Lear 35 Bizjet Down ***

[BRISTOLRE]

BREAKING NEWS
News just coming in of Lear 35 Bizjet crash in Conneticut USA.
Jet came down clipped roof of houses and ended up in river.
At least 3x fatalities reported which happened 0650LT today.
Sad condolences to all.

[McD]

Click here (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030804/ap_on_re_us/plane_down) for a link to a news article regarding the mishap.

[newarksmells]

While the plane did "clip the apartment building", it also caused a massive fire that burnt the structure to the ground in Groton, CT. All 38 people in the building survived but unfortunately many have nowhere to live tonight. Equally as unfortunate, after a series of spins and summersaults, both pilots ended up in the water inside their plane and were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

At the time, they were on their second go-around to an airport that wouldn't have had personnel running the tower until 20 minutes in the future. RIP to all concerned.

Newarksmells

[mvand003]

A Learjet 35 (file photo, right) en route from Long Island (NY) plowed through several houses before coming to rest partially submerged in Groton (CT) Monday. Witnesses say debris was scattered along a half-mile long path. "It is amazing that no one on the ground was seriously hurt," said the Groton town fire marshal, Michael Richards. The aircraft was turning left toward final when its wing clipped a house and then tore through two more homes. The aircraft exploded in a fireball in the Poquonnock River around 6:40 a.m., witnesses said. The plane left Republic Airport in Farmingdale (NY) at 6:11 a.m., headed for Groton, where it was to pick up a single passenger for a charter flight, according to Stephen M. Demko, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. FAA records show the aircraft, bearing the tail number N135PT, is owned by Jetpro of New Hyde Park (NY). It was leased and operated by Air East, a charter service based at Farmingdale. A first look at the aircraft's record indicates no harm, no foul before Monday morning. "There is nothing in our database showing any accidents or incidents involving this particular aircraft or any other aircraft registered to Air East Charter," said FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac. The Lear 35 was to take its lone passenger from Groton to Buffalo (NY) before returning to Groton, according to Demko. The NTSB investigator said, judging from where the wreckage was found and from witness accounts, it seemed that the pilot was wide to the right of the proper course for a landing on Runway 23 at the airport. "From what I understand, he was in a left-hand turn." "He signaled that he had visual contact with the airport," Demko said, indicating that the crew was going to land the plane manually instead of using instruments. The weather at the airport was clear, although there were clouds in the vicinity, according to forecasts and observations. Tom Neigel, 38, said he was drinking coffee in bed when he heard a thunderous roar outside. He jumped up and ran to the window, to see a plane heading right at his house. "It all happened so fast," he said. "The next thing I saw, the wing clipped the house next to mine, went into the trees and blew up in the river." His son, Matt, 12, ran outside with his father. "I went out the door and all I saw was this black smoke and these big flames and I was like, `Oh, my God,'" said Matt. The elder Neigel, whose house was just outside the Lear's flightpath, said he and his son helped Rose Peret, 72, and her daughter Janice get to the street, where the women watched their house burn down. "They watched their entire life go up in flames," said the fire marshal. Before coming to a stop, the Lear 35 tore through 47-year old Gloria Aldana's house. "She jumped through the window with the cordless phone in her hand and called me right away. She was screaming and crying and didn't know if her son was in the house sleeping," said her sister-in-law, Ditas Manuel. Fortunately, the son wasn't home.

[finfly1]

The manager of the airport from which the lear departed (KFRG) was quoted on our local tv as saying that there had not been a crash of a business jet based at or even visiting that airport in the twenty years he had been there.

I felt that the crash of such a jet in apparently good weather at sea level at an airport fairly free of obstructions was unusual, or maybe even 'highly unusual', but was soundly contradicted when voicing this opinion elsewhere.

DO the readers of this forum feel that such an accident is at all unusual, or maybe even quite a bit unusual etc etc.

[lomapaseo]

Finfly

I'm not sure where you are coming from.

Air accidents specific to any one aircraft type and or airport are rare incidents and therfore unusual events.

Unfortunately in all too many cases the investigation ultimately reveals causal factors that we have all seen before, albeit under slightly different circumstances, thus making it a bit more common to us even though it was not expected for that specific flight.

Since I'm not aware that any characterization of likely causal factors has been identified in this accident or even other factors ruled out I can not yet relate to your characterization of unusual

Perhaps this is what has caused the problem in interpreting what you meant in the other forum.

[pigboat]

Used to go into GON occasionally. There sometimes is a lot of ground fog around the airport early in the morning before the sun has had a chance to burn it off.