18 October 2013

Plane Crash at Fairbanks International

One person is confirmed dead after a small plane crashed during take-off at the Fairbanks International Airport about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, according to Angie Spear, division operations manager for the airport.

The three people on board the Cessna 172 were all transported to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital with serious injuries, Spear said. According to Clint Johnson of the National Transportation Safety Board, one victim was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Cessna 172 (stock photo)

A flight controller observed the plane take off and make a slight left turn, Johnson said. Then the plane went down, he said. He described the crash investigation as preliminary. The plane crashed at the south end of taxiway C.

I hope someone figures out why we've had so many crashes & fatalities up here. We've had an unusually high number this year.

7 comments:

ProudHillbilly said...

I was about to ask if Alaska is always so prone to aircraft accidents. It does seem like a lot have gone down in recent months.

Rev. Paul said...

The short answer is "yes", PH. Conditions here have always been tricky (mountains, fast-moving weather fronts, blizzards, long distances between landing strips, and hundreds of thousands of sq. miles of wilderness. It's not for the faint of heart!

PioneerPreppy said...

Maybe people are pushing off much needed maintenance due to the economy?

Well Seasoned Fool said...

My first instructor spent time as a Seventh Day Adventist missionary pilot in Central America. He stressed two things above all others. First, fly the airplane! Don't be distracted; all other tasks can wait. Second, don't become complacent.

My late father (natural causes) and I had several heated conversations about his complacency and carelessness. He was a superb airman but a danger to himself and others. He was such a strong personality others hesitated to challenge him. He most assuredly didn't appreciate my input!

As another instructor phrased it, do a check up from the neck up before you do a start up.

Easy for me to comment, not being there, and not knowing the parties involved. I do know most light airplane accidents stem from the two faults my first instructor emphasised.

And, hopefully, this was proofed better than the first three.

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

Another plane accident, not good.

Rev. Paul said...

Preppy, I suspect pilot error - or bad judgement, which comes down to the same thing - in most of the cases. A few have been due to rapidly-worsening weather conditions, but most seem to come back to a stall or an over-loaded plane.

WSF, that makes perfect sense to me.

Rev. Paul said...

Agreed, Sandy. There are always lots of small planes going down, but the number of fatalities has gone up this year.