I tell ya, if there's any one thing that will get aviation further regulated, it's these people who insist on crashing into residences. There were 2 separate accidents yesterday involving crashes into homes. The general public already considers us rich guys who periodically bring death from above, this really doesn't help. Don't even bother to read the comments. A few years ago I tuned into the news to see my beloved rental Champ sticking out the roof of a house just north of the Aurora airport. Come on!!

Crash #1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/small-plane-crashes-into-garden-apartment-in-herndon/2013/05/31/6af063b8-c9d5-11e2-8da7-d274bc611a47_story.html



Crash #2

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Small-plane-crashes-into-home-in-Eatonville-209606151.html

I know the pilot of the first crash in Herndon. He is a friend of mine - incredibly lucky that no one was seriously injured or died. The pilot and passengers are all out of the hospital and either at home or on their way there. The report is that he ran out of fuel - I don't have much more info than what the news is reporting. Hard to believe that this could have happened to him. I've always wondered about people who run out of fuel, but knowing him this is very strange to me. Just goes to show that we all need to be careful, and even great pilots screw up sometimes. Still, lucky that it turned out as well as it did. However, it would have been better for all involved, and the rest of us too, if it didn't happen at all.

In the picture gallery, they said he had electrical problems and the engine quite while taking aerial photos. I am just glad no one was injured but yes...this kind of thing is bad bad bad P.R.!

Both accounts paint a dark picture for the pilots... I agree, there are much better places to park you plane than into someones house! The second one is kind of scary. In order to avoid a rain squall he hit the trees and the house. WTF... Must have been one hell of a squall to make a person forget to look at anything on the panel, like the altimiter, AH, turn n bank.. Sounds like both guys just didnt fly the damn plane.

New update on my friend in the first photo: he's at home sleeping with cuts and bruises and a broken ankle. Everyone else is about the same, but as far as I know he is the only one who broke something.

I should have learned my lesson long ago, but the information I had about him running out of fuel was from a reliable source. However, there are reports that it was an electrical or ignition issue, not a fuel issue now. I should not have reported lack of fuel as the problem until I knew for certain. It may have been fuel, or electrical, or something else. For now I'm just glad that he, his passengers and the residents of the home are all alive and mostly well. When we find out the actual cause of the accident, then I'll feel more comfortable discussing what he did right or wrong. Currently, I don't know enough facts to make a call on that.

For what it's worth, I watched a major three-letter news source first report it as out of fuel, but by day end their story was modified to show it as electrical problems instead.

Another website quoted a police/fire official as stating something along the lines of... "thank god there was no fuel in the tanks, ... (otherwise fire)..."

That's probably why we see conflicting reports here. I'm sure the NTSB will tell more in time.

Another case in point:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/25/sm ... latestnews


We can be our own worst enemy!
lc

I've always thought that if I had no choice but to set down in a residential neighborhood, I'd aim for a street rather than a house. Of the few incidents I can recall where the pilot had to do that, the results weren't nearly as catastrophic as those in which the pilot flew into a house.

Cary

Cary wrote:I've always thought that if I had no choice but to set down in a residential neighborhood, I'd aim for a street rather than a house. Of the few incidents I can recall where the pilot had to do that, the results weren't nearly as catastrophic as those in which the pilot flew into a house.

Cary

I think that the pilots that end up in the houses probably are aiming for streets, and then it all goes bad at the end.

Yeah - I agree Zzz. I'm guessing they were trying to get to the street and came up short - Although the second image the plane probably made the street and lost control/hit something.

Just another reason to practice dead-stick landings, and frequently. We get used to milking that throttle and forget where the plane will touch at idle.

Jim

The REAL problem is unthinking people building and occupying houses in the way of aircraft. None of those houses should have been built where they were: all of them should have been built far, far away from where aircraft need(ed) to be. In the same vein as the poorly placed deer crossing signs, this is a classic case of poor city planning.

Doh! Glastar bites the dust into a house...



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -away.html

And yet again...

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/topstories/article/323280/483/Plane-crashes-into-Connecticut-homes

This one is really bad - multiple fatalities including two children on the ground. A very tragic event and heartfelt condolences to those who are impacted by this. The plane, pilot, and his 17-year old son are from Oregon.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/2013/08/09/plane-crashes-into-house-east-haven/XhTdvIXrau5fXpDRAQ7v8J/story.html

More info:

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/201 ... ports-say/

Very sad. Condolences for the families.

Unfortunately GA air crashes get enormous publicity when anyone dies. And yet, car crashes nation-wide averaging 89 fatalities per day, hardly get any more than 30 seconds on one night's TV news, compared to GA fatalities of roughly 1 1/3 per day nationwide.

Cary

Unfortunately GA air crashes get enormous publicity when anyone dies. And yet, car crashes nation-wide averaging 89 fatalities per day, hardly get any more than 30 seconds on one night's TV news, compared to GA fatalities of roughly 1 1/3 per day nationwide.

What you are providing is perspective. What they (media/news) are providing is entertainment/sensationalism....
In a nutshell-what they have "sells"....

Yes, sad state of priorities..
lc

Almost everyone has a drivers license and knows someone who has been in an automobile accident. A lot have been in accidents themselves. Quite a few people know someone who was killed in an auto accident. No news here.

Almost no one has a pilots license or knows someone who has been in an airplane accident, much less died. News here.

Unfortunately we will be stuck with this high profile coverage forever I'm afraid.