Terrible time for Aviation.

Steyr

http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/news/Aircraft-crashes-near-Witheridge/article-937575-detail/article.html


THE CREW of a light aircraft have escaped without injury after it crashed near Witheridge.
The two men, believed to be in their 30s, escaped unhurt after crash-landing near Foxdon Farm between Witheridge and Nomansland.
The former ex-military aircraft now in private ownership came down at around 4pm today.
Neighbour Jenny Shearer saw the BAC 167 Strikemaster aircraft flying very low over her property.
She said: "The aircraft then came down. There were two or three bangs and it landed in the hedge about three fields behind us."
Jenny said she went to see if the men, believed to be a doctor and a former RAF serviceman, were harmed but they had both escaped without injury and did not need to be taken to hospital.
Jenny added: "They both seemed fine which was good.
"There is still a lot of activity here, with the emergency services arriving.
"I have never seen anything like it here before, it is a fairly quiet area."
Ambulance, police, firefighters and the air ambulance all attended the incident.
Aircraft accident investigators were expected to arrive at 7.30pm.
Police have sealed off the area around the BAC 167 Strikemaster aircraft in the meantime.
Fire crews from Witheridge, Tiverton, Taunton and Wellington, a fire service environmental unit and a support engine from Crediton and a water bowser from Exeter were all called.
All the fire crews and representatives from the Environment Agency are preventing the spread of fuel and contaminants in the area.


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http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/s ... 40,00.html

Ecuadorean military training jet crashes; 2 killed

Thursday March 26, 2009 12:16 AM


QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — An Ecuadorean air force training jet crashed in a jungle area near the Colombian border Wednesday, claiming the lives of the pilot and a rescuer, officials said.

The Strikemaster MK-89 went down during a training mission about 112 miles (180 kilometers) east of the capital, Quito. The pilot and co-pilot managed to eject before the jet crashed, according to a statement from air force commander Gen. Leonardo Barreiro.

The men were located by three military helicopters sent to the scene and the co-pilot was rescued. But the pilot and a member of the air force rescue team were killed when a cable snapped as they were being lifted to a helicopter, Barreiro said.

"It is still not know why this occurred," the statement said.

The reason the plane crash has also not been determined.

The crash is the second by a military plane in less than a week in Ecuador. Last Thursday, a small army plane slammed into an apartment building in the capital, killing five people aboard the plane and two on the ground

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http://www.mosnews.com/military/2009/04/27/su35/

Russian new generation fighter jet crashes during tests
27 Apr, 11:42 PM

A state-of-the-art fighter Su-35 has crashed during tests in the Russian Far East.

The incident occurred on the runway of the airfield of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Monday, Itar Tass reports.

It is thought that before takeoff, the fighter collided with an obstacle and caught fire.

The pilot managed to activate the ejector seat and survived. He was rushed to hospital with burns and other injuries. The fighter skidded off the runway and fell apart.

The crash has not yet been confirmed; with officials still refraining from comments.

According to Komcity.ru website, the fighter’s fuel supply system got jammed and the pilot could neither take off nor stop the plane.

The crashed Sukhoi 35 was one of only four Su 35s ever built.


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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hIwdFlR12aHzHCcZuGgMKRl3eaLwD97PST280

Firefighting plane crashes in Utah; crew of 3 die
By PAUL FOY – 1 day ago

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A converted military plane crashed Saturday in heavy fog in the mountains that frame the Salt Lake valley, killing three members of a private firefighting company, authorities said.

Tooele County Sheriff Frank Park said the plane was en route from Missoula, Mont., to Alamogordo, N.M., when it failed to clear a pass in the Oquirrh Mountains.

The crew members for Missoula-based Neptune Aviation were bound for southern New Mexico to help fight a nearly 30-square-mile wildfire, said Dan Ware, a spokesman for the New Mexico Forestry Division.

"While we must pause to mourn their loss, within the wildland community we must also honor them by continuing to fight fires to protect our communities," state forester Arthur Blazer said.

The wildfire, which was 20 percent contained, was threatening a home and several outbuildings and a power distribution line, officials said.

The sheriff identified the pilot as Tom Risk, 66, of Littleton, Colo., and the crew members as Mike Flynn, 59, of Alamogordo, N. M., and Brian Buss, 32, of Alberton, Mont.

Neptune's ground safety and security coordinator, Miek Pfau, said he could confirm only that the company lost an aircraft.

The wreckage of the plane, a twin-propeller P2V Neptune with a 100-foot wing span, was located near Stockton Pass, spread out over about 100 yards, Park said.

Search and rescue crews reached the steep, rugged site on foot and all-terrain vehicles to recover the bodies. They were turned over to the state medical examiner, he said.

Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration were at the crash site Saturday, and officials with the National Transportation Safety Board planned to arrive Sunday, the sheriff said.

Park said the Neptune, a plane developed during the Korean war that is commonly used to fight wildfires, had been equipped for dropping fire retardant.

He said visibility was only 100 feet when the plane failed to clear Stockton Pass. It missed the pass by an eighth of a mile and slammed into a mountain instead, but should have been flying higher, he said.

The plane was being tracked by the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, which lost track of it before the pilot could report any trouble or issue a distress signal, the sheriff said.

Associated Press writer Heather Clark in Albuquerque contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.



Bloody hell.

diverdriver

Seems like pretty routine run of events to me. Military flying is inherenty dangerous, except in the Irish Air Corps:rolleyes:. Flying old military jets and fire bombers is also a risky enough exercise too.

One of the aviation magazines publishes a monthly toll of military accidents worldwide. There's near enough one a day sometimes, sometimes a lot more.

It's a dangerous business.

Mr Benevolent

Seems like pretty routine run of events to me. Military flying is inherenty dangerous, except in the Irish Air Corps. Flying old military jets and fire bombers is also a risky enough exercise too.

+1. Surprised that the UK Strikemaster crash didn't result in deaths. Those things are fuel thirsty deathtrps. Give me an L39C any day.

(Spare L39C guv'nor? I haven't had one for weeks!')