Plane Crash Stories

[North]

This pic has haunted me almost every time I look at it. I was in line at LAX to get on this very plane to go to San Diego. I was with a guy I was working with and while we were in line to get our tickets I said, "I don't want to go to San Diego today." He didn't give a shit. We were driving into Hollywood when it came over the radio. We were in shock for days.

Along those lines, family friend was supposed to be on Pan Am 103. Missed her flight.

[evdog]

My office at the time was a few blocks from where this fighter jet crashed. I have never heard as many emergency vehicles as I did that day. Scary stuff... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_S...o_F/A-18_crash


For a summer job while going to school I worked for a logging company. Years earlier the engineering crewman I worked with came across plane wreckage on a mountainside with the pilot's remains were still inside. The crash was a couple decades old at that point. The pilot was heading to Port Angeles WA but missed it in a storm and flew over Juan de Fuca Straight before crashing on a mountain west of Victoria. He had to hike into the site numerous times with RCMP, coroner, the pilot's family, etc.

[summit]

My brother in law was killed in a mid air collision between two Tornado GR1s just days into the build up to Desert Storm/Gulf War. Flying at low level over the North Sea while developing methods to use the Tornado's cold war runway denial munitions against tank formations.

His body was never recovered. From floating debris it was determined that neither of his plane's ejector seats had been fired.



He and my sister had got married 5 months earlier.

That's sad and tragic
Appreciate your sharing

[summit]

Not as exciting as the original post. I was ski touring and went through some Woods that I hadn't normally skied through. I came across something strange sticking up out of the snow. Coming from a family of pilots who worked in the aviation world, incidence air crash investigation, I recognized that it was control surfaces from an aircraft. It was old. I later learned that it was a Martin 404 and 31 had died.

I've also used elt trackers to locate crashed aircraft. When they burn sometimes the elt signal is gone. This one time we had a signal and both pilot and his son survived with only minor injuries. That was pretty neat lucky for them

[Cono Este]

I sold some insurance to a lady in a huge mansion once. During the meeting she revealed her husband died in the Lockerbie bombing/crash. When I went home I googled her and there were pics of her protesting Gadaffi back in the 90’s.

So that house in St Louis was paid for by Libya. Weird.




Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[m2711c]

about 45 syracuse university students were on that flight. A girl I was seeing at the time was supposed to be one of them. She had wanted to come home earlier, but her parents insisted that she go on the normal flight with the rest of the group. She didn’t listen to her parents, and got on the earlier flight anyways. When she walked through the door at home, her parents were sitting on the couch watching the news footage of the plane crash thinking that she was on it. She had no idea the crash and happen until that point.

[refried]

This one went down on the island a few years ago on the island, they were on their way to Orcas for dinner from Seattle and had engine trouble. The pilot landed on a road hitting a couple signs and a fence, no injuries.



the kid in the foreground was a passenger and thought the whole thing was kinda cool and was more than happy to talk about it.

[Flounder]

about 45 syracuse university students were on that flight. A girl I was seeing at the time was supposed to be one of them. She had wanted to come home earlier, but her parents insisted that she go on the normal flight with the rest of the group. She didn’t listen to her parents, and got on the earlier flight anyways. When she walked through the door at home, her parents were sitting on the couch watching the news footage of the plane crash thinking that she was on it. She had no idea the crash and happen until that point.

I was there during that time. My girlfriend at the time lost a good friend on that flight. Couple of people in my architecture program were supposed to be on that flight but decided to extend for another week. Pretty somber time around campus.

Worst I've ever had is caught in a down draft flying into BTV while returning from Japan. Crazy amount of warning signals coming from the cockpit, full throttle, and it was a fight to keep above ground. Pre 911 so cockpit door was open so everyone could hear the system spouting warnings and tons of beeps and alarms. Ended up bugging out and landing in NH.

Sent from my SM-G950U using TGR Forums mobile app

[splat]

Worst commercial landing I was ever on was in Salt Lake, DC9 Hughes Airwest flight and some strong crosswinds. Plane was getting tossed hard and the pilot shoulda pulled out but he went for it and dropped the nosewheel on the runway first and then it pitched hard at the same time. Fukkin everybody did the death scream but me from the sounds of it. I was looking out the window and saw the wingtip miss the runway by less than a foot, then she fell hard onto the rear gear and it was over. I kept wondering what might have happened if that wing made contact.

[L82thegate]

A good friend was lost along with the Pilot in Dutch Harbor Ak. 1996. Was a short flight to transport him back from a vessel piloting job but never landed. No sign of debris or wreckage after days of searching so a water downing is the probable outcome. Maybe a month or two later, I was watching some VCR taped show on fishing in the Aleutian area and the same aircraft he was on was shown landing fisherman on a beach and taking off. Sent shivers down my spine.

[Gcooker]

Toronto mags may remember the plane that crashed into Lake Ontario during the airshow in 95'
I was heading into the city and remember seeing it going too slow and pitching down, thinking, fuck, it's gonna crash......and then hit the water.

"September 2, 1995: Seven Royal Air Force crew members were killed when their Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR.2P stalled during a low altitude turn and crashed into Lake Ontario"

[Cono Este]

Worst I’ve personally been in was an aborted landing at Dallas coming in from Chile. Wheels were on the ground, but there was a runway obstruction, pilot went full throttle with empty tanks, plane went straight up like Apollo 13.

My first thought was, tanks are near empty, no landing gear?


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Thaleia]

Toronto mags may remember the plane that crashed into Lake Ontario during the airshow in 95'

I've got a couple friends who were on a boat in the harbor watching. Really left an impression on the younger one. Thankfully for me this is as close to a contribution as I've got for this type of topic.

[plugboots]

This thread brings some memories. A customer of mine was on this Iowa flight:
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...go/1717687001/

Plane crashes, and he's alive. He somehow gets out of his seatbelt, (he may have been upside down, I forget), and looks to crawl towards what looked like an open area. There is so much thick smoke from the burning plastics and such that his eyes immediately fill with thick goo. He takes his hand, pulls his eyelid open like in "Clockwork Orange", and with his other hand scoops out the black goop, and crawls like a madman out of the plane.

The other thing I notice by being into the outdoors is how many crash sights you see. Off the top of my head, I've seen:
-The bomber run at Mission Ridge.
-The plane crash site where I used to mountain bike at El Corta Modera Park Creek Preserve, S of SF.
-The plane crash site on Sleeping Indian near Jackson.
-The crash site on a wall in the Grand Canyon. You can see the aluminum twinkle in the sun as you hit the angles as you drift by.
-The empire state building, (and 9/11 memorial).
-A crash site near Turnagain Arm, AK

[PNWbrit]

This thread brings some memories. A customer of mine was on this Iowa flight:
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...go/1717687001/

Plane crashes, and he's alive. He somehow gets out of his seatbelt, (he may have been upside down, I forget), and looks to crawl towards what looked like an open area. There is so much thick smoke from the burning plastics and such that his eyes immediately fill with thick goo. He takes his hand, pulls his eyelid open like in "Clockwork Orange", and with his other hand scoops out the black goop, and crawls like a madman out of the plane.

The other thing I notice by being into the outdoors is how many crash sights you see. Off the top of my head, I've seen:
-The bomber run at Mission Ridge.
-The plane crash site where I used to mountain bike at El Corta Modera Park Creek Preserve, S of SF.
-The plane crash site on Sleeping Indian near Jackson.
-The crash site on a wall in the Grand Canyon. You can see the aluminum twinkle in the sun as you hit the angles as you drift by.
-The empire state building, (and 9/11 memorial).
-A crash site near Turnagain Arm, AK

There's a 1946 Curtis Commando entombed somewhere in the South Tahoma Glacier on Rainier.

[happytimefunbox]

I witnessed a pilot crash a plane back in 1989 at the Valiant Air Command Airshow in Titusville FL.
I might have been 12 or 13. It was right in front of the entire crowd. I wanted to be a pilot when I grew up. Until that day.

Later in life racking up FF miles as a Field Service Eng I was flying into Albany NY during a storm.
Pilot is on and off the gas.
Bumping and dropping and climbing.
Can only see the flash of lightening and the wingtip light in the storm.
Pilot came over the intercom to say we would have a rough landing.
It was but nothing out of the ordinary. Bunch of firetrucks on the runway.
I guess a landing gear didn't drop or the sensor wasn't made or something.
The climb and dropping he did made it happy. The firetrucks were there as a precaution.
I got a free ticket out of the deal...

I work on expensive super complex manufacturing systems that are supposed to have better than 99% uptime and customers pay tens of millions of dollars for them.
They rarely make it even close and fail spectacularly with regularity. Generally due to human error.
Knowing this, and also knowing some airplane mechanics...... I fucking hate flying without a couple cocktails, an edible or a valium first.

[detrusor]

Training Check Airman Captain Dennis Edward Fitch, who helped land united airlines 232 was a speaker at a conference I was at and told the whole story. Place was stone cold silent.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit...nes_Flight_232


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[bennymac]

I’ve posted this before. Makes me nauseous thinking about what it must have been like in that cockpit.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/busi...ight-447-crash

[mcski]

One of my best buds use to frequently go to the El Toro Airshow on acid back in the day. In 93, it was not such a good experience

https://youtu.be/KW6J2MFGXws

[summit]

Training Check Airman Captain Dennis Edward Fitch, who helped land united airlines 232 was a speaker at a conference I was at and told the whole story. Place was stone cold silent.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit...nes_Flight_232


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Heard Al Haynes talk at a conference. He was on ua232. He also served on NASA ASAP with my grandfather for years

[whipski]

I knew one or two people in this crash
https://www.wildsnow.com/6106/friend...tory-colorado/

[muted]

This is such a ridiculous pic. Shoulda got a shot of someone doing a big spray near it! Either way that is a cool story.

[TNKen]

Back in my wildlife days, I took care of two areas owned by the Virginia Game Commission in Southwest Virginia. Both were in the Clinch Mountain Range. Peak elevations were from 4-4,500 feet.

Clinch Mountain WMA was one of my areas; about 27,500 acres. One of the mountains, Beartown, was a large, flat-topped mountain that kind of jutted up out of no-where. It had fingers that ran toward the north-east for many miles. For whatever reason, this range was notorious for collecting planes. There was a 1940's wooden frame cargo plane somewhere that I never found. In the late 70's, there was a Cessna 172 with three on board located that had been missing for several months. In 1978-9 era, there was a FB-111 that failed to maintain altitude due to icing that hit the top of Beartown with two German pilots on board. Neither had time to eject. Huge cleanup on that one. Parts were buried everywhere. Many of the larger pieces were just left. I remember one of the swing-wing systems about 12'x12 stayed in tact.

After I took over as the manager in 1980, I worked the crash of a Cheyenne twin turboprop that killed three. Pilot got too low on his approach to a nearby airport in the fog. Plane ended up in a beaver pond. Hot August days were not good for bodies out in the sun for 3 days. If you had been in the back of the plane, you might have survived.

My other area was called Hidden Valley. Had a Cessna 172 clip the top with two on board. Neither survived. Pilot had less than 100 hours, not instrument rated, and got lost in the low clouds. Was circling a VOR trying to figure out where he was and got too low. Clipping trees then hit a black gum about 10" in diameter about 20 feet off the ground. It stopped the plane and it slid down the tree. Gum trees are tough.

The week after I left the job to go to law school, they had a Grumman crash into the ridge and burn. One soul on board. Again low clouds and no instrument rating.

When I was about 10, my great uncle had gone on a duck hunting trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with he and three friends. Guy had a new twin engine plane, and was heading back to Lynchburg, Virginia. Either didn't refuel it before takeoff or ran into lots of headwind. Ran out of fuel and crashed it about 20 yards from the end of the runway. My uncle and another guy died. Two survived including the pilot. I have several of his guns and fly rods.

These days, if I am flying in a private plane, first question is how many hours do you have.

[PNWbrit]

there was a FB-111 that failed to maintain altitude due to icing that hit the top of Beartown with two German pilots on board. Neither had time to eject..

Not to detract from these cool stories Ken. But I think the FB-111 has a crew capsule ejection system.



I'm not a pilot but I did build an Airfix kit of one of these when I was a kid.

[TNKen]

Yes, that is the case. Unfortunately, another 50' in elevation and they would have missed the mountain.