February 9, 2016 - EARTH - Here are the latest incidents of plane crashes across the planet.
Two pilots killed as Pakistan Army jet crashes near Gujranwala
Two pilots died on Tuesday after a Pakistan Army training aircraft Mushaq crashed near Gujranwala, Express News reported.The pilots were identified as Major Azhar and Captain Ahmad, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
The jet fighter was on a routine training session when the tragic incident occurred that resulted in the immediate death of the pilots flying the jet.
Earlier in August 2015, as many as 12 army personnel were killed when their helicopter crashed near Mansehra.
In another similar incident in May 2015, the ambassadors of Norway and Philippines and six others were killed when an army helicopter crashed in Naltar area of Gilgit.
Meanwhile, President Mamnoon Hussain has expressed grief over the death of two pilots killed in the plane crash. - Tribune.
Former Sikorsky President Jeff Pino Killed In Arizona Plane Crash
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| Former Sikorsky president Jeff Pino, pictured here in this 2010 file photo (MARK RANDALL / Sun Sentinel) |
Pilot Jeffrey Pino, 61, was formerly the president of Sikorsky Aircraft, a Connecticut-based aircraft manufacturer. The second victim was identified as 72-year-old Nickolas Tramontano of Brookfield, Connecticut, Mark Clark of the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
"The Sikorsky family is saddened to learn of the sudden loss of former President Jeff Pino. We extend our heartfelt condolences and prayers of sympathy and support to his family and friends during this difficult time," current president Dan Schultz said in a statement posted on the company's website.
Schultz said Pino, who last lived in Chandler, Arizona, was Sikorsky's president from 2006 to 2012, during which he "brought personal energy and passion for aviation innovation to our industry."
"We remember Jeff as a leader, pioneer, innovator and advocate. May his family be comforted by the lasting impression and legacy Jeff has left behind," Schultz said. Last year, Lockheed Martin bought Sikorsky Aircraft, which, among other things, makes the U.S. military's Black Hawk helicopter, for $9 billion.
Preliminary information on the Friday crash indicated the plane was a P-51D Mustang, a type of single-engine American fighter used during World War II, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
The spokesman said the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash in Maricopa, which is about 35 miles south of Phoenix. - Courant.
No injuries in Gold Beach plane crash
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| Photo via Patrick Ferguson |
A witness says the plane slide about 50 feet, flipping it upside down after it came in to land too low.
Two people were on the plane, but officials say they walked away from the crash.
The airport was closed for 20 minutes following the crash. - KTVL.
Search continues for woman killed in plane crash off San Pedro
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| Divers recovering debris from the crash site. Courtesy Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department |
The crash occurred about 3:15 p.m. Friday, and a small debris field was found soon afterward. About 2 p.m. Sunday, the bodies of the two men were found about two miles outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The men, one 61 and the other 81, were believed to be in one plane and a woman was believed to have been piloting the second. She was identified by her husband as Mary Falstrom, 72, of Torrance.
Rich Falstrom told NBC4 that his wife had 25 years of experience as a pilot and was a flight attendant when she was younger.
“I’m sure she was just doing her normal routine and apparently didn’t see the other plane, and they didn’t see her,” he told the station.
Mary Falstrom, who volunteered at the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance Municipal Airport, told her husband Friday that it was a perfect day to fly, the Daily Breeze reported.
“She ran in and said, ‘It’s a beautiful day, I have to go flying,”‘ Rich Falstrom told the newspaper, recalling the last conversation he would have with his wife of 24 years. “I said, “Have fun.”‘
The two men in the second plane were also from the South Bay area, a Coast Guard official said.
Their names were withheld pending family notification, according to the coroner’s office. However, one of the men was identified by friends as Martin Clement, a Catholic church deacon who worked as a financial planner.
The recovery efforts were being led by the Sheriff’s Emergency Services Detail, part of the Special Enforcement Bureau.
The remains and wreckage were located in county waters by a sheriff’s dive team with the assistance of Los Angeles Port Police, the Long Beach Police Department and county lifeguards.
The find came as a sheriff’s helicopter crew searched from the air while crews and divers aboard department boats searched on and below the ocean surface, said Capt. Jack Ewell of the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau.
“The search efforts were primarily underwater operations, utilizing three different types of sonar devices to search the ocean floor for wreckage,” Ewell said. “Remotely operated underwater vehicles were also deployed, along with divers.”
The wreckage of one plane and two victims were found in water 105 feet deep, Ewell said.
The men were aboard a Beech 35 Bonanza, and the woman was piloting a Citabria. Both aircraft were operated out of the Torrance Municipal Airport.
The crew of a fishing boat was the first to report a plane hitting the water on Friday.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash. - My NEWS LA.
Minor Injuries Reported in Small Plane Crash at Santa Barbara Airport
Emergency crews responded to a a small plane crash on the southwest end of the Santa Barbara airport Monday afternoon.The crash was reported at about 5:40 p.m. The non-commercial plane crashed in a slough area at the airport.
Rescuers say the pilot was the only one on board. He managed to get out of the wreckage on his own, but when he complained of back pain he was taken to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital.
A Santa Barbara Airport spokesperson said that the plane's relatively new engine failed at 300 feet after takeoff. The pilot glided the plane into the slough that connects to Goleta Beach.
The runway was closed briefly to allow emergency vehicles to safely maneuver to the crash site.
Airport operations manager Tracy Lincoln said not fuel was spilled. He credits the pilot for knowing what to do in an emergency.
The identity of the pilot has not been released and the wreckage has not yet been removed.
The NTSB is still investigating the cause of the incident. - KEYT.
3 missing after apparent small plane collision near LA
Two pilots and a passenger are missing after two planes apparently collided over the ocean just off Los Angeles. Dozens of people were called in for an overnight search operation.Two men aged 61 and 81 were aboard one of the planes, a Beechcraft 35, while the other one, a Super Decathlon, was piloted by a 72-year-old woman.
Both planes flew from the nearby Torrance Airport and went off radar just after their courses intersected in mid-air at about 3:30pm on Friday, the Coast Guard said.
Searchers found wreckage, including a pilot’s logbook and tail numbers from the Beechcraft plane. However no sign of the three missing people or the second aircraft was found.
The search operation for possible survivors is being conducted over a 200-square-mile area and is expected to continue throughout the night and into Saturday. Officials stated the water is warm enough for someone to survive overnight.
"We don't want to give up until we really feel that there's no chance of finding survivors,” Coast Guard Capt. Jennifer Williams said.
The nearest harbor entrance was closed to traffic while the search continued.
The crash site is near the Angels Gate light, a historic lighthouse at the San Pedro Breakwater. The area is popular with flight students. There were two similar collision incidents in 1986 and in 2001, although the former didn’t result in any fatalities as both aircraft managed to return to their airports. - RT.
Three die in Johannesburg plane crash in South Africa
A light aircraft has crashed in the South African city of Johannesburg, killing all three people on board, emergency officials have said. "Paramedics found the bodies of three people lying inside the aircraft," ER24 medical service told News24 website.
The plane crashed into shacks in Benoni, about 40km (25 miles) east of the city. Footage on social media show emergency services taking bodies away from the crash site.
The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in the city says incidents like this are not common in South Africa. The country has a very good record of air safety, she adds. - BBC.
Two men survive plane crash into Atlantic Ocean off Miami-Dade coast
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| Two people were rescued after a small plane went down in shallow ocean
water off Haulover Beach in northeast Miami-Dade, Aerial images showed a
small, fixed wing plane in about 20 to 25 feet of water not very far from shore off Collins Avenue and 108th Street. Credit: TheSamiJoShow |
Beachgoers in Miami witnessed a spectacular scene Tuesday when a Piper plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, lifeguards brought passengers safely to shore and salvage crews lifted the aircraft from the sea bottom and towed it toward land. The two men in the plane, which belongs to a Fort Lauderdale flight school, survived with minor injuries, officials said. Colombe Pelletier, 70, visiting North Miami Beach from Quebec, was sunbathing at Haulover Beach with her husband and friends and saw the plane approach the inlet.
"I said to my husband, 'That plane is very low,'" Pelletier said about the water landing she described as being very smooth and flat. "Immediately, the doors of the plane opened and two men were on the wing and pulled out two bags."
Miami-Dade Fire's Ocean Rescue Lifeguard Marcel Lopez, 40, was keeping watch from Tower 1 and noticed the Piper approaching from the south. "I knew it was going to crash," Lopez said of the aircraft, which ditched in the water at 11:47 a.m. The plane's propeller was going very slowly; Lopez said it seemed to have lost power.
Lopez ran down the tower stairs, grabbed a surfboard and rescue buoy and swam toward the men as they stood on the wings. The water was about 20 feet deep. Tidal currents can move at 8 mph or more through the inlet and near the jetties, Lopez said.
At about the same time, a boater used a VHF radio to report the crash to the U.S. Coast Guard, gave the plane's position and said it was already sinking. The pilot and passenger were identified Tuesday night as Juan Jose Ortiz Carrera, 20, from Ecuador, and Fabian Ignacia Bobadilla-Ruiz, 24, from Chile.
With one man on the surfboard and the second man holding onto the rescue buoy, Lopez got them to the water's edge. Lifeguard Daniel Gunder, also with Miami-Dade Fire's Ocean Rescue, helped get the second man to shore before the two were turned over to paramedics, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokeswoman Erika Benitez said. "We've had plenty of boats capsize and made many rescues, on both the surfboard and Jet Skis," said Lopez.
A lifeguard since 2000, this was his first plane crash. "I'm glad we have the training to respond and save people," Lopez said. He was unconcerned about possible dangers involved with a plane crash, such as fire or a sinking wreck. "By the time the whole thing is over, you don't think about it," Lopez said of the rescue, which he estimated took about eight minutes. Pelletier said she was surprised to see the plane fall from the sky, "but I didn't think anybody was going to die because it came in so smooth and the men got out so quickly." - Sun Sentinel.
More wreckage found after fatal Barwon Heads plane crash in Australia
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| Police and the Coast Guard search for the missing plane crash victim. Photo: Joe Armao |
Police believe the engine block, prop and part of the fuselage of the doomed Piper Cherokee aircraft have been found, however divers are waiting for better weather before exploring the wreck. Access has been restricted to the site, with police believing that the body may be trapped in the wreckage on the ocean floor.
Daniel Flinn, 55, Donald Hateley, 68, and Ian Chamberlain and his partner Dianne Bradley, both in their 60s, were on board the plane which was flying from from Moorabbin Airport to King Island. Three bodies were found not long after the plane plunged into the surf just after midday last Friday, however police are still trying to find a male body. Most of the plane's debris has already washed ashore since the crash, including a document which may hold clues to why the plane went down. - The Age.
Plane crash off St Elizabeth coastline, Jamaica
The St Elizabeth police have said they received a telephone call regarding the sighting of a supposedaircraft crashing off the coastline in south St Elizabeth.
A police source said the Jamaica Defence Force is investigating the matter.
“We can’t say if it’s a fact, but we got a call that a plane was seen on fire and then was seen to plunge into the sea,” the source said.
Radio Jamaica (RJR) reported a earlier that people claiming to be eyewitnesses in the Lovers Leap area of south-east St Elizabeth had reported seeing the plane go down. - Jamaica Observer.
'Peculiar' plane crash in Utah
The great outdoors holds a lot of undiscovered country and surprises, and a Utah hunter said he's never seen anything like what he came across Wednesday along a remote stretch of land southwest of Park Valley. "There's nobody out there — it's sagebrush," said Tom Austin, who runs a predator-only guide service called, Predator Strikeforce."We saw something shiny." Austin and others in his group moved closer, and couldn't believe what was in front of them. "It was an airplane on its lid," he said. "I was dreading going over there and finding a pilot still trapped inside." To Austin's surprise, however, he could see nobody in or around the small plane.
"There was one vehicle track coming in and [it] circled around the plane, a couple foot tracks coming out to the vehicle, and … gone," he described.
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| (Photo: Stuart Johnson/Deseret News/KSL Chopper 5, Deseret News) |
Finding nobody around the overturned Cessna 205, Austin said he and his group backed away in hopes of leaving the site as undisturbed as possible, and then called the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office. According to a statement issued by Box Elder County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Dale Ward, a detective subsequently contacted the Federal Aviation Administration. An investigator from the FAA told the detective the crash had been reported Tuesday, and that the two men onboard the plane were unharmed and were safely at home, the statement said.
The statement offered no details of the cause of the crash, and efforts to reach the FAA for additional information Wednesday afternoon did not result in an immediate response. A relative of the owner of the plane declined comment when contacted Wednesday evening. Austin said it wasn't the first plane crash he had encountered in the wilds, but was different because the previous one was marked off by tape and appeared to have been investigated.
It also hasn't been the only unusual find on the hunt for Austin, who said he had also come across burned-out cars, abandoned suitcases containing children's clothing, and people in need of rescue. "I found a 15-year-old girl that had been digging herself out of a snowbank with her bare hands for about four hours," he said. Austin said he was relieved to learn that the people in this accident were not injured. "Last thing I want is for somebody to be injured, you know — especially out there," Austin said. "Scary place." - KSL.
Small plane crashes in Fort Bend, Texas; pilot dies, passenger hurt
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| Flames engulfed a small plane Monday, Feb. 1, 2016 at a private air strip in Arcola. |
The passenger on board the plane, identified as 20-year-old Nezabian Derrale Thomas, was injured and transported to Memorial Hermann in Houston. Details of his injuries were not immediately released. He remained in critical condition late Monday. The incident occurred around 10:20 a.m. at the Arcola airport on Highway 6 near McKeever Road, according to the release.
Online Federal Aviation Administration data show the plane, a P92 Echo Super, was registered to Houston Light Sport Aviation, LLC. The aircraft type was described as fixed wing single-engine. Johnson was listed on the company's website as an instructor. His past experience included having been a staff flight instructor with the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, and a member of the Air Force and Coast Guard auxiliaries. An Indianapolis native, Johnson "got to Texas as soon as he could," his bio reads.
Troopers said the aircraft was taking off when it hit a stationary plane. Confusion was initially created about the incident because original reports indicated the plane may have caught fire while a mechanic was working on it.
The crash occurred near a hangar, between two parked aircraft, and the plane looked as if it had been sitting there all along, FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said. It's possible the pair was practicing landings at the time of the crash, Lunsford said. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. - Chron.
F-16 Fighter Jet Crashes in Arizona, pilot killed
A man is feared dead after an F-16 fighter jet from Luke Air Force Base near
Phoenix crashed Thursday in a remote area of northwestern Arizona,
authorities said. Base officials said the man with the Taiwanese Air Force was flying solo
and engaged in air-to-air combat training with an instructor when his
F-16 went down for still unknown reasons.
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| The fire from an F-16 fighter jet. |
Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, commander of the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke, said rescue crews on the ground have been unable to find the pilot, whose name wasn't released. "All indications lead me to believe that the pilot did not survive the accident," Pleus said at a late afternoon news conference. "But until we have 100 percent confirmation, we will continue search efforts."
Pleus said the student pilot had been in a training program for the past six months at Luke, which is a major pilot-training base for the Air Force and foreign military services. The crash occurred at about 8:45 a.m. in rugged terrain about 10 miles southwest of Bagdad in Yavapai County. The crash site, in a sparsely populated area, was located by a helicopter crew about four hours later.
Bagdad is about 85 miles northwest of Luke, which is located in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. Pleus said an interim safety board has been formed to conduct a preliminary investigation into the crash. Recent previous crashes involving F-16s from Luke included one on a training mission in southern New Mexico. That pilot ejected safely.
An instructor pilot and a student pilot also ejected safely in June 2013 after their two-seat F-16 hit several birds during takeoff from Luke. The jet crashed in a farm field. An Air Force investigation report said the instructor pilot was at fault because he made a rapid climbing turn after the bird strike, robbing the plane of airspeed and the ability to recover and return to the base.
In July 2008, an Ohio
Air National Guard pilot died when he blacked out and his F-16 crashed
in western Arizona. An Air Force investigation board found that the
26-year-old pilot made an improper turn during a dogfighting maneuver in
which high gravitational forces came into play. - ABC News.
Small passenger plane emergency landing on motorway near Moscow
A Wilga-35 four-person passenger plane made an emergency landing near the city of Sergiev Posad in Moscow Region. The plane landed safely on a dividing strip along Yaroslavl motorway, reportedly after its engine failed. Only the pilot was aboard the plane and, according to local authorities, there were no reports of injuries. An investigation has been launched into the incident.WATCH: Plane emergency landing in Moscow.
- RT.
American Airlines: 7 hospitalized after severe turbulence aboard flight to Italy
Severe turbulence aboard an American Airlines flight carrying 203 people to Italy left seven people hospitalized, the airline said.American Airlines said Flight 206 from Miami to Milan landed safely Sunday night in Newfoundland, Canada, where it was diverted.
"It was met by paramedics who evaluated passengers and crew," the airline said.
Three flight attendants and four passengers were taken to a hospital after the incident, the airline said.
'It rolled on its side'
Passengers described chaotic scenes when turbulence hit.
"It rolled on its side. Everything went flying. It was pretty intense," passenger Karen Case told CNN partner CBC in Canada.
Case said the plane dipped two times. "I really thought that was it," he said.
Terrified passengers screamed while others grasped for oxygen masks, Gustavo Canda told CBC. Others passed out.
Unplanned stop
Another passenger said she at least checked one destination off her travel list.
"Always wanted to come here, maybe not under these circumstances," Jill Nelson-Debord told CBC about their unplanned stop in Newfoundland.
The Boeing 767 took off from Miami on Sunday afternoon. It landed at St. John's International Airport.
Airport spokeswoman Sara Norris declined to provide details on the nature of the injuries. - CNN.
MiG-31 fighter jet crashes in Siberia, pilots eject safely
A Russian MiG-31 fighter jet has crashed in the Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The pilots were able to eject safely and no casualties have been reported.The war plane was not carrying any missiles and did not cause any damage on the ground when it crashed. Preliminary reports say that a technical failure was responsible for the plane going down.
The Defense Ministry confirmed that the pilots were able to eject from the plane safely, and once they landed they were in radio contact.
An investigation team from the ministry is heading towards the crash site to try and find out what caused the plane to crash.
The Mikoyan MiG-31 (NATO code name ‘Foxhound’) is a Soviet-design supersonic interceptor and is one of the world’s fastest aircraft. MiG-31 production was suspended in 1994 and a program is underway to modernize all of the planes of this type that are operated by the Russian Air Force. - RT.
