Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Cessna 172N Skyhawk , N734JF: Accident occurred November 18, 2020 at Central Jersey Regional Airport (47N), Manville, New Jersey

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

The National Transportation Safety Board did not travel to the scene of this accident.

Additional Participating Entity: 
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Allentown, New Jersey 


Location: Manville, NJ 
Accident Number: ERA21LA045
Date & Time: November 18, 2020, 11:35 Local 
Registration: N734JF
Aircraft: Cessna 172
Injuries: 2 None
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Instructional

Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information

Aircraft Make: Cessna
Registration: N734JF
Model/Series: 172 N 
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Amateur Built: No
Operator:
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None
Operator Designator Code:

Meteorological Information and Flight Plan

Conditions at Accident Site: VMC 
Condition of Light: Day
Observation Facility, Elevation: KSMQ,105 ft msl 
Observation Time: 11:53 Local
Distance from Accident Site: 7 Nautical Miles 
Temperature/Dew Point: 2°C /-11°C
Lowest Cloud Condition: Few / 4400 ft AGL
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: 13 knots / 25 knots, 340°
Lowest Ceiling: None
Visibility: 10 miles
Altimeter Setting: 30.48 inches Hg
Type of Flight Plan Filed: None
Departure Point: Manville, NJ
Destination: Manville, NJ

Wreckage and Impact Information

Crew Injuries: 2 None 
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries:
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 2 None
Latitude, Longitude: 40.524444,-74.598306 (est)




HILLSBOROUGH, New Jersey - High winds are believed to have caused a single-engine plane with a student pilot at the controls to flip over after touching down on the runway at Central Jersey Airport late Wednesday morning.

"The way that wind was gusting today, it was brutal," said Joe Horner, airport owner.

"The wind drifted him a little bit as he was about to touchdown;" Horner said. "With those winds, it was like trying to fly a kite; all the weight is up front in the motor.," he added.

One of the wheels on the fixed landing gear caught the lip of the runway, Horner said, causing it to flip.

The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident and determine an official narrative and cause, according to Horner; as a matter of routine, Horner shut down the airport after the crash, with no flights in or out; as of 4:30 p.m., the FAA had yet to conclude its preliminary investigation. The plane remained upside down off to the side of the runway where it came to rest, Horner said and cannot be moved until the FAA gives its OK.

The student pilot, Philip McPherson, 32, of Bound Brook, and instructor Sundaresh Suddiah, 52, of Edison, were uninjured in the 11:45 a.m. crash, according to Hillsborough Police.

The plane, owned and operated by TriState Aviation flight school, located at the airport, was damaged, according to Horner.

The airport is located at1034 Millstone River Road, Hillsborough, NJ

Responding units to the scene were Hillsborough Police, Hillsborough Fire Units 37 & 38, Hillsborough Fire Safety, Hillsborough Office of Emergency Management, Robert Wood Johnson Rescue Squad, Somerset County Hazmat and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Congressman Higgins announces movement on Pilot Records Database


Congressman Brian Higgins announced the final rule for the Pilot Records Database has moved to the Office of Management and Budget for review. This is a final step toward implementation of the measure, which has been advanced following the crash of Flight 3407.

Higgins said, “We will never get back what was lost on that tragic night. But all Americans have those who lost the most, the families of Flight 3407, to thank for the incredible gains made in flight safety. The Pilot Records Database is a piece of that puzzle that remains missing.”

The Pilot Records Database was required in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill of 2010 approved by Congress and signed into law. It has been in a beta test phase since December 2017. Through the database, a commercial airline will be able to see information regarding employment history, training, certifications and status of national driver registry records.

New rules related to pilot qualifications and training, measures to reduce pilot fatigue and requirements that provide consumers with added transparency have previously been implemented, leaving the Pilot Records Database as the last outstanding recommendation made by the National Transportation Safety Administration following the crash and required under the 2010 law.

Higgins has been pushing for Pilot Records Database to be finalized, most recently leading a letter calling on the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, and Office of Budget and Management to finally and formally put the database in place.

This summer, Higgins marked the 10th anniversary of the law’s passage with remarks on the House floor paying tribute to the tireless work of the families of Flight 3407 to ensure other families wouldn’t face the same tragedy.

OnCore Aviation: Flight School Growing in Western New York



ROCHESTER, New York — Future pilots now have another place to learn to fly in Western New York. OnCore Aviation in Rochester is now operating schools in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Rochester.

Todd Cameron grew up flying out of a grass field in Palmyra. Now he flies just about any size aircraft, anywhere. He’s sharing his passion for aviation with his company OnCore Aviation. Cameron says that even while commercial airlines face unprecedented economic challenges, general aviation and flight training operations are growing.

"This is a lot like buying a stock when it’s down," said Cameron. "The shortage from all the retirees still exists. The demand to travel is going to resurge, and even our youngest of students are absolutely optimistic that in three years there is going to be almost 300,000 pilots needed."

Aviation student Sam Kramer is an RIT advertising and public relations grad who is switching career paths. He is 105 hours into his 1,500 hours of training to be a regional airline pilot.

"My first solo flight was September 2019," said Kramer. "The first solo flight was such a fun and fascinating feeling, looking over right after you take off, and the seat is empty where the instructor usually is. It is just the plane, and it is just a wild feeling. I am really excited.

"My goal is the airlines in about two or three years’ time. COVID-19 has sort of slowed that down for the industry, and the entire world and not just for us, but I think once that passes we will be on the right track. Airlines we will recover, it is just a matter of time."

OnCore Aviation wants to inspire more younger students to consider careers in aviation. OnCore uses modern flight training with simulator time, ground instruction, and self-study.

"There are so many directions they can go as a pilot, or as a mechanic, or as a manager of a business at an airport," said Cameron. "All of those skills that they likely have never thought of, apply in this direction and can be a real opportunity."

OnCore Aviation has introductory flight lessons, home school simulator programs, and other flight experiences available. OnCore Aviation's Rochester flight school is located at 1205 Scottsville Road in Rochester.



Santa Clara County moves forward with Reid-Hillview Airport (KRHV) closure, plans to repurpose land


Santa Clara County is moving forward with closing the Reid-Hillview Airport in East San Jose, county lawmakers decided Tuesday after hundreds of pleas from the community to use the land for affordable housing and other community needs.

The supervisors voted 4-1 to begin preparing for a potential airport closure and begin the planning process for repurposing the land. Next steps would include more community discussion to identify how to develop the land.

Supervisor Mike Wasserman was the lone dissenting vote.

The decision Tuesday opens the door for the county to use the 180 acres of airport land for future housing, recreation areas, community centers, office space, retail space and anything else the community might want.

County supervisors took the first step to close the airport two years ago when they voted to stop accepting Federal Aviation Administration grants for Reid-Hillview.

The county’s legal commitments, including the acceptance of previous FAA loans, means it cannot close the airport until 2031. Still, the vote Tuesday gets the ball rolling and the supervisors want to get a head start on planning.

The issue was hotly debated in the days leading up to the board’s final vote. Advocates for getting rid of the airport complained about noise and lead pollution. They said the site could be used for affordable housing in the East Side and other community needs.

San Jose Councilmembers Sylvia Arenas, Magdalena Carrasco and Maya Esparza gathered in front of the airport a day before the vote to urge county supervisors to shutter it.

“To continue to support the operation of this airport is to knowingly endanger the development, the health, and the potentially long-lasting and permanent damaging impacts that it has on our children,” Carrasco said. “The time is now to close and relocate this airport to another existing location.”

A majority of residents spoke in favor of using the land for something other than an airport during nearly four hours of public comment Tuesday.

“The time to close Reid-Hillview Airport has come,” said Salvador “Chava” Bustamante, executive director of Latinos United for a New America. “This (airport) is not only an environmental justice issue, but also a huge land use mistake. This 180 acres of publicly owned land could be put to better use.”

But some people said the airport serves an important purpose by absorbing small plane traffic that would otherwise clog the Mineta International Airport. The airport is also used for emergency response, including during the destructive SCU Lightning Complex blaze earlier this year.

An EPA study released earlier this year used Reid-Hillview Airport as a model for other, similarly sized general aviation airports across the country to study lead concentrations in the air at and around these sites.

According to the EPA models, Reid-Hillview contributes to lead levels that exceed the limits set by the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS).

“Emissions of lead from aircraft operating on leaded aviation gasoline (avgas) are the largest source of lead released into the atmosphere in the US, accounting for 62% of lead (456 tons) in the 2014 National Emissions Inventory (NEI),” the EPA report states.

Some speakers said they had learned to fly at the 80-year-old airport while other speakers were aviation students at San Jose State University and argued there was value in job training programs hosted at Reid-Hillview.

“Reid-Hillview is a critical reliever airport for San Jose International airport,” said Supervisor Mike Wasserman. “Reid-Hillview is a critical asset that, once gone, can never be replaced. San Jose International has no capacity to expand, yet our region’s population continues to grow,” Supervisor Wasserman said. “Let’s identify the problems (with the airport) and work to fix them.”

Despite the nod to move forward with redeveloping the land, the county must grapple with a lawsuit over the airport closure.

San Jose attorney Jim McManis filed a lawsuit alleging the county’s wasted $400,000 in taxpayer dollars to study alternative uses for the airport property. It also alleges the county has allowed the airport to deteriorate, creating multiple safety hazards.

But those who want to see the airport gone are undeterred.

“I understand that others do not want to lose access to their hobby location and other programs, but think of the people who were there before you arrived, and that are there after you leave,” said resident Alex Cardenas. “The airport is in a residential area and has a lot of schools, and people deal with the pollution day after day, not just lead pollution from the fuel but noise pollution as well. So why are these minority communities targeted?”

Supervisors plan to take up the topic again early next year, when another report is due back to supervisors on lead levels around the airport site. The board will likely tackle the issue of mitigating lead dangers at the airport before any further development discussion.

Lowcountry Regional Airport (KRBW) still battling repairs from April’s tornado


The Colleton County Airport Commission met virtually November 12th for an update on tornado damage repairs from the April storm.

John T. Stieglitz, director of Colleton County’s Capital Projects and Purchasing Department, reported that the airport repairs were moving ahead but were delayed due to extensive rain.

Reconstruction of the World War II hangar was proceeding with sheet metal replaced and doors rehung. The inside offices have been gutted and are drying. Contractors are tearing down only what can be replaced in a day until the rain lets up.

Repairs will begin soon on the terminal itself, repairing siding, shingles, paint and parking lot lights that were destroyed by the tornado.

Mitchell Construction originally built the terminal, so the company was contacted for repairs since they had prior knowledge of the building. The estimate for repairs is $25,656.

According to Bert Duffie, airport attorney, the Insurance Reserve Fund stated that the terminal parking lot lights were not part of the insurance plan, but IRF has since reconsidered and has agreed to refund monies for those repairs.

Roger Medlin, operations manager for the airport, reported that October fuel sales set a record with 22,000 gallons sold, and November fuel sales were also off to a strong start. He also mentioned that requests for hangars come in daily, so more are definitely needed.

The damaged runway lights and taxiway lights will be repaired within the next two weeks, according to Tommy Rowe, airport manager.

He also stated that the airport drainage project is finished and a walk-through discovered nothing major to report. Every safety check has been reported as satisfactory throughout the airport.

While Covid caused deficits in many areas of the airport budget, the commission and staff are working hard to continue repairs and maintenance while trying to recoup lost revenue since March.

The combined Covid and tornado disasters greatly impacted the airport budget causing a deficit in assets.
 
Annually, almost 14,000 visitors come into the Lowcountry Regional Airport, supporting annual tax revenues of $1.2 million with an influx to the annual economy of $26.4 million.

Plans for the Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan are:

• taxiway connector reconfiguration and construction

•hangar development in east terminal area

• main apron expansion

• runway end 5 approach land acquisition (6 parcels)

• runway end 23 approach land acquisition (25 acres)

• partial perimeter fencing

• land acquisition for runway end 35 approach and Aviation Way relocation

• hangar development to extend Aviation Way

• Aviation Way entrance reconfiguration

The estimated cost will be $4,460,000 with $2,214,000 funded federally, $120,500 given by the state and a local share of $2,120,500.

Boeing Must Emerge Smarter From 737 MAX Grounding: The aerospace giant needs to find a balance between heeding its bean counters and engineers


The Wall Street Journal
By Jon Sindreu
November 18, 2020 1:21 pm ET

A dark chapter in Boeing’s history can finally be closed. The moral is that business works best when finance and technology are in creative tension.

On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration approved the Boeing 737 MAX jet for passenger flights, more than 20 months after grounding it. Shares of the company initially rose, but later gave up their gains in a sign that many investors cashed in after the announcement—though the stock is still up 45% in November. The plane maker now faces an uphill battle to deliver the 450 MAX jets it has in storage. Chief Executive David Calhoun has admitted that plans to ship most of them within a year of the “ungrounding” have been upset by Covid-19. This in turn puts the MAX’s scheduled production rates at risk.

What can investors and analysts learn from this fiasco, now that industry leadership has been ceded to European rival Airbus ?

First, the initial impression in 2019 that the plane crashes involving the MAX were only a minor setback for Boeing was mistaken. It failed to take into account that the aviation industry is exposed to unpredictable disasters, like Covid-19 and 9/11 before it. It also missed that the accidents involving the MAX were a sign of deep-seated problems, such as the increasing power of bean counters over engineers at Boeing and the dangerous lack of oversight of regulators like the FAA.

But doomsayers who claimed the MAX would never fly again also were wrong. Many analysts lambasted the decision to update the 53-year-old 737, rather than launch an all-new model, as an example of the company’s excessive financial focus. This also is questionable.

The call to build the MAX in 2011 had a lot more to do with excessive haste: Airbus had suddenly come out with the re-engineered A320neo and pressure from American Airlines forced Boeing to respond quickly. Even so, the MAX could have been an efficient way to temporarily meet the challenge, especially if the extra resources had been dedicated to a new midsize jet.

This is where a culture that gave priority to meeting targets over safety did real harm: It fast-tracked a flawed plane. This was likely unrelated to whether the aircraft was a clean-sheet model or not: The obsession with lowering development costs also plagued projects such as the now-successful 787 Dreamliner, and probably delayed the announcement of a much-needed new midsize aircraft—now indefinitely postponed.

Yet excessive focus on developing new technology also can be problematic. In the late 1960s, Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas bet the house on large trijet planes that delighted aerodynamicists but missed where the market was going. Both ended up exiting the commercial-jet business. Another example is the unsuccessful Airbus A380 superjumbo.

The lesson for Chicago-based Boeing is that financial and engineering rationales each need to play their proper role. The MAX will remain popular but still lose out against its Airbus peer. It would be a mistake for an indebted Boeing to stretch itself too thinly to challenge this supremacy. At the same time, the firm needs to regain its engineering focus to look ahead to the mid-2030s: The potential for hybrid propulsion and even hydrogen to revolutionize aircraft is hanging over the aerospace industry. Boeing will need a new model that beats the competition in both short-haul and medium-haul flights.

Boeing’s recent history has been one of struggle between the engineers in Seattle and the executives in Chicago. It is time they find common ground.

Cessna 210E Centurion, N2373F: Incident occurred November 17, 2020 at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (KBHM), Alabama

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Alabama and NW Florida

Aircraft landed gear up. 

RLO Aviation LLC


Date: 17-NOV-20
Time: 16:56:00Z
Regis#: N2373F
Aircraft Make: CESSNA
Aircraft Model: 210
Event Type: INCIDENT
Highest Injury: UNKNOWN
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: UNKNOWN
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: LANDING (LDG)
Operation: 91
City: BIRMINGHAM
State: ALABAMA

Zenith CH-701, N701FH: Incident occurred November 17, 2020 at Rochester International Airport (KRST), Olmsted County, Minnesota

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Minneapolis, Minnesota

Aircraft veered off runway into the grass. 


Date: 17-NOV-20
Time: 19:56:00Z
Regis#: N701FH
Aircraft Make: ZENITH
Aircraft Model: CH 701
Event Type: INCIDENT
Highest Injury: NONE
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: UNKNOWN
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: UNKNOWN (UNK)
Operation: 91
City: ROCHESTER
State: MINNESOTA

Cessna 120, N2376N: Accident occurred November 17, 2020 near Stanton County Municipal Airport (KJHN), Johnson City, Kansas

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

The National Transportation Safety Board did not travel to the scene of this accident

Additional Participating Entity:
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Wichita, Kansas

Location: Johnson City, KS 
Accident Number: CEN21LA062
Date & Time: November 17, 2020, 15:35 Local
Registration: N2376N
Aircraft: Cessna 120 
Injuries: 2 None
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal

Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information

Aircraft Make: Cessna
Registration: N2376N
Model/Series: 120 
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Amateur Built: No
Operator: 
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None
Operator Designator Code:

Meteorological Information and Flight Plan

Conditions at Accident Site:
Condition of Light:
Observation Facility, Elevation:
Observation Time:
Distance from Accident Site:
Temperature/Dew Point:
Lowest Cloud Condition:
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: / ,
Lowest Ceiling: 
Visibility:
Altimeter Setting: 
Type of Flight Plan Filed:
Departure Point:
Destination:

Wreckage and Impact Information

Crew Injuries: 1 None
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries: 1 None 
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries: 
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 2 None
Latitude, Longitude: 37.579722,-101.59972 
 
JOHNSON CITY, Kansas (WIBW) - No serious injuries were reported when a small plane crashed Tuesday afternoon in southwest Kansas, authorities said.

The plane crash was reported at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday near US-160 highway and D Road in Stanton County. The location was about 7 miles east of the Stanton County Airport.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, the pilot of a Cessna 120 attempted a “flyby” of people on the ground when the plane caught its left wing on the dirt and spun into the ground.

The pilot, Blake Allen Gerard, 36, of Collinsville, Oklahoma, was transported to Stanton County Hospital in Johnson City. The patrol said Gerard, who was wearing a safety restraint, had no apparent injuries.

A passenger in the plane, Matthew Allen Gerard, 13, of Collinsville, Oklahoma, also was taken to Stanton County Hospital with suspected minor injuries. The patrol said he was wearing a safety restraint.