Passenger lands King Air after pilot drops dead
April 13, 2009
A passenger landed a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air in Florida after the pilot died in flight with a total of six people on board. Federal Aviation Administration officials say the pilot died after takeoff from an airport in Naples on Sunday. It was on autopilot and climbing toward 10,000 feet when the pilot died. An air traffic controller helped the passenger, who turned out to be a private pilot licence holder, by calling a friend in Connecticut who knows the King Air plane and relaying instructions. The plane landed safely at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers.
Two dead in small plane crash near Sacramento, CA
March 1, 2009
A pilot and an airplane mechanic died Saturday after their single-engine plane crashed outside a private airport north of Sacramento, authorities said.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the 1966 Mooney M20E crashed after 9 a.m. Feb 28 west of the Rio Linda Airport. Gregor said the plane was believed to have taken off from the airport.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Jones identified the pilot as David Michaud, 53, a reserve deputy who pursued his passion for flying after serving 12 years as a full-time deputy.
Jones said Michaud and the mechanic, who was not identified, had worked on the aircraft before taking flight Saturday morning. FAA records indicate the fixed-wing plane was registered to David and Judith Michaud of Sacramento.
“They were checking out repairs,” Jones said. “Just like working on a car and taking it around the block. Witnesses said they heard sputtering and it had some engine issues and then it crashed.”
Aviation user charges in Obama’s budget proposal
February 28, 2009
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the proposal on Feb. 26 and, although there is not much detail, the document makes it clear that the administration wants to replace some aviation excise taxes with “direct user charges”, starting in 2011.
The budget “proposes repealing some aviation excise taxes and replacing these taxes with direct user charges”. “Direct user charges are just another name for user fees,” Fuller stated. The proposed user fees would add up to some $7 billion in 2011, or about half of the FAA’s total budget.
The Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), a staunch opponent of user fees, released a statement saying: “I note that the budget appears to propose some type of aviation user fee. Aviation user fees have been proposed several times in the past by OMBs of various administrations, and have not been adopted by Congress.” Fuller testified in support of Chairman Oberstar’s bill, H.R.915, to finance the FAA through the current system of aviation excise taxes, earlier in February.
Wind gust causing small plane to crash in Centennial, CO
February 25, 2009
The wind appears to be the cause for a small plane crash that happened at a general aviation airport in Centennial, Colorado Wednesday afternoon.
Emergency officials say the small, single engine plane was taking off from Centennial Airport and was about 10-feet off the ground when a gust of wind slammed the plane back to the ground. The landing gear collapsed on impact and the plane came to a stop.
Emergency teams say two people were onboard the plane, both walked away from the crash with no injuries.
A pilot may face charges for using interstate as a runway
February 5, 2009
Cessna 150 made an emergency landing on Interstate 80 west of Salt Lake City Feb 4th when it ran out of fuel, no one was hurt. But the owner of the plane could face criminal charges for filling up the plane’s tanks several hours later and using I-80 as a runway to take off again. The owner allegedly flew the Cessna back to its base at an airport about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. Police who responded to the plane on I-80 told the owner to hire a truck to tow the plane back to its airport and specifically told him not to fly it away. But the next day, the plane was gone and no truck had ever been sent to the scene. The owner, who was not piloting the plane when it made the emergency landing, could face charges of reckless endangerment.
