Midair Collision Between a Cirrus SR20 and a Glider Towplane

On February 6, 2010, a Cirrus SR20 airplane (N825BC) collided with a Piper PA-25-235 airplane (N8718L), while the Piper was conducting glider tow operations with , a Schweizer SGS 2-32 glider (N2472W), near Boulder, Colorado. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and all three aircraft were operating without flight plans. The pilot and sole occupant aboard the Piper was killed as was the pilot and passenger aboard the Cirrus.

The pilot of the glider saw the Cirrus approaching and was able to disengage the tow rope just prior to the collision. Although the glider pilot flew through a fireball caused by the collision, he was able to land without further incident. The glider was undamaged, and no one on board that aircraft was injured. The Piper and Schweizer departed Boulder Municipal Airport (KBDU), Boulder, Colorado, as a glider tow flight approximately 1:15 pm, roughly 12 minutes before the accident. The Cirrus aircraft had departed Erie Municipal Airport (KEIK), Erie, Colorado, at approximately 12:45 pm.

According to a statement taken from the pilot of the glider, the tow plane and glider were in a climb attitude, on an approximate heading of west. The Cirrus was heading south.

Multiple witnesses heard the collision between the two airplanes and observed the post collision state of both airplanes. The Cirrus airplane was observed to descend under the canopy of the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) while on fire. Debris from both airplanes was spread over a 1.5-mile area with components of the Piper at the north most end of the debris field and the main wreckage of the Cirrus at the southern most end of the debris field. Both airplanes were destroyed.

In the interview below from the Today Show, the pilot and two passengers from the glider provide a sense of just how close this was to being an accident involving three crashed aircraft. Also included are portions of witness videos that show the burning Cirrus descending to the ground by parachute.

According to the NTSB, the Cirrus series of aircraft have been involved in at least65 fatal crashes in the US and around the world between 1992 and the fatal crash in Boulder.

Plane Crash Kills Several Tesla Motors Employees

17 February 2010
East Palo Alto, CA

A twin-engined Cessna 310R (N5225J) crashed in an East Palo Alto neighborhood shortly after taking off from the Palo Alto Airport. The aircraft, which was flying to the Los Angeles area, took off under a dense fog advisory with zero to one-quarter mile visibility. The aircraft reportedly struck an electrical transmission tower and power lines before crashing into a residential neighborhood less than a mile from the airport. Several buildings were hit, including one with a day care center. There were several people inside the building, including one child, and all escaped without injury.

As a result of the crash, power was knocked out for much of the Palo Alto area, leaving the headquarters of companies such as Stanford Hospital, Hewlett-Packard, and Facebook in the dark.

The three people killed were all high level employees of Tesla Motors, one of the companies run by Elon Musk, one of the founders of PayPal and also the head of the private rocket company SpaceX.

Sounds of Crash Captured by Security System
The city of East Palo Alto, where the crash occurred, uses an advanced audio detection system that allows police to quickly find the locations of gunshots. This ShotSpotter system recorded the sounds of the crash from two locations.

First there is the sound of a plane's engines. Then a crackling noise, as though the plane has hit a power line. Then, crashing sounds, as parts of the aircraft landed on homes; a loud bang as the plane impacted with the ground; and a few seconds after the crash, people screaming as the plane fuselage skidded down Beech Street and plowed into walls and cars in the neighborhood.

According to Joshua Cawthra, lead investigator for the NTSB, it is the first time in aviation history that such a recording will be used for forensic purposes. Recordings taken from two of the sensor locations initially have the sounds of the aircraft's engines, followed by the sounds of the aircraft hitting power lines, and finally the sounds of pieces hitting the ground and of residents reacting to the crash.

Sounds of plane crash alone (0.11)

Sounds of plane crash plus screams of neighbors (0.11)

The ShotSpotter sensors each contain a GPS receiver with a precision clock, providing the NTSB with a precise, millisecond-by-millisecond recording of the incident, as captured by five ShotSpotter sensors deployed throughout East Palo Alto. According to the East Palo Alto police, the sensors were located at various distances from the crash, the closest being just over 600 feet away and the furthest being roughly 1,500 feet away.

The photos below depict the damage at the building housing the day care center, as well as an overview of the area with the area of the crash circled, and the path of the power lines highlighted.





Additional Information
San Jose Mercury News
KGO Television
Stanford Daily

Photo Credits: KGO television, Nader Khouri, Google Earth

Photo Notes: Top photo is from 2001 and shows accident pilot Doug Bourn filling the tanks of the accident aircraft (N5225J)

New Challenger Video Surfaces after 24 Years

The explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger was filmed and photographed from many angles, and over the last 24 years millions have seen these images. Recently, a new video emerged which until this year had not been seen by the general public.

On the day of Challenger's last launch, optometrist Dr. Jack Moss was in Winter Haven, Florida, a town southeast of Orlando and about 60 miles from the launch site, videotaping the launch. He donated his video to the Space Exploration Archive in Louisville, Kentucky last December, shortly before his death.

The video shows the disaster from a totally different perspective, both from the location from where the video was shot, to the reaction of Moss and his neighbors as they go from sensing something was unusual about the launch, to the realization that the shuttle had exploded.

Article from the Courier-Journal newspaper of Louisville, Kentucky

Japanese Commentary on Narita FedEx Crash

While North American audiences have had many opportunities over the years to see breaking news stories about plane crashes that feature the running commentary of news anchors and aviation experts, Japanese audiences don't often have that experience. The crash last March of a FedEx MD-11 at Tokyo's Narita Airport provided that opportunity for Japan, as the video below shows.

Even if you don't understand Japanese, you can get a sense of the tone of the conversation and the emotions that some of those on camera may have been feeling.

No one at AirSafe.com can understand Japanese, so if any of you reading this can understand Japanese, feel free to leave a comment about the discussion in the video.

Resources
Original AirSafeNews.com article on this event
Other FedEx plane crashes
Other MD-11 plane crashes

Crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 on 12 February 2009

The fatal 12 February crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 is still under investigation by the NTSB, but last week, the airline submitted a report to the NTSB which blamed pilot actions as the probable cause of the accident. The Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft, which was operating as a scheduled Continental Connection flight from Newark, NJ to Buffalo, NY, crashed into a house about five miles from the airport during an instrument approach to runway 23. All four crew members and 45 passengers were killed, as well as one of the three people in the house.

The NTSB launched a major investigation, which is still ongoing. The NTSB's public docket of this investigation contains over 100 items, including a report submitted by Colgan earlier this month. That report identifies the probable cause of the accident as the flight crew’s loss of situational awareness and failure to follow Colgan Air training and procedures, which led to a loss of control of the aircraft.

According to Colgan, contributing to the accident was the flight crew’s failure to follow Colgan Air procedures and training, and the lack of adequate warning systems in the aircraft.

The investigation is not yet completed, and the final NTSB report may or may not reflect the analysis or conclusions of the Colgan report. AirSafeNews.com encourages you to review the Colgan report, and other items in the public docket, as well as following information from the NTSB and AirSafe.com.

Below are two videos. The first is an NTSB recreation of the final few minutes of flight, based on data from both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. The second is the initial report of this event created by AirSafe.com.

Colgan Air Crash Animation (no audio)

AirSafe.com's Initial Report on this Accident
Audio: MP3 | Video: iPod/MP4 | WMV | Google Video | YouTube

Resources
Additional accident details
Colgan Air Submission to the NTSB
Other NTSB public docket documents
Other AirSafe.com Videos
Fatal Continental plane crashes
Fatal Dash 8 plane crashes

Piper Aztec Overruns Runway at Saint Barthélemy Island

On May 23, 2009 a Piper Aztec overran the runway at the airport on Saint Barthélemy island in the Caribbean There were no reported injuries.

Floatplane Crashes at Takeoff - Photographer Ducks Just in Time

The floatplane (a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, registration N915RC) was in an otherwise normal takeoff from Lake Hood in Anchorage, Alaska on 7 June 2009 when it encountered a right quartering tailwind gust that lifted up the right wing and float. The airplane veered to the left toward a steep bank, and the pilot was unable to correct the deviation and with the rudder. The airplane lifted off, but the float collided with the top of the bank. The airplane cart wheeled about 160 degrees to the left before coming to rest on its right side. It sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and floats. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures. Reported wind at the airport approximately 3 minutes after the accident was from 020 degrees magnetic at 3 knots, with no recorded gusts.

Fortunately, the pilot and three passengers were not injured. Also fortunate was the fact that the photographer lived to film another day. According to the photographer's description on YouTube, the aircraft passed less than 10 feed from their position.

The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident was the pilot's failure to maintain directional control during takeoff.

Crash During Floatplane Takeoff in Anchorage, AK 7 June 2009

Additional Information
NTSB Factual Summary (PDF)
NTSB Full Narritave
NTSB Probable Cause Determination (PDF)