What: single-engine Trinidad TB-20 registration N654GT en route from Montgomery, Ala., to North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines
Where: just outside Pavo, Ga
When: Thursday August 27, 2009 wreckage found at 12:30 p.m August 28
Who: pilot/owner Robert F. Moreland and passenger Michael Villanueva
Why: The pilot had filed no flight plan, and bad weather hampered the search efforts. The plane crashed in a wooded area. We will be looking for updates on the cause.
George’s Point of View
Condolences to the families and to the Seminole tribe
The Caboolture Airfield plane crash happened on Sunday, 22nd March 2014, and killed all 5 on-board including Rahi Hohua, and her fiancé Joey King.
Rahi, 27 and Joey, 32 were engaged to marry, and had six children. The trip was Joey’s gift to his fiancée.
A couple of hours before the crash, Joey updated a social media status, disclosing his fear of skydiving. Within hours of tragedy, Joey’s worried friends returned to Facebook hoping that the plane that crashed was not their friends’.
A small plane crashed into homes in a suburban area of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 19.
The aircraft took off from Campo de Marte Airport and ploughed into the homes shortly after.
All seven people aboard the plane were killed in the crash.
The cause of the crash has not been reported yet.
Pictured: France: Ballongruppe Sky-Birds Kubicek Balloons BB-45; please note that this French attempt at a world record has no connection with this crash in China
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
photographer Pierre Cester
What: Dongguan Meixiang Aviation Club hot air balloon originating in Yangshuo County
Where: Maling Township, Lipu County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
When: 14-OCT-2009
Who: 4 fatalities 7 occupants
Why: The pilots lost control of the balloon after it took off. The balloon flew to Maling county where it caught fire. Two pilots and one tourist survived the crash. Two Dutch couples died.
All Balloon touring businesses were shut down after the incident pending safety review.
A 4-seater Cessna plane, heading to Hwange National Parks, crashed near Lupinyu business center close to Victoria Falls Airport, Zimbabwe, in the afternoon of August 11.
According to the officer commanding Victoria Falls police, Jairos Chiwona, “The crash happened a few minutes after take-off from the airport. The pilot communicated that he was turning back soon after the take-off because the plane was having engine problems.”
Three people aboard the plane, including 2 Australian tourists and a German pilot, suffered critical injuries. They were transported to Chinotimba Medical Centre and Victoria Falls District Hospital.
The names of the victims have not yet been released.
March coverage included the news of Central District of California U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess dismissing the case against McDonnell Douglas (and component manufacturers) because he believed the litigation of the airline crash case should be moved to Spain. Spanair Flight JK 5022, the deadliest Spanish accident in the last 20 years, killed 154 people (18 survivors) when it crashed just after takeoff at the Barajas Airport in Madrid.
Here is the problem:
In Spain, Spainair filed for a delay which was granted, and now, criminal proceedings have pre-empted civil proceedings, which now makes the Madrid case stuck in Spanish suspended animation.
Families believe that this new development should allow their case to be reconsidered in US Courts.
Suspending civil proceedings until criminal proceedings are concluded could extend the length of time it takes the aviation case to complete. Aviation cases normally take a long time to settle anyway)
According to forum non conveniens, the court court can dismiss a case where another court or forum is better suited to hear the case. (Plaintiffs refer to another Spanair crash case which took eleven years to settle.)
The judge’s decision was based on his opinion that that private and public interest factors weigh in favor of shifting the litigation to Spain. But now that the case will be delayed indefinitely pending the judiciary of Spain’s criminal case, the interest of the families who were affected by the crash has in effect been swept aside.
How is that in anyone’s best interest? Why must the victims’ justice wait on Spain looking at two maintenance personnel have been charged with negligent homicide?
The judge cited “drawbacks associated with translating the cockpit voice recording” but, as Boeing was a technical adviser to the U.S. investigative team, and downloads, transcripts and the cockpit voice recorder are part of evidence already secured in the United States which cannot be secured in Spain.
Plaintiffs argue that family members were injured or died because of problems with the wing slats and flaps (component failure). The facts support the case being tried in US Courts.
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