ARFFWG | ARFF Working Group -

Hope everyone had a good weekend,

Here are the news stories for today…

Check out the video link of the gear fire and evacuation of a Boeing 737 in Moscow…

Our thoughts and prayers go out to our Brothers and Sisters in Phoenix, Arizona on the loss of a firefighter and police officer over the weekend!

Be safe out there,

Tom

The pilot of a twin-engine plane carrying 31 passengers made an emergency landing at Newark International Airport this morning after his landing gear malfunctioned, sources said.

The US Air flight was arriving from Philadelphia about 1 a.m. when pilot Ed Powers noticed one of the landing gears was not down, Port Authority sources said. Powers raised the other gear and landed the plane on its belly with sparks flying. No one was injured and PAPD Aircraft Rescue firefighters quickly doused the plane with foam.

Sources said the pilot made a conscious decision to raise the plane’s functioning gears to land on the plane’s belly – lowering the chances of the plane veering off the runway.

SANTA FE (KRQE) – A plane crash at the Aztec Municipal Airport Saturday morning killed Michael “Mike” Arnold, the former mayor of the city and current manager of the airport.

New Mexico State Police report Arnold, 62, was alone in the single-engine aircraft when it crashed on takeoff about 11 a.m.

Police said Arnold’s family lives on the airport property, witnessed the crash and called for help.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, a State Police spokesperson said.

The craft came down just feet from the runway and burned on impact leaving only metal framing and charred debris.

Arnold was mayor of Aztec, the county seat of San Juan County, from 1998-2001 and 2004-2008, according to the city’s website.

“Mr. Arnold has put in numerous years of service and long hours while he was in his years of service for the people of Aztec,” State Police Sgt. Micah Dearing told KRQE News 13. “It’s also my understanding there were a number of people in this community who appreciated that service, so I imagine it will be devastating to quite a few people beyond the family, for sure.”

Arnold was described as an experienced pilot. According to reports, there were significant wind gusts blowing across the runway during takeoff, which may have contributed to the crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board has been notified and will handle the investigation into what caused the crash.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Two hot air balloons collided mid-air during a sightseeing tour of volcanic rock formations in Turkey on Monday, causing one of them to crash to the ground, officials said. One Brazilian tourist was killed while 24 other people on board were injured.

The ascending balloon struck another balloon’s wicker basket above it, causing a tear that sent it plunging to the ground, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

The passengers on board the balloon that crashed were mostly tourists from Asia, Spain and Brazil, according to Abdurrahman Savas, the governor of Nevsehir province. Many had fractured bones and one of them, an elderly passenger, was in serious condition.

The balloons were flying above scenic canyons and volcanic cones of the Cappadocia region, a popular tourist destination some 300 kilometers (190 miles) from the capital, Ankara. Cappadocia is famed for its “fairy chimney” volcanic cones and its subterranean cities carved out of soft stone.

It was the second fatal accident in Cappadocia since balloon sightseeing tours were launched there more than a decade ago. In 2009, a British tourist died when two balloons also collided mid-air.

In February, a balloon caught fire and crashed in Egypt, killing 19 tourists.

UTAir Flight 350 suffered a fire in the left undercarriage upon landing on runway 06 at Vnukovo International Airport, Moscow. The fire was extinguished, there were no injuries.
The airport was temporarily closed.

Click here to see a video of the fire and evacuation…

LYNDEN, Wash. – A pilot is lucky to be alive after his plane crashed nose-first just short of the runway at Lynden’s airport. 

Lynden Fire Chief Gary Baar says the small single-engine plane clipped trees as it approached Jansen Field from the east, causing it to plunge straight into the ground near a major street.

The pilot walked away from the wreckage with only minor injuries. He was taken to Peace Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham as a precaution.

The single-engine Tiger Moth biplane is registered to Vern Swanson of Bellingham. Baar did not confirm if Swanson was the pilot at the controls.

Lynden police are guarding the wreck until the FAA can investigate.

Phoenix lost a FF and a Police Officer in separate incidents this past weekend as a Phoenix firefighter died of injuries suffered when he was pinned between two emergency vehicles while fighting a fire and a police officer working a DUI stop was struck by a hit-and-run driver.
Police Officer Daryl Raetz, a six-year veteran of the police department, was struck about 0330 hours. Raetz was standing in the road processing a suspected DUI driver with two to three other officers when he was struck by an SUV that was going north on-the SUV driver fled, turning left on Thomas Road.
Raetz was pronounced dead at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Thompson said. He was 29 and had a wife and child. He was also a veteran of the Iraq War.
As you know, Firefighter Bradley Harper, 23, was repositioning equipment while fighting a mulch fire near 39th Avenue and Miami Street about 1730 hours yesterday when he was pinned between two emergency vehicles, He was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in extremely critical condition, where he died about 0130 hours yesterday morning.
Harper is married and has been with the fire department for two years.

48 Years ago today: On 20 May 1965 a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720-040B crashed on approach to Cairo; killing 119 out of 125 occupants.

Narrative:
A Boeing 720-040B passenger plane, operated by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was destroyed when it crashed while on approach to Cairo International Airport (CAI), Egypt. All 13 crew members and 108 passengers were killed. Six passengers survived.
Flight PK705 was the inaugural service from Karachi, Pakistan to London, U.K. Intermediate stops were planned at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Cairo, Egypt and Geneva, Switzerland.
The flight departed Dhahran at 21:22 UTC for Cairo. The flight was uneventful and at 23:40 UTC, 01:40 local time, it was cleared for a left-hand circuit for runway 34. At 23:45 the crew reported turning on finals. The Boeing 720 kept descending and struck the ground short of the runway in a slight left-bank attitude with its undercarriage up and flaps at 20 degrees.

PROBABLE CAUSE: “The aircraft did not maintain the adequate height for the circuit and continued to descend until it contacted the ground. The reason for that abnormal continuation of descent is unknown.”

A 2001 SR22, With A REPACKED CAPS Chute, Experiences Rocket Firing But NO Chute Deploy

You know you’re having a bad day when a flight goes so bad that you feel you must resort to using a parachute to see you safely through the flight… but the day is TRULY bad when that chute fails and leaves you to battle the emergency that you thought you had escaped from.

Earlier Thursday, Cirrus Pilot Tim Valentine, flying near Addison Texas aboard N715CD, experienced some mode of instrument failure while IFR in a 12 year old Cirrus SR22, serial number 16. According to Valentine, who spoke to ANN extensively Thursday within hours of the incident, he was IFR from Addison TX to Kansas at 7000 feet when he noticed the first signs of some instrumentation issues while avoiding the back side of a major thunderstorm cell. Later, Valentine experienced more serious issues when the HSI went down, the autopilot followed and he began to suspect problems with his Attitude Indicator. The trend was not encouraging.

Realizing that he was in the soup, and that the situation seemed to be escalating — and while flying an SR22 with an airframe parachute attached, Valentine elected to deploy the CAPS… a system that had been repacked the year before in accordance with the lifetime limits established by Cirrus when the system was developed based on technology pioneered by BRS over a decade before, starting with installations built for the Cessna 150 and 152 (for which ANN’s Jim Campbell was one of the test pilots through a number of deployments).

Valentine described the non-deployment simply as, “I pulled the chute… heard the pop, smelled a burning smell, kept smelling the burning smell… and waited for the jerk of the chute deployment… which never came.”

Realizing that he had the potential for a deteriorating instrument/guidance profile and not trusting his current situation, and after already having declared an emergency, he elected a steep dive (about 2800 fpm) through IMC until breaking out at or around 800 feet. Valentine kept ATC informed as he made his way back to Addison, and humorously noted that the turned down an offer to shoot the ILS back into ADS… which would have required him to ascend to over 2500 feet, and back into the clag, to be able to undertake. Valentine politely vetoed the option and elected to stay VFR at low altitude until landing at ADS.

As he taxied in, Valentine was notified that he “was dragging something” behind his plane as he taxied back to the local Cirrus Service Center. A few minutes, later, as his heart rate returned to something considered somewhat normal, Valentine noted that what we was dragging was the expended rocket canister, the two sections of bridle below it and that the entire parachute bag and assembly were still well-ensconced within the fuselage, though the fuselage hatch was long gone. Attempts by Valentine to dislodge the parachute were unsuccessful as he found the entire assembly “tightly wedged” within the aft fuselage.

At this point, the FAA has been on site for an initial look-see, and the NTSB is expected to investigate, as well. This is the first attempted deployment of a repacked CAPS assembly, and of course, the first failure of its kind. This repack was conducted fully under the control of the Cirrus Service Center program and the supervising parties at a time when Cirrus and BRS (the company primarily responsible for pioneering this technology — despite Cirrus’s attempts to suggest otherwise) were involved in legal problems arising from a number of IP and financial issues. These days, BRS has a much larger role in the repack process and in the prep of the systems that are upgraded at the time of repack.

Buzz among the Cirrus community has been extensive and a number of folks seeking more information from ANN, have indicated that their faith in the CAPS system has been shaken somewhat… and certainly in the repack process undertaken by Cirrus. One Cirrus owner noted that, “I’m sure as hell not going to tell my wife about this…”

The repack process, fairly expensive, requires the airplane to be down for a considerable period of time (especially for first generation Cirrus airframes), and is reportedly much more expensive than what was hoped for, by BRS, before Cirrus and BRS had their falling out (and, in fact, Valentine noted that when he started researching the repack process, he would have preferred that BRS undertake it… but, “Cirrus wouldn’t allow it.”) Regardless, Valentine loves his airplane and looks forward to fixing the damage done and getting a proper repack conducted at a later date.

ANN is monitoring the developing story and will provide more data as it becomes available.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov