Posted on 11/22/2004 6:31:19 AM PST by Mamzelle
Gulfstream clips pole at toll booth--hits down close to major freeway
I saw the sheared light pole on the news. A tragedy for sure. Prayers for all the families.
The light poles are veeerrry tall. Maybe 150 ft.
100 foot altimiter errors usually put them down, on the localizer, but about 4 miles short of the threshold. Sounds like stupidity 101 here.
ping
Can you put that in english for us non-pilots?
Looks like they were flying in before the start of somebody's business day.
Looks pretty foggy.
I believe MB26 is speculating pilot error.
I'll wait for the NTSB to do their thing.
Bookmarked.
The altimeter in an aircraft reads the altitude based on the barometric pressure around it. You have to get the local barometric pressure from the airport and manually turn a knob on the altimeter to set that pressure, and then you will have your accurate altitude in feet above sea level. If you put the wrong barometric pressure into the altimeter, you'll have the wrong altitude reading.
Typically a higher-end plane like that Gulfstream will have a radar altimeter that reads height above ground, not height above sea level, and also will have radio equipment that let it conduct an accurate approach in bad conditions. But the equipment's only as useful as the guy behind the controls, and the vast majority of crashes in situations like this turn out to be pilot error of some kind.
}:-)4
I live about 2 miles from the crash site...The picture in the news story shows the toll plaza looking east back towards my house...
We didn't hear it, but after a short while we got wiffs of fuel smell in the air, and heard numerous emergency vehicles running west towards the crash site...We're about a block south off the Beltway 8 road...
There is an electrical easement on the south side running parallel to BW8...They have not reported any transmission line damage as yet...If it had hit, our neighborhood probably would have been in the dark this morning at about 6:26am...
I agree its strange that that is not the case...Linear distance from the transmission lines in that area to the light poles at the toll plaza is only 150 feet at best...
It'll all come out in the wash though...
I figure the fog this morning played a big roll in the accident...I hear the plane left Dallas Love Field early this morning direct to Houston Hobby...
The air charts may or may not show the light towers and or the transmission lines...On those particular approaches to Hobby...I think there is an altitude requirement to show them on the charts as a hazard...They may not be high enough to display...I bet that point coems out in the investigation though...
Later,
Steve
Looks pretty foggy.
bump
Too far short of runway for a slow engine response accident. Those are uusally 50-400 feet from threshold.
Beltway 8 Plane Crash Kills 3 Passengers
All Lanes Of Traffic Remain Closed On Toll Road Near Crash SitePOSTED: 6:57 am CST November 22, 2004
UPDATED: 9:24 am CST November 22, 2004HOUSTON -- Three people have been confirmed dead after a private jet crashed 1½ miles south of Houston's Hobby Airport Monday, Local 2 reports. All lanes of traffic on the Sam Houston Tollway were shut down as emergency crews investigated and cleaned wreck from the accident.
Officials said the Gulfstream jet, carrying three passengers, crashed at 6:23 a.m. on the toll road between South Wayside and Cullen, just south of the toll plaza near Highway 288.
"We have accounted for three fatalities, we're confident that's all we're going to find," said Jack Williams, a district chief with the Houston Fire Department.
The identities of the three victims were not immediately known.
No other injuries have been reported. The cause of the crash is now under investigation.
Williams said the twin-engine Gulfstream jet, arriving from Dallas Love Field, apparently clipped a tall light tower at a Beltway 8 toll plaza, shearing off a wing. He said the severed wing rests near the base of the tower.
The district fire chief said firefighters found a trail of debris stretching about 1,000 feet from the light tower into a field north of the toll road.
Houston Airport System spokesman Roger Smith said the jet, which can carry up to 12 passengers, was approaching runway 4 at Hobby Airport when it went down.
Weather officials said there was no rain in the area but a dense fog blanketed most of the area where the crash occurred.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said flight operations at Hobby were not affected by the crash.
Jet Place Incorporated of Tulsa, Okla., is the registered owner of the Gulfstream G-1159-A, according to Herwig.
Robert Randall, operations manager with Jet Place, would not name the downed flight's crew but said they were two male pilots and a female flight attendant. The jet was en route to Houston to pick up passengers, but Randall did not say who the passengers were or where the jet was headed afterward.
Randall said the private company has a fleet of 18 jets and employs about 150 people.
Tollway traffic has been diverted onto feeder roads and side streets. Westbound traffic has been shut down at Wayside while eastbound traffic has been closed at Cullen.
Drivers are being encouraged to find an alternative route around the area.
Officials with the Houston police and fire departments, and Harris County Precinct 7 emergency crews have been called to the scene.
Anyone on board that is connected to the Clintons?
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