Aviation Accidents, Safety and Disasters

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      Pilots Discussed Alternate Ways to Land Before Deadly Jeju Air Crash

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      The pilots’ conversation with air traffic controllers, revealed in a partial transcript, could offer clues to what caused the disaster in South Korea, which killed 179 people.The pilots of Jeju Air Flight 2216 signaled three different plans for landing the stricken plane in the minutes before it crashed and killed 179 people in December, according to a partial transcript of their communication with air traffic controllers obtained by The New York Times.The transcript shows that the pilots reported a bird strike and radioed a mayday call as they approached Muan International Airport in South Korea on the morning of Dec. 29. They said they would turn left, then asked to turn right, intending to approach the airport’s sole runway from the south. When that failed, air traffic controllers asked if they wanted to land from the opposite direction, and the pilots said yes.The plane landed on its belly, overran the runway and struck a concrete structure that housed navigation aids, bursting into a deadly fireball. Only two people — flight attendants at the very back of the plane, a Boeing 737-800 — survived.The cause of the disaster, the deadliest plane crash on South Korean soil, is still being investigated, and the exchange between the pilots and the control tower could be a crucial piece of the puzzle. That is because it covers a period of about four minutes during which both of the plane’s flight recorders, known as black boxes, had stopped recording.The transcript includes no information about the state of the jet’s two engines or its electrical supply, which are intense areas of focus for investigators. It is still unclear why the black boxes went dark or why the plane’s landing gear was not engaged.The transcript was read out on Saturday to relatives of the victims by a representative of a board that was set up to investigate the crash. The official told them that the readout excluded parts of the conversation to protect the privacy of its participants, according to people who shared it with The Times. Officials have not publicly released the transcript, and the board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Small Plane Crashes in a Minneapolis Suburb, Killing at Least One, Officials Say

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      No one in the house was injured after the plane crashed in Brooklyn Park, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis, officials said.A small plane crashed in a residential area in Brooklyn Park, Minn., on Saturday, leaving a house in flames.ABC NewsAt least one person was killed after a small plane crashed into a house in a Minneapolis suburb on Saturday afternoon, engulfing the home in flames, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and local officials.No one in the house was injured after the plane crashed in Brooklyn Park, Minn., Risikat Adesaogun, the city’s communications manager, said. Shawn Conway, the city’s fire chief, said no one aboard the plane survived, though it was not immediately known how many people were aboard.The plane, which the F.A.A. identified as a SOCATA TBM7, seats a maximum of seven people, according to GlobalAir.com.The home that was hit was a “complete loss” and there was minor damage to nearby homes, Ms. Adesaogun said. The F.A.A. and the National Transportation Safety Board were traveling to Brooklyn Park to investigate the crash.The plane took off from Des Moines International Airport in Iowa and was headed to Anoka County-Blaine Airport in Minnesota, the F.A.A. said, when it crashed at 12:20 p.m. in Brooklyn Park, a city of about 82,000 people that is 11 miles north of Minneapolis.Footage from a Ring security camera appeared to show the plane nose-diving a short distance away. Videos from the scene also showed a large home engulfed in flames.Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota said on social media that his team was “monitoring the situation closely.” More

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      D.C. Plane Crash Echoes Boston Skating Club’s 1961 Tragedy

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      Two months after the D.C. plane crash killed 67, including six people affiliated with the Boston club, the members had to prepare for the world championships. Unfathomably, they had a blueprint.One floor above the ice rinks at the Skating Club of Boston, there’s a lounge that would have hosted a party after January’s U.S. Figure Skating national championships.Its glass doors would have been thrown open, and its fireplace set aglow, as several hundred people gathered to toast the club’s latest champions, the pairs skaters Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, who had won their first national title.But that celebration never happened. It couldn’t, and it wouldn’t, after six of the club’s members died in a plane crash on Jan. 29 in Washington. Twenty-eight passengers involved in skating, including 11 young athletes and four coaches, were among the 67 people killed that day.Jinna Han, 13, and Spencer Lane, 16, two of the organization’s up-and-coming skaters, were traveling home with their mothers from a development camp held after the nationals in Wichita., Kan., when an Army helicopter collided with their passenger jet above the Potomac River. No one survived. Two of the club’s coaches — Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, a married couple who were the 1994 world champions in pairs — were also on the plane.Yet the lounge at the Boston club did not remain empty. In the hours and days after the crash, one by one, or arm in arm, people arrived and filled the space, drawn to the beloved club that has existed for more than a century, and to a community that many consider a second family.Paul George, a longtime club member, hugs former Olympic figure skaters Dr. Tenley Albright and Nancy Kerrigan.Sophie Park for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Plane Fire at Denver Airport Forces Passengers to Evacuate Onto Wing

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      The flight had been diverted to the airport after experiencing “engine vibrations,” the authorities said. Six passengers were taken to a hospital for evaluation.American Airlines, which operated the flight, said the plane had experienced an “engine-related issue.”Branden Williams/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAn American Airlines plane that was diverted to Denver International Airport on Thursday evening after experiencing “engine vibrations” caught fire while taxiing to a gate, prompting the evacuation of dozens of passengers, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.Six passengers were taken to a hospital for further evaluation, the airline said. Their conditions were not immediately known.The flight, a Boeing 737-800 with 172 passengers and six crew members, was traveling from Colorado Springs to Dallas but was diverted to the Denver airport, the airline said. Some of the passengers were evacuated from the aircraft using slides, the F.A.A. said.“After landing safely and taxiing to the gate at Denver International Airport, American Airlines Flight 1006 experienced an engine-related issue,” the airline said. Videos posted to social media showed passengers standing on the plane’s wing and climbing down a portable staircase to leave the plane. Light gray smoke filled the air. From other angles, black smoke poured out of the aircraft and orange flames could be seen at the base of the aircraft.A video taken by Mike Insalata, a Denver resident, showed a large fire under the plane’s left engine. The F.AA. is investigating.The episode at Denver International Airport was the latest in a recent string of aviation woes. On Feb. 25, two separate airplanes, one at Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport and another at Chicago’s Midway International Airport, had to abort landings to avoid collisions.Earlier last month, a plane at the Toronto Pearson Airport flipped over. And on Feb. 5, the wing of a plane was impaled on the tail of another plane during a collision on the ground at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. More

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      3 People Killed in Medical Helicopter Crash in Mississippi

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      A pilot and two crew members were aboard the helicopter, which was not carrying any patients when it plunged into the woods outside Jackson.All three people working aboard a medical helicopter were killed when it crashed into a densely wooded area outside Jackson, Miss., on Monday while returning from transporting a patient, hospital officials said.Two of the people were crew members who worked for the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the other was a pilot, Dr. LouAnn Woodward, the medical center’s top administrator, said during a news conference. The helicopter was not carrying any patients at the time of the accident, she added.It was not clear what caused the aircraft, which the Federal Aviation Administration identified as a Eurocopter EC-135, to lose control. The F.A.A. said that it and the National Transportation Safety Board would investigate the crash, which occurred around 1:15 p.m.Officials did not release the names of the three people who died. They were based out of Columbus, Miss., and were part of AirCare 3, one of four medical helicopter units operated by the medical center.“The entire medical center family is heartbroken over this,” Dr. Woodward said. “This is the crew that responds to emergencies all across the state, and to see them today to respond to one of their own was just something that you can’t put into words.”Dr. Woodward said that the AirCare helicopters and their crews played an integral role in providing critical care services across Mississippi, and that they had a spotless safety record until the crash on Monday.The crews frequently include nurses and paramedics, according to an information page on the medical center’s website. They are equipped with oxygen, ventilators and other critical care equipment.Dr. Woodward said that the pilot who died worked for Med-Trans, the company that leases the AirCare helicopters to the medical center.The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.The crash happened a little more than five weeks after a medical jet crashed in Philadelphia, killing six people aboard the plane and one person on the ground. And it added to a spate of recent aviation accidents. On Jan. 29, an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter collided over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., leaving no survivors. On Feb. 17, a Delta Air Lines flight trying to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport amid strong winds and drifting snow crashed and flipped over on the tarmac; all 80 people who were aboard that plane survived. More

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      Plane With 5 Aboard Crashes in Lancaster County, Pa.

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      Those on board were taken to a hospital, officials said, and three of them were transported to a burn center. Radio transmissions indicated the pilot reported an “open door” just before the crash.A small aircraft carrying five people crashed in a parking lot of a retirement community in Lancaster County, Pa., on Sunday afternoon, according to local officials, after the pilot reported there was an “open door,” air traffic transmissions show.The aircraft, a six-seater Beechcraft Bonanza, crashed outside of Brethren Village Retirement Community at 3:18 p.m. after it took off from Lancaster Airport, Scott Little, the fire chief of Manheim Township Fire Rescue, said at a news conference on Sunday.According to a spokesperson for Lancaster General Hospital, all five people on the plane were transported to Lancaster General Hospital on Sunday. Two people were then transported to Lehigh Valley Health Network’s burn center by emergency flight crews, and one person was transported there by ground ambulance. Two people remain hospitalized at Lancaster General, the spokesperson said.No one on the ground was hurt, officials said.Duane Fisher, police chief of Manheim Township, said at the news conference that it looked like the aircraft skidded about 100 feet after hitting the ground. About a dozen vehicles were damaged, though there was no damage to buildings.According to the Aviation Safety Network, which provides real-time information on airline accidents and safety, the plane departed Lancaster Airport and was bound for Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport in Springfield, Ohio.Shortly after taking off, the pilot reported there was an “open door,” and that the plane needed “to return for a landing,” according to an air traffic control recording. The pilot reported difficulty hearing the controller because of the wind.Videos on social media showed the plane and nearby vehicles engulfed in flames, with smoke billowing from the fire.The F.A.A. and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. More

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      Strong Winds Send U.S. Customs Blimp on a 600-Mile Trip Across Texas

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      Wind blasts dislodged the aircraft from its moorings in South Padre. The blimp drifted all the way to the Dallas area, where it crashed into power lines.Strong winds dislodged a U.S. Customs and Border Protection surveillance blimp in South Padre Island, Texas, this week, sending it on an unplanned journey of nearly 600 miles across the state until it crashed into power lines outside Dallas, the authorities said. The blimp, which was about 200 feet long, broke free from its tether just after 3 p.m. Monday during a “severe wind event,” the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations division said in a statement. Maximum wind gusts were around 30 miles per hour that day, slightly stronger than normal, said Ben Ellzey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville.Operators lost contact with the white blimp shortly after it became loose, according to the statement. The agency asked residents to report any sighting of it.According to the Air and Marine Operations division, Quinlan Texas Fire and Rescue found the blimp on Tuesday in Hunt County, about 30 miles east of Dallas.Chief Ryan Biggers of the South Hunt County Fire Rescue said he was puzzled when the department received a “weird” call about 6:40 a.m. Wednesday from Border Patrol seeking help with recovering the blimp. “I was kind of unsure what they meant,” Chief Biggers said.When he responded, he saw white material hanging over trees and power lines, as if a white tarp had been laid out, he said. “I couldn’t even tell it was a blimp,” Chief Biggers said.The balloon was too tangled for fire equipment, he said, adding that a heavy rotator wrecker was needed to lift the debris and what remained of the blimp off the power lines it had crashed into.Jake Cunningham, operations manager at Benson Bros. Wrecker Service, a professional towing company that was called in for assistance with recovering the blimp, said, “Fortunately, we are a little more experienced in some of the stranger calls.”Mr. Cunningham said that two operators had extracted the balloon using a 60-ton rotator, a crane with a long arm that spins, in a process that took about two hours. “It was a delicate situation,” he said.Chief Biggers, reflecting on the event, said, “I never received a call like that, and I doubt I ever will again.”The U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to offer additional comment. More details will be shared as they become available, the agency said.The Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment.The air and marine operations branch of Customs and Border Protection, which is responsible for stopping the illegal movement of people and cargo approaching the country’s borders, employs about 1,800 agents and other support personnel and has 240 aircraft and 300 marine vessels.U.S. Customs and Border Protection uses aerostat systems, also called blimps, to provide aerial surveillance at the border. The blimps are attached to the ground and can hover as high as 15,000 feet, with a search area of approximately 200 feet, according to the agency. They can weigh as much as 2,400 pounds. More

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      FedEx Plane Lands With Engine on Fire at Newark Airport After Bird Strike

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      The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, said that the plane landed on Saturday morning and that there were no reported injuries.A FedEx cargo plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Saturday morning at Newark Liberty International Airport with one of its engines on fire after it struck a bird while leaving the airport, officials said.The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, said there were no reported injuries. There were three people aboard the plane, the authority said.In a statement, FedEx said the plane was flying from Newark to Indianapolis when the bird strike occurred. “Our crew declared an emergency and returned safely to Newark,” it said, adding that the plane was being evaluated. The company did not respond to a question about what cargo, if any, was on board.The Federal Aviation Administration said the bird strike damaged one of the Boeing 767’s engines. The agency said the plane, FedEx Flight 3609, was disabled on a runway. The Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting unit, the Port Authority Police and Port Authority Operations responded to the emergency landing.The episode happened at around 8 a.m., and operations resumed at the airport a short time later.A fire can be seen on the underside of the plane in footage shared on social media. A video of the plane while it was airborne shows a flash of what appears to be fire and then a puff of smoke.The episode follows a string of aviation disasters, including the midair collision of an Army helicopter and a passenger jet in Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.It is not uncommon for planes to strike wildlife such as birds, and most episodes do not result in deaths or serious injuries.There were 19,603 wildlife strikes reported in the United States in 2023, or an average of about 54 strikes each day, according to a Federal Aviation Administration report published in June. Of those strikes, 3.6 percent caused damage. More