas Palo Gordo municipality, San Marcos department of Guatemala, located some 250 km towards west of Guatemala City.

    The spokesman for the Departmental Municipal Firefighters, Cecilio Chacaj said that the plane was flying from Tapachula, Mexico and was headed to Roatan Honduras. According to Chacaj, “the accident could have been a mechanical failure or due to the poor visibility that was in the area where the plane crashed. It is an area where there is heavy fog and rain at the time of the accident,” He identified the deceased as George St. John, 65, and Sinchuc Cole, 58. The dead bodies have still not been recovered as the there is no land access to the crash site.

    The rescue personnel said that the details about the victims could not be found as they had U.S. Passports. The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala maintains that they are trying to confirm the identity of the victims.

     
    Corrections:
    * A subscriber to this blog has said that the victims were George and Colleen Simchuk, who lived in Dover, close to Sandpoint ID.

    They were flying to Honduras and Guatemala for the purpose of conducting a volunteer pilot work assignment in making aerial surveys to assess deforestation and other environmental issues in the Central American area.

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    Air France Airbus Flight Cancelled

    On March 2, 2013, an Airbus A380 (flight 275) scheduled to fly from Narita International Airport to Paris aborted a takeoff on runway 34L at Tokyo-Narita. The takeoff was delayed because of a nose gear problem, and subsequently towed to the gate. After maintenance, the takeoff was rescheduled but aborted a second time because of the same trouble, canceling the flight. None of the 537 aboard were injured.

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    President Rafael Correa’s Helicopter Crashes


    A HAL Dhruv helicopter flown by the Ecuadorian Air Force, the president’s helicopter, crashed at Chimborazo in Equador while en route from Guayaquil to Quito.

    Three people (Lieutenant Jorge Luis, Sargent H. Cristian and Captain C. Hector) aboard the plane died. The pilot Captain P. Fabian survived.

    Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa was not aboard.

    The director of communications of the Ecuadorian Air Force confirmed the bodies of the Chimborazo helicopter crash victims will be transferred to Quito.

    The crash is under investigation.

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    Military Air Ambulance Crashes

    On Friday Feb 21, 2014, a Libyan military Antonov 26 transport #5A-DOW crashed in Tunisia killing 11 including two injured civilians, three escorts and five crew and one doctor.

    A fire broke out on the helicopter. No report has been provided to indicate if the fire was before or after the air ambulance’s ground impact.

    The vehicle was en route to Tunis-Carthage Airport and apparently crashed on approach.

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    Turbulence: Rough Ride on United Airlines

    United Boeing 737-700 #N23708 en route from Denver to Billings had 114 passengers and 5 crew when it encountered turbulence. The tower reported winds at “200 at 2-8 gust 3-6.”

    Fifteen minutes outside of landing, three crew and two passengers sustained injury. According to interviews, one flight attendant struck the ceiling, and also a passenger. An infant flew out of its parents arms and landed on a seat when it felt like the plane dropped. Passengers complained of inadequate feedback from the airline.

    Pilots declared an emergency; and after they landed safely with emergency services on standby, they taxied to the gate. The flight attendant who struck the ceiling knocked out a ceiling panel and suffered a bleeding wound for which “medical attention at the gate” was requested. One flight attendant is in intensive care.

    One passenger in the video below says it felt like the plane was “hit from the bottom.” At that point, loose items in the cabin were disturbed.

    In George’s Point of View

    We can only hope that one day they will have a fix for turbulence. This is terrible.

    See Videos Below


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    UPS Flight 1354 Agenda and Media Logistics for Investigative Hearing


    The National Transportation Safety Board today released the agenda for the investigative hearing on the ongoing investigation into the Aug. 14, 2013 crash of UPS Airlines flight 1354, an Airbus A300-600, on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala.

    The hearing will be held February 20 at the NTSB’s Board Room and Conference Center at 429 L’Enfant Plaza SW in Washington and begins at 8:30 a.m.

    Hearing witnesses, including representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration, Airbus, UPS Airlines, Independent Pilots Association and the Transport Workers Union will testify and answer questions from NTSB Board members, technical staff, and parties about non-precision approaches, human factors and flight dispatch issues. The agenda, list of panel witnesses, biographies and other related information is available at the hearing event page at http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2014/ups1354_hearing/index.html

    Investigative exhibits for the hearing will be placed in the electronic docket at the start of the hearing and will also be available on the hearing event page once the hearing begins.

    NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman will be available to answer questions from the media at the conclusion of the hearing. Additional details about the availability will be included in an advisory on Wednesday.

    Television coverage of the proceedings will be by network pool provided by CNN. Escorted cutaway for video media will be permitted for brief periods throughout the hearing. Still photographers will be permitted in the seating area of the Board Room and by escort to areas in front of the witness panels.

    Because of construction at and around L’Enfant Plaza, satellite and other media trucks will have to check in for parking and running cable through the construction zone. Please RSVP to eric.weiss@ntsb.gov by Feb. 19. Media access to the Board Room is available beginning at 7:30 a.m.

    A media room is also available with tables, chairs and an audio mult box. Generally-accepted media credentials will be required for access to the media room. In addition, a fully equipped overflow room has been established and will serve as a storage area for video equipment during the hearing.

    Seating for the general public in the Board Room is on a first-come, first-served basis. The hearing will be webcast live. Access to the webcast can be found at www.ntsb.gov.

    ===
    The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled an investigative hearing on February 20 into the crash of a UPS Airbus A300-600 on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 14, 2013.

    The two flight crew members were killed and the airplane was destroyed when it impacted the ground less than a mile short of Runway 18. The cargo flight had originated from Louisville, Ky. Runway 18 was being used because the main runway at the airport was closed for repairs at the time of the airplane’s arrival.

    The one-day hearing will examine:

    Execution of non-precision approaches, including initial and recurrent training, adherence to standard operating procedures, and proficiency
    Human factors issues associated with effective crew coordination and resource management applicable to this accident, including decision-making, communication, fatigue and fitness for duty, as well as monitoring and cross-checking, policies, standard operating procedures, guidance, and training provided to UPS crewmembers.
    Dispatch procedures, including the training, evaluation, roles and responsibilities of UPS dispatchers and the limitations of dispatch-related software.
    The investigation is ongoing and this hearing will develop additional facts to support the investigation. The hearing will be held in the NTSB Board Room and Conference Center in Washington, D.C. A detailed agenda and a list of attendees will be forthcoming.

    Parties to the hearing will include the Federal Aviation Administration, UPS, Airbus, the Independent Pilots Association and the Transport Workers Union. The accredited representative from the French Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile (BEA) will participate on the technical panels.

    The determination of the probable cause of the crash will be released when the investigation is complete. Just prior to the start of the hearing, the public docket will be opened. Included in the docket are photographs, interview transcripts and other documents.

    ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    NTSB public events are also streamed live via webcast. Webcasts are archived for a period of three months from the time of the meeting. Webcast archives are generally available by the end of the event day for public Meetings, and by the end of the next day for Technical conferences.

    If you wish to obtain a copy of NTSB meetings, please contact the NTSB Records Management Division at (202) 314-6551 or 800-877-6799. You may also request this information from the NTSB web site or write the following: National Transportation Safety Board, Records Management Division (CIO-40), 490 L’Enfant Plaza, SW,Washington, DC 20594.

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    Telluride Crash kills three pilots


    At 11:20 a.m. Sunday, three pilots were en route from Telluride Regional Airport to Cortez, Colorado. After the Arizona Cloudbusters Inc Beechcraft 35-33 Debonair “disappeared,” the Civil Air Patrol instituted a search and found the wreckage a mile from the airport. Sherry Anderson, 57, and Sherman Anderson, 64, of Phoenix, and Eric Durban, 48, of Mesa, died in the single-engine plane crash. There was light snow, one mile visibility and light wind at the time of takeoff. Shortly after takeoff, the plane impacted mountainous terrain then caught fire.

    The Andersons were commercial pilots. Durban was a military pilot. They were members of Arizona Cloudbusters Flying Club.

    Their last communication was with Telluride airport on takeoff at 12:40p.m. which is when ATC instituted the search. The plane was spotted at 5:17 pm.

    An investigation is underway.

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    Wellington Florida Plane Crash


    A Sonex, a two-seat homebuilt kit plane crashed into a lake at Greenbriar Dog Park a mile from Wellington Aero Club, killing the one person aboard the plane. The pilot, Leonard “Link” McGarity had been practicing “touch and goes” The accident occurred on Feb 17 in the morning. By 12:55 rescue crews were on the scene but unable to assist as the pilot died at the scene. McGarity was a longtime professional pilot who flew for American Airlines and Marine helicopters, and had a residence at Wellington Aero Club.

    Prior to the crash, witnesses heard the plane sputter.

    The Wellington Aero Club is a community built around a runway. A neighbor who is a seasoned aviator was quoted saying of McGarity, “If this happened to him, it’s something wrong with the plane, not him. He knew what he was doing.”

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    Two Hawker Siddeley Accidents in one week

    A Hawker Siddeley 748 en route from Juba International Airport to Rubkona crashed in the Sudan. The plane had a crew of four and crashed while on a humanitarian mission.

    The cargo was a total loss. Reports are that there were fatalities and survivors in the crash but details haven’t been released.

    On Feb 12, another Hawker Siddeley HS-125-700B operated by Sirius-Aero with two crew flew out from Sheremetyevo to Vnukova Airport on a ferry flight. The pilots realized that the right hand main landing gear was not operating and notified ATC. They made a safe landing on foam. In that flight, neither pilot sustained injury but one wing of the plane sustained some damage.

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    Dulles Crew Finds Dead Stowaway

    A South African Airways Airbus A340 at Dulles International Airport flew from Johannesburg, South Africa to Dakar, Senegal to Virginia with an extra passenger. Crew discovered the body in the wheel well on Thursday. FBI, U.S. customs, border patrol, fire and rescue crews and Dulles police responded to the scene. Fairfax County Medical Examiner’s Office has custody of the body.

    See the Videos


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    Overland Suffers Smoke


    On Feb 8, 2013, an Overland Airways ATR-72 flight OJ1175 from Abuja to Ibadan, Nigeria, suffered engine issues with smoke pouring from one engine. Passengers saw the smoke which started a panic, and they evacuated through the emergency exit.

    There were no injuries reported.

    The passengers remained in Abuja awaiting a replacement plane.

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is investigating.

    This picture displays why the passengers were panicked. Words alone don’t do it justice, do they?

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    Pegasus “Sochi Olympics” Hijack Attempt


    On Feb 7 2014, on a Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-86J en route from Kharkov to Istanbul, the 45-year-old passenger seated in “2F” hollered “BOMB!” threatened there was a bomb in the baggage compartment and wanted to hijack the plane to go to the Sochi Olympics. His attempt to enter the cockpit was foiled. When pilots entered Turkish airspace, they informed authorities.

    An F-16 Turkish military fighter jet was called to provide an escort.

    The flight landed in Istanbul (on the Asian side of the airport where Pegasus has its hub) where the Ukrainian man was taken into custody.

    There was no bomb. None of the 110 passengers were hurt.

    The passenger was just intoxicated.

    Videos Below

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    AI Tires Blown

    On Feb 2, Air India Flight AI-191, a Boeing 777-337ER, en route from Ahmedabad to Mumbai blew three tires on landing. The crew was able to taxi to the gate with assistance. No injuries to the 260 passengers resulted from the blown tires, and there were no reports of injuries using the emergency exits.

    The AI flight’s eventual destination was the US. Passengers continuing their journey were provided an alternative Boeing 777.

    THere’s no indication if the tires blew do to the runway surface, tire quality, a hard landing or other reason. The incident is under investigation.

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    Disgruntled Ryanair Passengers

    A Rabat to Paris flight is usually two and a half hours long.

    But on a Ryanair flight from Rabat, Morocco, to Paris a passenger became sick and the crew diverted to Madrid. Because of noise restrictions, the crew had to land in Nantes instead of Paris, and had to overnight there.

    Somewhere between Rabat and Nantes, passengers angry at being in the plane for seven hours, took food and drinks and were hostile to the flight crew.

    Personnel in Nantes said the Ryanair passengers were behaving in an “animal and barbaric fashion.” Apparently police were called but nothing was done.

    A hotel was provided in Nantes. The passengers did finally make it to Paris via bus.

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    Viral Video Pilot’s Engagement Cut Short in Cachoeira do Sul


    Last month, Arthur Demetrio must have been full of hope and good news when he took his girlfriend Thays Pereira da Cruz flying, and asked her to marry him by having his parents hold up banners saying “Thays Marry me” in an airfield in Cachoeira do Sul Brazil.

    See the proposal here

    I wish this were the end of the story.

    This Wednesday, Demetrio spoke to his fiancée Thays on the phone.
    Later that day, his Cessna 140 aircraft was flying out of the airfield where he proposed.

    He crashed in Cachoeira do Sul.

    His student Darlan Kabata dos Santos, 31, and he both died. There was almost no warning, though Demetrio had time to tell ATC he was having plane trouble, something about the elevator, which controls the nose of the plane.

    Officials informed his fiancée; she was the first to know. The family is devastated.

    Arthur Demetrio will be buried in Santa Catarina, where he is from.

    The accident is under investigation.

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    Utility Crew Perish in Cable Connection

    The DBS Helicopters Bell 206L-3 LongRanger III helicopter in Silt, Colorado, that got tangled in power cables doing Holy Cross Energy powerline inspections crashed, killing the pilot and crew.

    The accident occurred at 11:20 a.m. where the shared Holy Cross and Xcel Energy power lines cross Dry Hollow Road about 1.6 miles south of Silt. There were witnesses who saw the accident and attempted to help.

    The poles that were being inspected were fifty feet high, and the helicopter was supposed to be flying thirty feet over that.

    The small fifty-foot debris field is on rough hilly terrain.

    Owner and chief pilot for DBS Helicopters, Doug Sheffer died in the accident. He had 22 years and 8,000 hours of flight time. Larry Shaffer who worked for Holy Cross Energy and Christopher Gaskill who worked for HotShot Infrared Inspections were also fatalities. They were filming the trouble spots along the route, and recording the locations on GPS.

    I do not want to diminish the tragedy of this accident by saying that helicopter accidents such as this are common, but I will say they happen too frequently, even when the pilot has significant experience flying in mountain terrain, and rescue.

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    Life Jacket with AirPocket Can Save Lives


    The Lifejacket Airpocket Plus (LAP) combined lifejacket and hybrid rebreather is a lifesaver. Imagine a life jacket that lets you breathe air. Genius, right? I’ve seen too many helicopter crashes to and from oil rigs. Some of those fatalities should be preventable. This hybrid life jacket would really come in handy to have on a Super Puma helicopter plunging into the North Sea, or the Gulf of Mexico. I hope I’m never in that situation, but if I am, you can bet I’ll be wearing one, and I’ll have read the directions.

    A couple of lives may not have been saved with it simply because of directions.

    A rebreather is an apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of exhaled breath to permit the recycling of available oxygen. The hybrid unit is a little something extra.

    The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) believes the instructions on how to use this device need to include the information that the rebreather has an air supply; so if someone is in the middle of drowning, they don’t have to be going down with a last breath of air. The rebreather already has some. It’s not like a scuba diving tank with loads of air, but hey, it’s a way to breathe if you’re submerged in a helicopter and don’t have gills. What if all you need is just enough air to keep you alive to get the seatbelt off, or to swim out of an opening? That’s some precious air, all right.

    So kudos to the revised pre-flight briefing material. Even if it is a knee-jerk reaction after another tragic helicopter crash, good idea AAIB.

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    Medical Plane Crash Leads to Resignations in Romania


    A medical rescue crew boarded a plane and left Bucharest for Oradea to pick up transplant organs from a patient who just passed away. But they became victims themselves.

    We have seen intensive searches for missing planes all over the globe; but here’s a medical rescue team aboard a BN-2A Islander who suffered tragedy in the accident when an inadequate search for their missing plane failed to reach the plane in time. Pilot Adrian Iovan and student Aurelia Ion died from severe injuries and cold. Authorities failed to find the site in the first six hours. The fallout from that failure has led to the resignation of political officials including Minister of Interior, Radu Stroe, Director General of Romatsa, Aleodor Frâncu and Chief of General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU), Ion Burlui. Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta dismissed state secretary Constantin Chiper, who was in charge of the rescue mission, and who should have coordinated the teams better.

    A doctor who survived Radu Zamfir said that he gave the emergency service his exact GPS location provided by a smartphone.

    Pilot Adrian Iovan died of internal bleeding and cold. AURELIA ION was an officer-student in the fifth year at the UMF Carol Davila, Military Medicine Institute in Bucharest and was also doing an internship at Fundeni Hospital.

    A ranger found the wreckage and initiated the rescue. Initially all aboard—four doctors, a nurse and two flight crew—were alive.

    Near Petreasa, Romania the airplane sustained substantial damage but the seven aboard initially survived. Near Poiana Horea, the plane had engine trouble. Pilot ADRIAN IOVAN tried to make an emergency landing, came down on a hillside in deep snow near Fântânele village near a lake.

    Video of Funeral: Romanian plane crash victim and medical student buried at Ghencea Military Cemetery in Bucharest

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    Experimental Crash in Brazil kills Deputy Mayor


    A small plane, an INPAER Explorer#PR-ZAL with three aboard was en route from Campos dos Amarais, Campinas to London but disappeared from radar while talking to ATC in Pirassununga Brazil at about ten on January 23rd. The experimental plane was registered but not certified, and barred from flying over populated areas.

    The Brazilian Air Force, Botucatu and São Manuel police forces were searching with a C-105 Amazonas, a H1 and an Eagle Helicopter, and found the remains of the passengers in dense forest, in a rugged area near Monte Alegre.

    The Squad of Campo Grande rescue team is on the scene.

    Locals who heard the failing engine, a roar and saw a flash of light in the woods notified authorities.

    The remains have been identified as:
    -Alderman and Deputy Mayor of Suzano (SP) Jessé Almeida,
    -Edson Geraldino, identified as owner of the plane.

    The identity of the third party, Rubens Geraldino, has not been confirmed by the family. The passengers (uncle and nephew) were from Mogi das Cruzes, SP, Brazil.

    Video Below

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    Blackhawk Lawsuit


    Photographer Clark Moody

    Benjamin Franklin-Poor Richard’s Almanac
    For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
    For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
    For want of a horse the rider was lost.
    For want of a rider the message was lost.
    For want of a message the battle was lost.
    For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
    And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

    I’m not a pilot or a helicopter designer. I’m not an aviation engineer, or an aviation mechanic. Not an Aeronautical Scientist, Aerospace Engineer or Aviation Safety Inspector.(Although I do have the resources of 500+ experts in my Anonymous Experts database. I don’t consider myself an expert but I quote the experts.) I’m not even a farrier who pounds nails into horses’ hooves. What I am is a guy who works with people who were in aviation crashes; and I haven’t a clue what a “yaw boost servo” is, but that’s what failed in a Black Hawk crash, injuring two people and killing two. The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk was owned by the US Army and crashed in Texas A&M College Station, TX.

    Someone in the Army performed a tedious and detailed technical readiness assessment to make the decision to purchase this Black Hawk in good faith.

    Someone was trusting that Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Sikorsky Support Services, United Technologies Corp., Parker-Hannifin Corp. and Parker Aerospace Group had all their ducks in a row, all the T’s crossed, all the i’s dotted. That is to say that all the helicopter designers, aviation engineers, aviation mechanics, Aeronautical Scientists, Aerospace Engineers and Aviation Safety Inspectors (and all the unnamed professionals of the aforementioned companies) who had brainstormed to create this marvel of engineering, then pushed it to its limits and found it to be without flaw. The helicopter was conceived by, designed by and built by companies who have convinced the world that they know helicopters better than anyone else alive. No one knows more than they how important those tests are.

    There were indications of problems long before the flight. I glanced online 2005 notices of the coast guard seeking sources for the servos repair—servos to be used on the Sikorsky H-60 class helicopter. One match does not a conflagration make, but I only looked online for about ten seconds.

    The short story: the crew took off in the helicopter, and then it spun to the left until it wrecked. Can you imagine how helpless the pilot and copilot felt? How helpless the two crew who could do nothing? There was that moment aboard when some of them or all of them realized the helicopter was probably going to kill them.

    So the “yaw boost servo” contributed to the pilots being unable to control the helicopter. The loss of control and crash were due to the failure of a part. It’s that old thing—kingdom lost for want of a nail.

    A couple of people on that helicopter survived. One of them, Matthew J. Smith filed a lawsuit Jan. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas against Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Sikorsky Support Services, United Technologies Corp., Parker-Hannifin Corp. and Parker Aerospace Group, citing negligence, seeking damage over $100,000. That’s a lot of money for want of a nail. But our armed forces are risking their lives. They need the most reliable equipment—100,000 will not be nearly enough.

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    Southwest Flight Lands at Wrong Airport; Pilots Suspended

    The pilots who flew flight 4013 (Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700) and landed at the wrong airport nine miles from the correct airport on Sunday have been suspended. Yes, they landed safely but at the wrong airport. Hello. The PIC and copilot have a combined flight experience of twenty-six years. Guess they weren’t (as the video says) “paying attention.”

    Nothing for the passengers to worry their pretty little heads about.
    Please note the above line is sarcasm.

    Southwest Airlines said:

    “The Southwest Airlines Pilot in command of flight #4013 safely landed at (PLK) Taney County airport this evening. The Boeing 737-700 carried 124 Customers and a crew of five and was operating as a scheduled flight from Chicago Midway to Branson.

    Our ground crew from the Branson airport has arrived at the airport to take care of our Customers and their baggage. The landing was uneventful, and all Customers and Crew are safe.”

    The runway was half as long as normal, the plane stopping three hundred feet short of the drop off at the runway’s end.

    The PIC was cleared to land at Branson, right before it nailed the landing at M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport.

    So we’re all waiting for the investigation to hear the answers to why it happened, why the co-pilot didn’t catch the mistake (or maybe he did?), if confusion between Branson and Southwest is a common thing, and all those other questions that come up.

    See Videos Below

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    Three Soldiers and Two Civilians Die in Colombian Helicopter Accident

    On JAN 9 2014, a Sociedad Aeronáutica de Santander (SASA) Bell 206L-3 LongRanger
    # HK-4462 en route from Puerto Berrío to Anori was north of Anori, Colombia when it suffered controlled flight into terrain, striking a mountain. No one aboard survived the impact. Three soldiers and two civilians died on the 9th when the helicopter went missing.

    The Seventh Division of the National Army had made a public statement that the aircraft, affiliated with the Aeronautical Society of Santander was “transporting a priest and military personnel assigned to the Fourteenth Brigade”.

    The helicopter crew failed to check in on Thursday afternoon and was located on Friday in rural Anori. Fatalities were two soldiers, one police, one military priest and the pilot.

    Director of the Department of Care andPrevention of Disasters César Hernández confirmed the fatalities.

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    Mishaps of the day

    Some events that happened today:

    • December 16, 2013, on JetBlue Flight 836#N661JB, the Airbus A320 arrived at the gate at JFK airport, New York, and the left wing struck the jet bridge. There was only minor damage and no injuries reported.
    • In Farmington NY on December 17, 2013, a Piper PA28#N43080 engine caught fire when the plane started up. The fire was extinguished, with unknown damage.
    • December 16, 2013, a Lancair/235#N15TG landing at John’s Island Charleston SC, when the nose gear collapsed. Minor damage was reported.
    • December 16, 2013, a Cessna/172 #N421ER was taxiing when the wing struck a light pole. The accident occurred in Wickenburg Arizona. Minor damage was reported.
    • December 16, 2013, an experimental plane, a Zenith 601#N581SL crashed in Leakey Texas under unknown conditions.