Monday, May 25, 2015

Cessna 182Q Skylane, N759EB: Accident occurred May 25, 2015 at Cherry Ridge Airport (N30), Honesdale, Pennsylvania

AEROMAVEN LLP: http://registry.faa.gov/N759EB

NTSB Identification: GAA15CA095
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, May 25, 2015 in Honesdale, PA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 07/27/2015
Aircraft: CESSNA 182Q, registration: N759EB
Injuries: 1 Uninjured.

NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.

The pilot reported that the airplane touched down on the first third of the runway, the brakes were applied, but the airplane failed to slow sufficiently. He said the airplane departed the end of the runway, went down an embankment, and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and the empennage. An eyewitness to the landing reported that the pilot landed down wind and about three quarters of the way down the runway.

The pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot's failure to land with sufficient runway remaining to safely stop the airplane.

The pilot reported no pre-impact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.

 



A pilot was taken to the hospital after his plane went off the runway and crashed at an airport in Wayne County Monday afternoon. 

It happened just after noon at the Cherry Ridge Airport outside of Honesdale.

The name of the pilot was not immediately released.

State police say the pilot's injuries are not considered life-threatening.

He was the only one on-board the plane at the time of the crash.

Troopers say the plane was coming from the Lehigh Valley (Allentown/Bethlehem area) and investigators think the pilot my have overshot the runway.

The plane ended-up upside-down in a swamp at the end of the runway at the Cherry Ridge Airport.

Eyewitnesses say the man was coming in for a landing just after noon when they knew something was about to go wrong.

"It seemed as though he was going faster. We heard the brakes and the wheels and him braking twice and then we heard the crash at the end of the airport," eyewitness Kathy Merring said.

Kathy Merring and her family were having a Memorial Day meal at the airport just a couple hundred feet away.

Her son-in-law is in the towing business. He had his truck nearby and immediately jumped into action.

"He knew what was at the end of this airport because he flies too so he just put his boots on because he didn't know whether he was going to have to go in to save someone," Merring said.

Right after the crash, fellow pilots looked on as emergency crews first stabilized the single-engine Cessna plane and then started to bring it out of the swampy water.

John Fox believes the pilot didn't have room to completely stop because he landed with the wind.

Pilots say that is the wrong thing to do.

"You should never land with the wind, always into the wind because you want your ground speed slower when you land. If you land with the wind, your ground speed is faster," pilot John Fox of Prompton said.

The pilot was able to walk away from the wreckage on his own.

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) will now be looking into what happened and why.

"The FAA has been notified. We're waiting for their arrival out here to finish the investigation," Wayne County EMA Director Steve Price said.

The Wayne County EMA Director says now that the plane is out of the water it will be kept in a secure location until the FAA investigation is complete.

As for the pilot, eyewitnesses say he only suffered some leg injuries but was taken to Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton as a precaution.

Source:  http://www.pahomepage.com


CHERRY RIDGE TWP. - A single-propeller plane coming in for a landing at the Cherry Ridge Airport near Honesdale in Wayne County crashed into a swampy area near the runway, state police said. 

The pilot, whom police did not identify, was not seriously injured, but was taken to an area hospital as a precaution. He hails from the Lehigh Valley and that is where the plane was traveling from.

“He was helped out of the plane, but he was walking,” said Trooper Carl Szymanski.

There were no passengers.

Trooper Szymanski said the wind picked up and interfered with the landing around 12:30 p.m. The plane landed upside down, he said.

Trooper Szymanski said the Federal Aviation Administration gave approval to remove the plane from the swamp and will investigate further.

Incident occurred May 23, 2015 on Lake Minnewaska, Pope County, North Dakota

Two men walked away, only one with minor injuries, after their plane crashed in Lake Minnewaska Friday.

The Pope County Sheriff's office said it received a call around 1 p.m. Friday of a possible plane crash near Peter's Sunset Resort on the south side of Lake Minnewaska.

The Pope County Sheriff's office said the pilot reported engine problems after take off and was trying to make an emergency landing on the lake.

The plane lost altitude quickly and made hard landing, causing damage to one of the plane's floats.

The plane then sank in 10 to 14 feet of water.

The plane was piloted by Skipper Cook, 53 of Eden Prairie.

His passenger was Arturo Gomez, 38.

The two men were able to exit the plane prior to it being submerged.

One of the men had minor injuries, but neither were taken to the hospital.

- Sources: 


http://www.wctrib.com

http://www.valleynewslive.com

Incident occurred May 23, 2015 in Caledonia, Washington County, Missouri



(Caledonia) A single engine plane crashed in a field at the southern edge of Caledonia Saturday afternoon.

According to Washington County Sheriff Andy Skiles, an elderly pilot left the Fredericktown airport en route to Farmington when he got lost and ran out of fuel.

Witnesses said they heard the plane's engine cut-out shortly before the crash.

The Sheriff says the pilot suffered a broken leg and a broken arm.

The FAA was contacted, but Skiles says there will be no investigation.

Source: http://www.mymoinfo.com


Huey helicopters not unsafe - agent

Cape Town - Pilots who fly Huey helicopters for Working on Fire are not afraid to fly them, despite media reports that they are not properly maintained, the agent responsible for operating the helicopters says.

Netwerk24 reported on Monday that media reports over the weekend indicated that warnings were sent out that the helicopters were unsafe to fly. This came after three pilots were killed in two helicopter crashes in recent months, which led to questions about their maintenance and safety records.

Hueys are former military helicopters which are used by Working on Fire to drop loads of water onto flames.

But Naranda Leeuwner, spokesperson for Kishugu Aviation, said it is a misrepresentation that the helicopters have mechanical problems, and an investigation into the two crashes must be completed.

Warning


Rapport reported that helicopter manufacturer Bell warned the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) about the two crashed helicopters, and indicated that the helicopters may be equipped with illegal parts.

The Weekend Argus reported that the Commercial Aviation Association of South Africa had met in November last year to discuss concerns about the lack of quality and maintenance control on the Working on Fire Huey helicopters.

According to the report, the association had been warned of the "bogus nature" of some of the Hueys, which were rebuilt using scrap or unapproved parts, and it had written to the CAA about the undesirable operational conditions of the Hueys about a year ago.

However, Leeuwner said the helicopters are maintained according to international standards. They are still being used countrywide in firefighting operations, she said.

Leeuwner denied they received a warning from Bell, saying they only received concerns about the classification of the helicopters, and that no people may be transported during operations.

She added that rumors about the maintenance of the helicopters were offensive, as the pilots were highly skilled and flew these helicopters every day, and would not have taken off if they were concerned about maintenance standards.

Crashes


Working on Fire pilots flew a total of 9 800 flight hours with Hueys in highly dangerous areas without any fatal accidents, Leeuwner said.

The two crashes cannot be explained at this stage and are being investigated, she added.

Pilot Hendrik Bees Marais, 77, was killed in a crash while fighting a fire near Cape Point in March. In April, Darrel Rae, 39, and Jastun Visagie, 23, were killed when their helicopter crashed in Bainskloof.

Department of Environmental Affairs spokesperson Zolile Nqayi confirmed to Netwerk24 that the helicopters are maintained on a regular basis, and audited four times a year. 

Source: http://www.news24.com

Explosion caught on camera as hangar burned at David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport (KDWH), Houston, Texas

 

 SPRING, Texas -- An explosion was caught on camera as a hangar burned at the Hooks Airport. 

 The owner of the hangar was in the middle of an interview, when something inside the building caused an explosion.

The owner said he believed it was his mother's car that caused the explosion.

The hangar caught fire Sunday afternoon at the airport in northwest Harris County.

The owner is a Christian minister who was volunteering with a group of Boy Scouts on Lake Livingston when he was notified of the fire.

He said the items in the fire were worth over a million dollars.

Harris County firefighters were on the scene, working the fire. No one was reported injured in the incident.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.


























Previous Fire:   Saturday, June 26, 2010

SPRING, Texas - Firefighters in Northwest Harris Co. had their hands full at Hooks Airport on Saturday, June 26, 2010. They tried putting out a two-alarm blaze, but had a tough time since there were no water hydrants close by. Hooks Airport is on Stuebner Airline Road in Spring.
 
At about 3 a.m. on Saturday, an off duty sheriff's officer notified the Klein Volunteer Fire Department about a burning hangar.

"There was a fire on the South end of the hangar," said Lt. James Bolton with the Harris Co. Fire Marshal's investigation. "When they came over, they saw a fire on the roof area on the South end. [The] fire appeared to be moving to the North."

Firefighters from Champions, Spring, Klein and other departments rushed to Hooks Airport where they found a single large hangar in flames. There was a helicopter inside of the hangar and other materials.

"Hanger appears to have a lot of engine parts; engine components; things like that in it," said Doug Wilson, who's a district chief with the Klein Fire Department.

The reason why this fire started is still unclear. Klein's Fire Department chief, David Bessolo, told 39 News it's so severe that determining a cause could take days.

"It's still under investigation. We're waiting on suppression efforts to finish," Bolton said. "Witnesses that we've talked to so far said that they were notified by life flight, actually."

The Harris Co. hazmat team evaluated the situation since air craft parts inside of the hangar are made out of magnesium. Magnesium is a light-weight metal that burns extremely hot.

"We had one firefighter who had minor injury," Wilson said. "He's been treated and released on scene."

Since there are not hydrants at Hooks Airport, the challenge was having a limited water supply. Klein's Fire Department said managing the water was a "critical element."

"We needed to establish a pretty long hose line," Wilson said. "A five inch hose all the way from the sea plane base over to the fire. And then we had to boost the pressures because that's a pretty long way."

Having no hydrants at Hooks Airport made it tough, but didn't stop firefighters from finding a way to get the job done.

There was a similar incident at Hooks Airport in Dec. 2009. Several planes burned inside of the hangar at the time of that fire.