Tigereye
29th Aug 2003, 02:41
Anyone know the American Pilot who died when his single seater
crashed on his way to Thailand?
Just heard the tail end of the storey on an asian tv station.
ferrydude
30th Aug 2003, 05:12
would like to hear any info. I know most of the folks doing that sort of work
ferrydude
31st Aug 2003, 10:01
Seems it was a C421-C model. Just had maintenance performed during a tech stop in Calcutta, had problems on departure, declared an emergency and was coming back to the field, crashed short. Prayers for the deceased pilot and surviving family
Cyclic Hotline
31st Aug 2003, 10:15
From the FAA accident report: (http://www1.faa.gov/avr/aai/F_0828_N.txt)
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 2724M Make/Model: C421 Description: 421, Golden Eagle, Executive C Date: 08/27/2003 Time: 1523
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
City: CALCUTTA INDIA State: Country: IN
DESCRIPTION
SOUTHERN CROSS AVIATION, N2724M, C421, CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES WHILE ON A FERRY FLIGHT TO SINGAPORE, NO PASSENGERS WERE ON BOARD, ONE PILOT WAS FATALLY INJURED, 11 NE CALCUTTA, INDIA
And
from another news source: (http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstory.php?id=13237473)
Plane crash inquiry begins
Saturday, 30 August , 2003, 06:08
Kolkata: The probe team of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday visited the accident site of single seater plane at Swetpur village in North 24 Parganas district although the black box was yet to be found, while a Dutch Government official came here to take delivery of the body of Capt Docke de Graaf.
The probe team headed by Ramnath, Head of Regional Air Safety wing here, went to the village to inquire into the causes that led to the Cessna SXA 180 plane to crash into a paddy field on Wednesday.
Apart from investigating the cause and nature of the crash, the probe team members discussed the ways to salvage the wreckage of the Cessna embedded in about a knee deep mud in the paddy field.
Asked about the missing black box of the plane, an Aviation expert said "black boxes may not always be fitted in such a small aircraft but the issue have to be sorted out after going through documents and designs".
States IGP (law and order) Chayan Mukherjee said that the investigators had not yet succeeded in recovering the black box.
He said that a the Dutch government representative Fjoerd Postma airdashed from Netherland to take delivery of Graaf's body during the day.
Graaf, working for the US-based Southern Cross Aviation company, died when the aircraft crashed immediately after take-off from the N S C Bose international airport here.
Meanwhile, two members from the Civil Aviation Ministry arrived here from Delhi to conduct more investigations to ascertain the cause of the crash.