No Deaths Reported So Far

THE NAVY F/A-18 JET FIGHTER that crashed into a Virginia Beach, Virginia, apartment complex Friday afternoon caused extensive damage to at least five buildings but, amazingly, there have been no deaths reported so far.  (See original Firegeezer report HERE.)

The plane miraculously landed in this courtyard, missing a direct hit on
any of the apartment buildings.  The burning fuel set the surrounding
buildings alight.  (U. S. Navy photo)

As of Saturday morning three residents are still unaccounted for, but they may not have been there at the time of the crash and the authorities currently believe it is probable that they are elsewhere.  By Friday night the rescue teams had completed secondary searches of 95% of the crash zone.
Update:  The 3 missing people have been located and the FRD is no longer searching for any survivors.

The plane fortuitously landed on its belly in the courtyard of the buildings, thus sparing the destructiveness of a direct hit.  The spraying, burning jet fuel set the surrounding buildings on fire but a rapid response by the Virginia Beach Fire & Rescue along with the Oceana air base crash units quickly contained the fires.

The early reports are saying that the 2-seater training plane experienced some sort of mechanical failure that caused leaking fuel to ignite while it was taking off from the nearby air station.  The two pilots were attempting to guide the plane over to the ocean and failing to get that far they waited until almost too late to eject.  Witnesses say that they were down to treetop level before the seat ejectors were deployed and their parachutes only had time to open partially before they hit the ground.  Both pilots are going to recover ok with minimal injuries.  One of them has been admitted to the hospital while the other has been released.  About seven civilians suffered from either minor injuries or, in most cases, smoke inhalation.
Update:  Both pilots have been released from the hospital.

For the latest detailed updates, read the following sources:
CNN News 
NY Daily News
WAVY-TV Norfolk

WAVY-TV has filed this updated video report on Saturday morning:

No deaths in Navy F/A-18D crash: wavy.com

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Day two of an ugly computer migration

Joe Brancatelli, the creator of business travel webside Joe Sent Me, warned about the weekend merger of United and Continental computer systems.

Here is his fifth update at 01:45 this morning:

A Shameful Day for United Airlines

   Well, hasn't Saturday been fun for anyone flying United Airlines.

   With most of the pre-merger United's Saturday flight schedule now in the books, the numbers are simply atrocious: just 46 percent on-time for departures and 56 percent on-time for arrivals.

   The numbers are even worse for Chicago/O'Hare and Washington/Dulles, two of the pre-merger United's main hubs.

   At Dulles, it was 29 percent on-time departures and 45 percent on-time arrivals. One JoeSentMe member reports his 64-minute Dulles to Greensboro flight this afternoon was delayed by 227 minutes due to "late arriving" aircraft. Before he was able to board his flight, he passed a customer-service station at Dulles with "about two hundred folks in a queue."

   At O'Hare, just 26 percent of flights departed on-time on Saturday and just 44 percent arrived on time.

   The only thing performing more poorly than United in Chicago on Day One of its supposedly four-times-rehearsed transition to Continental's computers was the Chicago Tribune. In two different stories on Saturday, its reporter swallowed the "everything's just fine" lie being fed to it by a United Airlines spokesman. 

   Shame on United management for not training its pre-merger United crews properly on the new software. Shame on the United spokesman for blatantly lying about the airline's performance at its most important hub. But shame on the Chicago Tribune for not even sending anyone out to O'Hare–or, apparently, even bothering to surf to any of the easily available flight trackers to find the real numbers.

   One final kicker to show you the fantasyland in which airlines now expect passengers to live: The manifestly unhelpful Unitedhub.com site is now telling customers to "consider" not calling the airline because call-center volumes are "higher than normal." It blithely suggests customers use United.com for "self-service." But, of course, United.com continues to change reservation numbers at random, cancel or not display seat assignments and refuse to print boarding passes for many itineraries.

Brancaelli, Joe (2012 February 29) How to Survive United Airlines' Big Computer Switch. Portfolio.com

If you are flying today, FlightStats may be helpful,

Good luck!

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Chopper Survives – Duck Doesn't

A VANDERBILT (Tennessee) MEDICAL CENTER LIFEFLIGHT air ambulance had its own version of a "close call" Friday night when its flight path crossed that of a Mallard duck's.  The Paris (Tennessee) Post-Intelligencer reports:

According to Jerry Jones, public affairs manager with Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s LifeFlight service, the helicopter had just flown over the Tennessee River at about 6:15 p.m. on its way from Nashville to Henry County Medical Center to pick up a patient when the aircraft struck a lone duck in flight.

Jones said the impact shattered the entire front windshield of the helicopter, forcing pilot Tom Adams to make a quick descent from an altitude of 2,000 feet to land in a field beside Poplar Grove Road in Springville.

Post-Intelligencer / Howard photo

According to Jones, Adams landed the aircraft safely, and neither Adams nor his two crew members suffered any injuries. The duck, however, did not survive the incident.

"Bird strikes are not uncommon in this part of the country," Jones said. "It’s LifeFlight policy to make an emergency landing whenever a bird strike occurs. Considering that the whole front wieldshield was gone, it was definitely necessary in this case."

This aircraft is the newest of LifeFlight's 6-helicopter fleet, only two weeks old.  It is worth $3 million and was trucked to Clarksville where it is being repaired.  The damage estimate is about $100,000.

Another helicopter transferred the patient from Henry to Vanderbilt.

The Post-Intelligencer has the STORY.

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Saturday Morning – Cleared For Takeoff

Techno-News abounds these days for good reason, and since we have been chatting off and on recently about Tablets and e-readers, I thought I would pass this bit along this morning.

It makes sense if you stop and think about it, but it's easy to miss the obvious.  Two months ago in December the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) has given approval for major commercial airlines to issue single-purpose iPads to their pilots to replace their mountain of papers that include their flight charts, weather reports, and other flight-related material.  This new "electronic flight bag" will replace those 30-lb. flight bags and also remove the tedious task of sorting out even more papers that are filed in the cockpit for references.  Of course, there is the added feature of instant updating to the forms and charts that are filed in the tablet.

Wired.com

Alaska Airlines was the first major line to begin using the iPad and have already displaced their Flight Operations Manual and the Flight Handbook.  They're working on the charts now.  Coming on line as we write are United, Continental, American, and freight-hauler UPS, each in the process of switching over.

Now comes news that the U. S. Air Force is beginning the massive changeover to tablets also.  International Business Times is reporting that the USAF is ordering 18,000 iPad 2's to go into use in cargo planes, primarily the C-5 Galaxy and the C-17 Globemaster.

"Moving from a paper-based to an electronically based flight publication system will not only enhance operational effectiveness, it can also save the Department of Defense time and money," said Maj. Gen. Rick Martin, the director of operations for the Air Mobility Command. "Electronic flight bags are becoming an industry standard due to their operational, environmental and cost savings benefits."

There are several benefits to using electronic flight bags instead of physical versions. For one, the iPad can instantly update charts electronically, while the AMC would require flying charts to be reprinted every 28 days to stay up to date.

"This equates to approximately 70 pounds of paper per aircraft each month that must be meticulously sorted, accounted for, and updated," said Maj. Pete Birchenough, who head's the AMC's electronic flight bag initiative.

United Airlines photo

The Air Force Special Operations Command will also be purchasing more than 2,800 iPad 2's.  And the digital beat goes on.  The next question that we have raised before is, whenever will a progressive fire department start doing the same thing for their equipment management?

Until they do, we will just have to grab our old 19th-century clipboards and get our own equipment checked out now.  I will get the coffee started before we meet back in the day room.

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Adept at Anything

A FIREFIGHTER AT TIRUPATI AIRPORT in India had a quick job description ammendment last month when the two air traffic controllers failed to show up for work.

Tirupati Airport (Wikipedia)

When a Jet Airways flight from Hyderabad arrived in the airport control area, they were not able to get any response from the tower for landing instructions. Tirupati has no approach radar and pilots rely on air traffic controllers to provide runway and weather information and give landing clearance.

Immediately the airport's deputy general manager orderd one of the airport's firefighters, known only as Basha, to the tower and gave him directions over the phone on how to bring a plane in for a landing.

Following his directions, Basha safely landed the plane carrying 60 passengers.  The quick-learning firefighter continued his fill-in duty for about 40 minutes before one of the tardy controllers finally showed up.

The grossly unsafe incident was made public yesterday when the airport executive that made the decision was suspended from his job along with the two missing controllers.

BBC News carried the STORY.
One India News has MORE.

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Sunday Morning – Where Do We Land?

Everybody is aware of the ineptitude of centralized government when it comes to getting things done efficiently.  Instead of allowing professionals to build or operate complex projects, the legislature or council will try and do it on their own (usually because they want the big contracts to go to their friends).  I don't know what the motives or origins of the design work for a new children's hospital in Melbourne, Australia were, but the results are familiar.  The new Royal Children's Hospital was built by the state government to replace an old, outmoded building and they laid out more than $1 billion for it.  That's right, a billion dollars (Aus.) for one hospital.

After it was built last year, it was found that the roof-top helipad is inadequate for some instances, primarily weather changes and weight limits.  The old hospital a few blocks away had its helipad on the ground and weight limits were never  consideration.  But apparently this new heliport which is on what appears to be a 5th-floor level, is right at the limit for a routine helicopter with crew and patient.  This being the state's primary children's hospital, it is also used frequently for advanced pediatric transports that require the hospital staff to load up equipment such as repirators, etc., along with a cadre of doctors and nurses.  But all that puts helicopter over the limit for safety on this roof.  (See article from The Age HERE.)

Currently their only alternative is to use the helipad at a hospital in Essenden which is a 25-minute drive (one-way) in the best of traffic conditions.  Rush hour and business day traffic will slow it down considerably, so that a mercy flight requiring the staft to travel out, retrieve, and return will require the staff to be gone from the hospital for more than two hours longer than should be. 

Another consideration overlooked is the occasional times that windy conditions prevent rooftop landings and a regulation that does not permit rooftop ops when the temperature goes over 30º C.  That has something to do with the air being "too thin," but I don't understand why you can take off in this thin air from the ground, but not from 50 ft. higher.  But then, that's government regulations for you.

Danger Zone photo by Joe Armao
for The Age newspaper.

So why not just build a new pad on the site of the old hospital which is only a couple of minutes away, to be used when the rooftop is unsafe?  Ohhh, noooo!!!   The old hospital grounds are designated to be turned into a park with valuable "green space" and when that alternative was advanced, the public outcry was politically deafening.  They just will not tolerate a playground and green area to be polluted with an occasional helicopter arriving to save an infant's life.  They have their priorities in Melbourne.

Right now our priority is to get this equipment checked out while cook gets the Sunday breakfast ready.  I'm going to make sure the Bunn-O-Matic is still operating at all temperatures.  See you back in the day room.

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Winner Proclaimed Early

A DAY-LABORER HAD TO BE FORCIBLY restrained  before continuing his journey to the emergency room this past Saturday evening.  Altoro Alveriz was riding in an SUV along with two colleagues down I-95 in South Carolina.  The Charleston Post & Courier tells us:

Around mile marker 60 on I-95, just north of the Bells Highway interchange, the vehicle's other occupants said they were listening to music and joking around when they heard a rear window being rolled down, according to the incident report. Then they saw Alveriz climbing through it.

Their attempts to catch Alveriz by his shirt failed, and the man fell onto the pavement, they told deputies. The Ford was traveling about 70 mph, they estimated.

Alveriz's head was bleeding when rescuers arrived. A LifeNet helicopter later started to take Alveriz to Medical University Hospital when he became combative with paramedics about five minutes into the flight.

Alveriz continued to fight with the medics while they were airborne and then he tried to jump out of the helicopter (certainly at a speed greater than 70).  By then the pilot had gotten clearance for an emergency landing at a nearby airfield along with a call for police and a ground ambulance.

Things were tense inside the tiny cabin of the Life-Net helicopeter  (WCSC-TV photo)

After safely putting down, the patient was strapped into a restraining garment and taken by land the rest of the way to a hospital.  His friends said that he had been drinking beer all day long after a phone call to his home in Mexico where he appeared to have received some upsetting news.

While enroute to the hospital in the ambulance, his condition began deteriorating rapidly and he was diverted directly into an ICU.  His condition has not been publicly released.

Read the full story in the Post & Courier HERE.

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All Victims Were in the Passenger Basket

Update:  Investigators have pieced together the sequence of events.  Scroll down.

A HOT AIR BALLOON CARRYING A PILOT AND TEN PASSENGERS caught on fire while airborne and plummeted to the ground killing everyone on board.

Burned turf marks the crash site.  (Sunday Herald photo)
Update:  Most of the heavily-charred bodies are still in the burn circles
awaiting the forensic teams.

The tragedy occurred near Carterton, New Zealand, Saturday morning NZ time.  There are varying descriptions on how high the balloon was when it caught fire.  All witnesses agree that it hit a power line, but some say that happened first and started the fatal sequence of events and other say that the balloon was already burning and dropped onto the lines as it was falling.

The Daily Mail has an early REPORT.

A report in NZ Stuff (HERE) describes the pilot:

The pilot of the company involved in the tragedy has been described as saftey conscious and professional. People spoken to today say operator and master balloon pilot Lance Hopping is one of the most respected balloonists in the Wairarapa.

Hopping gained his hot air balloon licence in 1995. He owns and operates Ballooning New Zealand Ltd, and has over 1000 hours commercial ballooning experience.

He has been flying one of New Zealand's biggest balloons, a Cameron 210, which can carry 10 passengers plus pilot.

Lance Hopping  (Wairarapa Times)

UPDATE:  The Herald Sun has an updated report with more new details and witness declarations  HERE.

Update #2:  After talking to witnesses and viewing still camera and video recordings, the investigators have pieced together the final sequence of events.  The balloon was trying to land in a nearby field and accidentally grazed the power lines.  The pilot then attempted to rise quickly, but the basket was already afire from the high-voltage contact.  Two of the passengers then jumped out to escape the flames and fell to their deaths.  The balloon rose to about 500 ft. elevation and then the entire balloon caught fire and dropped like a rock straight down to the crash site.  The Telegraph reported:  "It was just a long streak of flames, probably about 10 metres long," said David McKinlay, who watched as the balloon fall "at colossal speed" from a height of about 500ft. "It was just a sheer flame as it hit the ground. It came down like a bloody rocket and then there was a big bang. The impact must have been terrible."

Most of the bodies were burned so badly that they are completely unrecognizable and they are still in situ while the forensics teams work on the evidence gathering and body inspections.  All of them are expected to be removed by Monday.

Protective tarp are placed over the human remains
until the primary forensic activities are completed  (Reuters)

The NZ Herald adds:

Police and forensic specialists are continuing the investigation into yesterday's balloon crash, but warn it will take some time to complete.

"This is not a quick process and will take some time to complete, to ensure we complete a thorough investigation into how this tragedy occurred and ensure incidents of this nature do not reoccur in the future," said Wairarapa Area Commander Inspector Brent Register.

The debris was spread over an area of 50m and was being forensically mapped.

He said the DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) process to formally identify victims could take several days.

"Last night, two of the eleven bodies were removed from the scene," he said . "We are working towards removing the bodies of the other nine victims over the course of the afternoon."

OneNews has provided this brief aerial tour over the crash site:

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Tragic Start to the Holiday Weekend

TWO LIGHT PLANES HAVE CRASHED In the past 24 hours killing all passengers on both aircraft, one in northern New Jersey and the other in Brazos County, Texas.

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A SINGLE-ENGINE PRIVATE AIRCRAFT that had just taken off from the Teterboro, New Jersey, airport at 9:51 am Eastern., bound for DeKalb-Peachtree Airport near Atlanta crashed on a busy Interstate highway.  All five people on board were killed.

Star-Ledger photo

The New York Times reports:

A few minutes after takeoff, the pilot spoke with air traffic controllers about icing conditions, said Robert Gretz, a senior air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. But the pilot did not sound distressed, and it was unclear if he was reporting ice on his wings or simply asking about areas that could be icy.

The plane disappeared from radar at 17,500 feet. The crash occurred 14 minutes after takeoff.

Early reports say that the plane suddenly started spiraling out of control and shedding parts as it dropped, then a wing came off and the fuselage dropped straight down into a wooded area in the median of Interstate 287 across the river from New York City.  Parts were strewn over an area of a half-mile and the debris burst into flame in several spots.

Star-Ledger photo

On board the private single-engine turbo-prop, according to a press release from a New York City investment bank, Greenhill & Co., were two of its managing directors, Jeffrey F. Buckalew, 45, and Rakesh Chawla, 36, both from New York City. Buckalew’s wife, Corinne, and their two children, Jackson and Meriwether, also were on board.

WABC-TV posted this raw video taken from their helicopter shortly after the crash:

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A SINGLE-ENGINE PIPER SARATOGA AIRCRAFT that was flying from Atlanta to Waco, Texas, Monday night went down as it passed through violent weather around 10 pm Central.  The crash killed all  five passengers who were family members from Georgia.

Air traffic control said that the plane knew of the bad weather and had requested a new flight path around it.  When the controller gave them directions to avoid it, the pilot mistakenly turned in the opposite direction and shortly after the plane came down in a field near College Station.

KWTX-TV filed this video report from the scene:

The Associated Press tells that Tom Vinger, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, identified the victims as 33-year-old Michael D. Butler; his 34-year-old wife Kelly; their 14-year-old daughter Brooke; and son Braden, age 2. The family was from Stockbridge, Georgia, south of Atlanta. Also killed was the pilot’s brother, David S. Butler, 37, of Mount Clam, Texas.

The Bryan-College Station Eagle has more DETAILS.

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Airport Employees Save Some Planes

A FIRE IN A HANGER AT THE GREATER CUMBERLAND Regional Airport Wednesday night damaged or destroyed 10 personal aircraft that were kept in the 16-stall building.  The airport is located in Wiley Ford, West Virginia, across the Potomac River from Cumberland, Maryland, and is operated by a bi-state authority.

News-Tribune photo

Airport manager Terry Malone lives next door to the airfield and got a phone call around 10:50 pm from one of the aircraft owners.  The man had stopped by the hanger to get something from his plane and when he opened the door he was met with smoke and heat.  He called Malone to report it and the manager, who is also a volunteer firefighter in the community, dialed 9-1-1 before dashing over to the hangar.

The Cumberland Times-News reports:

Setting aside airport paperwork that he had been working on, Malone raced to the scene from his Wiley Ford home located next to the airport.

"Myself and some other airport employees pulled some of the airplanes out before firefighters arrived. It was an intense fire that melted the aluminum frames of the planes and the structure," he said late Thursday morning after meeting with an investigator from the West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Nine airplanes were destroyed — most believed to be single-engine models — and one other plane was damaged. Four planes were pulled out of the 700-by-64-foot hangar that Malone estimated to be valued at $500,000.

Times-News photo

Late Thursday afternoon, Malone said the fire marshal’s office estimated the property losses from the fire at $2.1 million.

Ten units in the unheated metal structure were destroyed and six others were damaged by smoke. The cost of one unit was estimated at $35,000.

The heavily damaged hangar is owned by the airport and is estimated to be about 20 years old. Sixty other hangars located at the airport and other buildings were not affected by the fire.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it is not currently considered suspicious.

Malone also explained to the Times-News:  "The incident has not affected the airport operation," said Malone, who estimated 39 corporate- and privately-owned aircraft fly in and out of the airport daily, according to the latest information from the Federal Aviation Administration.

"This airport is a lot busier than people realize. The airport is home to over 40 employees, including the Maryland State Police Aviation Division and its medevac helicopter, the Runway Cafe restaurant that closed in August — we’re hoping to have it reopen with a new contractor in the spring — and other businesses located at the airport, including a construction company and Emma’s video gaming outlet. The airport employs nine workers in addition to my part-time position as manager.

"The airport is an integral part of the community. We have flights in and out throughout the day, including medical missions that are providing crucial services," he added.

Read the full STORY.

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