The Malaysian jets (next day update) we never see anymore started it off, and my propaganda pre$$ has not even mentioned the missing Libyan planes in the lead-up to 9/11:
"Plane with unresponsive pilot crashes off Jamaica; Aircraft flew 1,700 miles from Rochester, N.Y." by David McFadden and Joan Lowy | Associated Press September 06, 2014
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Shadowed by two US fighter jets, a small plane with its windows frosted over and its pilot apparently incapacitated flew a ghostly 1,700-mile journey down the Atlantic Coast and beyond before finally crashing in the waters off Jamaica. The fate of the two or more people aboard was not immediately known.
Reminds me of Payne Stewart before 9/11.
Major Basil Jarrett of the Jamaican Defense Force said that the plane went down about 14 miles northeast of the northern coastal town of Port Antonio and that the military sent two aircraft and a dive team to investigate the area where the plane went down.
A US C-130 aircraft was also flying over the crash site and a US Coast Guard cutter is on the way, according to Guard Petty Officer Jon-Paul Rios.
‘‘None of us have found anything at this time,’’ Rios said.
The single-engine turboprop Socata TBM700, which took off at 8:45 a.m. from the Greater Rochester International Airport in New York, was carrying a prominent real estate developer and his wife, the couple’s son said.
Rick Glazer said his parents, Larry and Jane, were both licensed pilots. He said he could not confirm whether they were killed, adding that ‘‘we know so little.’’
Larry Glazer ran the development firm Buckingham Properties. He owned the high-performance plane he was flying and was president of the TBM Owners and Pilots Association and active in Rochester civic affairs.
The pilot had filed a flight plan with the Federal Aviation Administration to fly from Rochester to Naples, Fla. Fighter jets were scrambled at 11:30 a.m. and followed the plane until it reached Cuban airspace, when they peeled off, said Preston Schlachter, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command & US Northern Command. FlightAware, an aviation tracking website, showed the plane over the Caribbean south of Cuba at about 2 p.m.
Related: Northern Command
On a recording made by LiveATC, a website that monitors and posts air traffic control audio recordings, the pilot could be heard saying, ‘‘We need to descend down to about (18,000 feet). We have an indication that’s not correct in the plane.’’ A controller replied, ‘‘Stand by.’’
After a pause, the controller told the pilot to fly at 25,000 feet. ‘‘We need to get lower,’’ the pilot responded. ‘‘Working on that,’’ the controller said
Controllers then cleared the plane to descend to 20,000 feet, a command which the pilot acknowledged. A couple minutes later, a controller radioed the plane by its tail number: ‘‘900 Kilo November, if you hear this transmission, ident’’ — identify yourself. There was no response.
According to FlightAware, the plane never carried out the last descent to 20,000 feet.
Fighter pilots observed the pilot slumped over before the turboprop’s windows became frosted over, Schlachter said.
On LiveATC recordings, the fighter pilots could be heard discussing the Socata pilot’s condition.
‘‘I can see his chest rising and falling right before I left,’’ said one of the fighter pilots.
‘‘It was the first time we could see that he was actually breathing. It may be a deal where, depending on how fast they meet them, he may regain consciousness once the aircraft starts descending for fuel,’’ the fighter pilot said.
The pilot was speculating that the Socata pilot was suffering from hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, but Schlachter said the Air Force did not know for certain that was the case.
It was the second time in less than a week that a private pilot had become unresponsive during a flight. On Aug. 30, a pilot lost consciousness and his plane drifted into restricted airspace over the nation’s capital. Fighter jets were also launched in that case and stayed with the small aircraft until it ran out of fuel and crashed Saturday into the Atlantic.
Pilots are supposed to check that the cabin pressurization is correctly set before takeoff, but there have been cases where they have forgotten to do that or the pressurization level has been improperly set, said aviation safety specialist John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member. If cabin pressure drops too low, there would not be enough oxygen per cubic foot in the cabin and any people aboard would lose consciousness, he said.
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"Search for N.Y. couple’s plane off Jamaica is stymied" by David McFadden and Joan Lowy | Associated Press September 07, 2014
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Search-and-rescue crews searching off Jamaica’s northeast coast on Saturday were stymied in efforts to solve the mystery of a small private plane carrying a prominent upstate New York couple taken on a ghostly 1,700-mile journey after the pilot was apparently incapacitated.
Commander Antonette Wemyss-Gorman of the Jamaica Coast Guard said at a news conference Saturday that debris spotted off the coast Friday evening could no longer be seen. ‘‘We would have to assume it may have sunk,’’ she said.
Major Basil Jarrett of the Jamaica Defense Force had said earlier in the day that possible wreckage of the high-performance plane was spotted by a military aircraft flying off the island’s northeast coast, floating roughly 24 miles off the coastal town of Port Antonio.
Leroy Lindsay, director of Jamaica’s civil aviation authority, said the area where the private American plane went down has depths of more than 6,500 feet. The Jamaican military had reported finding an oil slick in the general area where the plane vanished.
Lindsay said that once the wreckage is located, French authorities have offered to provide expertise and equipment to bring it up from the ocean depths because the airplane was French-made.
The single-engine turboprop Socata TBM700 was carrying Rochester real estate developer Laurence Glazer and his entrepreneur wife, Jane — both experienced pilots. The plane left the Rochester airport at 8:45 a.m. Friday, en route for Naples, Fla., and was last in contact with air controllers at 10 a.m.
On Friday, US fighter pilots who were launched to shadow the unresponsive aircraft observed the pilot slumped over and its windows frosting over. Officials say the plane slammed into the sea at least 14 miles off Jamaica’s northeast coastline.
In a Friday statement, the Coast Guard Seventh District command center in Miami said three people were reportedly on board the plane. A 154-foot Coast Guard cutter and a helicopter crew are aiding in the Saturday search off Jamaica.
The plane’s pilot had indicated that there was a problem and twice asked to descend to a lower altitude before permission was granted by an air traffic controller, according to a recording of the radio conversation. Radio contact was lost shortly thereafter.
Public officials, including Governor Andrew Cuomo, offered their condolences for a couple described as a linchpin in efforts to rejuvenate an upstate New York city stung by the decline of Kodak, Bausch & Lomb, and Xerox.
Laurence Glazer cofounded Buckingham Properties and served as chief executive and managing partner, working alongside two sons. Overall, the company owns more than 60 properties in the Rochester area and in central Florida.
Jane Glazer started QCI Direct, which produces two national retail catalogs selling household and other products. It made Rochester’s Top 100 list of fastest growing privately held companies last year, according to its website.
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Also see: Two killed in N.H. plane crash
"NTSB begins investigation of N.H. plane crash" by Kiera Blessing | Globe Correspondent September 02, 2014
Investigators found no signs of pre-crash failure in the engine, wings, or propellers of a plane that plummeted to earth Monday at a New Hampshire airfield, killing two men, a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said Tuesday.
David Ingalls, 77, and Bruce Anderson, 62, both of Kingston, N.H., died Monday when the plane Ingalls was flying appeared to stall during takeoff and crashed into a cluster of trees at the Hampton Airfield in North Hampton.
NTSB spokesman Todd Gunther said an airframe specialist would examine the frame of the aircraft on Wednesday for potential problems.
The NTSB will also examine the physiology of the two men on board for any signs of what caused the crash, Gunther said at a Tuesday news conference.
There was no sign of an in-flight fire, which had been previously rumored, Gunther said.
Witness Bob Lamothe, 52, of Hampton, N.H., said the plane “just dropped out of the sky. . . . At first, I couldn’t believe I saw what I just saw.”
Lamothe said takeoff looked normal until the nose of the plane suddenly “went up at a very severe angle” before losing speed, overturning, and falling.
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Related: Who Killed Lew Katz?
"In Hanscom crash’s wake, 2d warning to Gulfstream pilots" by Laura Crimaldi | Globe Staff August 27, 2014
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. is warning pilots that a feature designed to prevent crashes is not fail-safe and that operators must rigorously follow a flight checklist before taking off. The warning comes in the wake of a May crash at Hanscom Field that killed seven people, including Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz.
In a letter dated Aug. 18, the maker of business jets issued a caution about the locking system on the Gulfstream IV, the model that crashed at Hanscom. That mechanism, known as a gust lock, protects the plane from damage when it is on the ground. But the lock must be released for aircraft to get off the ground.
It remains a mystery whether the lock on Katz’s flight was on or off, but Gulfstream is “trying to make sure our operators are informed about proper procedures about the gust lock system,” said company spokesman Steven Cass, who characterized the recently issued letter as routine. The warning applies to more than 2,000 Gulfstream aircraft.
When the gust lock is on, flight controls known as ailerons and rudders remain in a neutral position, and the elevators are in a down position. The elevators, located on the rear wings of the plane, are crucial to lifting the plane’s nose to take flight.
In theory, if the lock is in place, the jet should be able to muster only 6 percent of its total power, preventing takeoff. But Gulfstream says that in some instances, the jet may be able to attain enough power for liftoff — even though the flight controls remain in the wrong position, creating a potentially dangerous scenario.
Gulfstream’s letter says flight crews must make sure the gust lock is disengaged before starting the engine and then independently verify that the flight controls can move freely before taxiing.
“The freedom of flight-control movement is the ultimate indicator the gust lock is fully released for all Gulfstream models,” Mitchell A. Choquette, Gulfstream’s director of customer support and field service, wrote in the letter.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the agency is aware of the letter and monitoring the issue.
This is the second letter Gulfstream has issued about the gust lock and safety procedures since the crash. In June, the company urged flight crews to perform certain maintenance checks before takeoff and ensure the gust lock is released before starting the engines.
Bloomberg News was the first to report on the latest letter, which was sent to all Gulfstream operators.
Gene Allen, a Florida pilot who flies Gulfstreams, said he checks the ailerons, rudders, and elevators before heading down the runway, instead of just reviewing the status of the gust lock.
“It’s not something that I would expect to rely or use as a gauge of whether [the flight control] was working properly or not,” Allen said. “It wouldn’t occur to me that I was protected in that way.”
Aviation experts said it is unlikely that major fixes on the jets would be required, given the potential cost and the ability for flight crews to avoid the problem.
The chief executive of Private Jet Services, an aviation consultancy company in Seabrook, N.H., said that if Gulfstream attempted to mandate such fixes, the company would probably face opposition from jet owners.
“I’m confident the various operators who would bear the expense of these modifications will have a great deal to say to Gulfstream” before such a requirement became final, said Greg Raiff, the Private Jet Services executive.
The jet carrying Katz reached a speed of nearly 190 miles per hour on the runway, but never became airborne. Rather, the jet left the runway, rolled onto the grass, struck an antenna, and burst through a chain-link fence before sliding into a gully, where it erupted into flames.
Katz, three guests, and a three-member crew were departing Hanscom Field in Bedford on May 31 when their Gulfstream IV crashed.
Katz had flown to Massachusetts to attend a fund-raiser at the Concord home of historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin and her husband, former presidential adviser Richard Goodwin.
FAA records show that the plane was owned by SK Travel LLC, a North Carolina company managed by Katz and Emil W. Solimine.
Solimine was out of the country and unavailable for comment Tuesday, an assistant said.
Ed Stier, a New Jersey attorney representing Katz’s family, said they had no comment.
Pilot James McDowell, 61, of Georgetown, Del., and copilot Bauke “Michael” De Vries, 45, of Marlton, N.J., were also killed. Their families did not respond to a request for comment.
While the question of whether the plane’s gust lock was engaged remains a mystery, investigators found clues that could prove telling.
The position of the elevators at the back of the plane was consistent with the gust lock being on, according to information from the flight data recorder. If the elevators were in the down position, the plane would not take off.
But authorities going through the jet’s wreckage discovered evidence suggesting the lock was released, a June report from the National Transportation Safety Board said.
Bruce Landsberg, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Foundation in Frederick, Md., said pilots should turn off the engine if they find the gust lock engaged after starting the aircraft.
“When you start the engines, you pressurize the hydraulics system, which makes it more difficult to disengage the lock,” he said.
Raiff, of Private Jet Services, said the Gulfstream memo is a reminder of “how important it is to adhere to the strict safety and operating procedures for aircraft.”
“I sort of read it as a disclaimer and admonition to its fleet operators to not take short cuts and follow the gosh darn manual,” he said.
Pilot error, huh?
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"NTSB: Pilot in Ohio crash was trying to turn back" Associated Press September 03, 2014
CLEVELAND — The pilot of a small plane told a ground controller that he was not climbing fast enough and asked for permission to turn around just before his rented aircraft plummeted to the ground last week, killing all four college students aboard, a National Transportation Safety Board report said.
The controller said it appeared the pilot was trying to turn left when the plane struck the ground and smashed through a fence, according to the preliminary report. The report also said the 20-year-old pilot, William Felten, headed for the wrong runway at one point before takeoff.
Killed in the Aug. 25 crash were Felten, of Saginaw, Mich., and his three passengers: Lucas Marcelli, 20, of Massillon, Ohio; Abraham Pishevar, 18, of Rockville, Md; and John Hill, 18, of St. Simons, Ga. The four men planned a nighttime sightseeing trip after their first day of classes at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Marcelli, Pishevar, and Hill belonged to the school’s wrestling team. Felten and Marcelli were second-year students. Hill and Pishevar were freshmen.
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Related: Amish Appeal to Lower Power
Also see:
Two struck by lightning as storms cross region
Massive storm leaves wreckage, lightning strikes in its wake
3 bird strikes within hours at NYC’s LaGuardia
"Seat spat diverts Paris-bound flight to Logan Airport" by Kiera Blessing | Globe Correspondent August 29, 2014
In the second case of its kind in less than a week, an airline flight was diverted after a dispute over someone reclining their seat, this time landing in Boston.
A flight bound for Paris from Miami was diverted to Logan International Airport Wednesday night when a passenger became enraged after the woman in front of him reclined her seat, officials said.
Edmund Alexandre, 61, of Paris, was arrested at the airport at about 9:40 p.m., said Nicole Morrell, a spokeswoman for State Police. Alexandre is facing federal and state charges of interfering with the crew on the American Airlines flight.
Alexandre became upset when the passenger in front of him reclined her seat, Suffolk prosecutors said in a statement. When a member of the flight crew attempted to calm him, Alexandre allegedly became even angrier, following the crewman down the plane’s aisle and grabbing him by the arm.
An air marshal intervened and handcuffed Alexandre while the plane descended.
No one was injured, but Alexandre was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for observation and treatment for a pre-existing medical condition, State Police said in a statement.
Alexandre was arraigned Thursday at the hospital, where the judge imposed personal recognizance. Once released from the hospital, Alexandre will go to East Boston District Court for his next hearing on Dec. 29.
On Sunday, a dispute over a passenger reclining a seat on United Flight 1462 from Newark, N.J., to Denver led to the flight’s diversion to Chicago, the Associated Press reported.
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This is also a by-product of airlines shrinking space and cutting routes so they could have greater profitability on top of the fees for such inconveniences while the wealth is catered to.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
Families mark 20th anniversary of Pa. plane crash
That didn't make print.
Time to retire.
