It's actually of a wind turbine fire in the Netherlands, in which two guys working on the turbine were killed.
Posted on 04/30/2014 11:53:53 AM PDT by cotton1706
A single-engine plane crashed into a South Dakota wind farm after flying through fog and low-hanging clouds on Monday, killing all four passengers on board.
National Transportation Safety Board authorities found the wreckage at the South Dakota Wind Energy Center, where 27 turbines tower 213 feet tall, not counting the blades. One of the turbines was damaged, but the heavy fog has kept investigators from inspecting the scene, according to Syracuse.com.
This is not the first time a plane has crashed into a wind farm--in 2008 near southeast Minnesota, poor weather caused the pilot of a 1948 Cessna 140 to lose control while trying to fly around wind turbines.
Funeral homes confirmed the deaths of the 30-year-old pilot, Donald J. "D.J." Fischer, and of cattlemen Logan Rau and Brent Beitelspacher. Another funeral home declined to provide information on the fourth victim.
The fatal crash deeply affected the ranching community and Gettysburg, South Dakota.
"This is one of those things that's going to hit the community pretty hard, because I would venture to say there are probably are not many people here who D.J. didn't touch their life in some way," said South Dakota state rep. Corey Brown. Fischer had just gotten married in March, leaving his poor wife a widow after only a month of marriage. His high school football coach described him as a gifted athlete with a “phenomenal” worth ethic.
Veterinarian Mike Mimms, who purchased over 3,000 cattle from Beitelspacher over the phone, had only met him that weekend in Hereford, Texas, where the group had flown to for a sale of live cattle and embryos.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Metal bird meets turbine farm and loses, just like its feathered friends.
Four people in a C-140? I didn’t think it was possible.
Did the wind farm get a ‘taking permit’ for light aircraft?
About 3 years ago a friend (pilot) flew over one of these wind farms. He said the turbulence made for a rough flight with lots of shear.
Well, that was dumb.
I would think that the location of these things are well known, just like high power lines and cell towers. I would assume the people in the plane were lost and thought they were nowhere near the wind farm. Should haver been more careful.
About 15 years ago I was coming back from Shreveport to DFW on one of those ATR-42 turboprops and the fog was so thick seemed like the misty blue lights of the runway popped into view just seconds before touchdown. Of course much better compared to landing a much smaller, private aircraft in a rural locale in similar foggy conditions.
Empty weight: 890 lb (404 kg)
Gross weight: 1,450 lb (658 kg)
Fuel capacity: 25 US gallons (95 litres)
So that’s 150 pounds full fuel.
Leaves 410 pounds for passengers and cargo. Those better be four small people.
On a different story about 8 years ago a coworker was up in Alaska on a job. At his location there was a small commuter jet ferry service that ran short scheduled flights over the lake and beyond. Anyhow he got involuntarily bumped off from his scheduled flight and was reassigned the next one. The flight he was originally scheduled for crashed into the lake with no survivors. Talk about a moment of fate?
The recent crash was not a cessna 140, that one happened in 2008. You are correct though, a 140 is a two passenger taildragging airplane.
I think the reference to the 140 was about a prior crash.
Four people in a Cessna 140? Must have been rather crowded.
And when it does, they may hit a soft pile of fly ash and not hurt a hair on their head :-)
It's actually of a wind turbine fire in the Netherlands, in which two guys working on the turbine were killed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.