Plane Explodes at Lafayette Regional Airport

KATC ^ | Nov. 30, 2004 | KATC Staff

[MississippiMasterpiece]

LAFAYETTE, La. (KATC) - A small plane was badly damaged in what a witness said was an explosion this morning at Lafayette Regional Airport.

There were no reports of serious injuries, although one man, who had been seen walking around the plane, was taken away in an ambulance. A mechanic working on the plane at the time suffered minor injuries and is being treated at an area hospital.

The badly damaged plane was visible outside Paul Fournet Air Service.

Todd Patin of Dallas Airmotive says he was working in his shop when he heard an explosion that reminded him of a balloon popping.

Patin says he felt the ground moving under him and was nearly knocked down. Patin says no flames were visible when he went outside to find the damaged plane.

Lafayette police, state police, sheriff's deputies and firefighters answered the call.

Traffic at the airport was not affected.

[MississippiMasterpiece]

[randog]

Ejection seat malfunction?
;^)

[Frapster]

from the position of the plane and the location of the 'explosion damage' it looks to me as if the plane had bad gas...

[sgtbono2002]

Sounds like a gas leak to me. gasoline leaking filling the cabin , the air-fuel mixture just right, a spark. Adios airplane.

[twigs]

An eye witness to Sunday's Montrose airport's crash with the Ebersols aboard said that that plane exploded too.

[Cold Heat]

Hmmmm......Might be the batteries blew. The compartment filled with hydrogen and a source of a spark did the deed.

[cripplecreek]

Sounds like it was caused by gas fumes.

[SZonian]

That looks like the type of damage you might see from an overpressurization of the cabin.

Don't own a small plane, but saw an AF tanker that had blown apart because the mech's didn't follow the proper procedure when checking the pressurization system.

[Prime Choice]

Hmmmm......Might be the batteries blew. The compartment filled with hydrogen and a source of a spark did the deed.

I'm more inclined to go with a gas leak. Hydrogen explosions are far more violent than what I'm seeing here. Either way, it's all guesswork until the NTSB puts out a report a year from now...long after we've all lost interest.

[eno_]

I like your theory. If avgas fumes had exploded, the plane would be a sad little lump of toasted aluminum.

[Dashing Dasher]

The blast ripped the nose away from the fuselage and damaged the wings.

Nose = engine

Wing = fuel

Blast could = spark, bad fuel, or bomb. But I'll wait to hear from the NTSB - as much as we'll ever hear the truth... from them...

PS... AA587 report was BS - so was TWA800.

[azhenfud]

"A mechanic working on the plane at the time suffered minor injuries and is being treated at an area hospital."

There's the cause.

[mmcclosk]

Whatever the cause of this incident is, this has been a bad few months for aviation. First the 747-200 dropping an engine over Michigan, the Air China regional jet crash, a couple Northwest Pinnacle crashes, another 747 crash off the runway, the Challenger crash with the NBC exec. on board, and now this. In fact, today at my hometown airport of Philadelphia Intl., a two-engine private aircraft's bottom hit a tractor carrying a Delta aircraft that was fortunately empty.


Mike

[JesseHousman]

Any connection to Bill or Hillary?

[Dog Gone]

I used to frequently take charter flights out of Paul Fournet Air Service. I wonder what kind of plane it was. You can't tell much from that photo except that this plane's flying days are over.

[dljordan]

Sealed batteries. I don't think so. Anyway, I don't think the battery could produce enough hydrogen to cause that much damage.

[johnb838]

Lets not forget the one in Houston that was coming to pick up 41. And the Black Hawk Down over I-35 in Texas.

[HardStarboard]

>>>Whatever the cause of this incident is, this has been a bad few months for aviation.<<<

It would have been worse if the explosion happened in the air....much worse!

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Who, what, where.

Oil field explosives from det cord to C4 (even nitro glycerin) are used daily by many service companies in the patch. Lafayette is a big oil field center for on/offshore.

We used explosives down hole for, perforation of production casing, cutting off stuck work strings and backing off threads at a certain down hole depth on production piping, drill pipe etc. Explosives also used for exploration seismic work.

[nw_arizona_granny]

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