Posted on 05/21/2005 2:42:09 PM PDT by Pharmboy
NEW YORK (AP) - A small plane on a sightseeing tour over Coney Island went into a tailspin and slammed into the famous beach Sunday, killing all four people aboard but injuring none of the stunned sunbathers who witnessed the crash. The victims died at the scene of the afternoon crash of the Cessna 172S, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker said. There were relatively few people on the beach at the time, and no one on the ground was hurt.
Eyewitnesses said the plane was circling above the Brooklyn beach when its engine suddenly stalled, and the aircraft quickly plunged into the beach. The pilot tried desperately to right the four-year-old plane after it went into a tailspin, said Herbert Lecler, 51, who was fishing on the beach.
"He couldn't, and he bounced on that beach," Lecler said.
Joshua McCabe, a registered nurse visiting from San Diego, was eating inside Nathan's Famous hot dog restaurant when he heard the crash. McCabe and another witness rushed to the scene, where they found the pilot already dead and a female passenger barely alive.
Within seconds, he said, "she wasn't breathing and then she lost her pulse."
Dick Zigun, a longtime Coney Island resident who was at the crash site, said it looked like the plane had come down nose-first. Several sunbathers were on the beach at the time, although the crowd was sparse, he said.
"The wings are broken off, and the cockpit glass was smashed up," Zigun said. "It didn't look like anyone could survive that."
Police and fire officials moved quickly to close off the beach after the crash. Dozens of people were gathered along the boardwalk staring out at the wreckage.
The crash occurred within sight of the Wonder Wheel attraction at the world-renowned beach, home to the Cyclone rollercoaster and the Astroland amusement park. The plane hit the beach near KeySpan Park, a minor league baseball stadium.
The pilot was a New York City resident, while the other three victims were visiting from the South and were on a sightseeing tour for aspiring pilots, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference.
"Obviously something went tragically wrong, and four people are dead," Bloomberg said. "We should be glad there are not more."
None of the victims were immediately identified, pending notification of their families.
The cause of the crash was unknown, and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The plane was registered to RJ Ventures LLC of Paramus, N.J.
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Associated Press Writer Larry McShane contributed to this story.
During level flight, at the first indication of a stall, the pitch attitude and AOA must be decreased positively and IMMEDIATELY. The basic cause of a level flight stall is always an excessive angle of attack, the cause must eliminated by releasing the back elevator pressure, or by moving the elevator control forward.
During climb, the maximum allowable power should be applied to increase the airplane's speed and assist in reducing the wing's angle of attack. Generally, the throttle should be promptly, but smoothly, advanced to the maximum allowable position. The throttle movement should be coordinated and concurrent with releasing either back elevator pressure, or moving the elevator control forward.
Stalls during decent require restablishment of control to level flight through coordinated use of all flight controls.
Stalls during banking require use of the rudder. To the left, relax the rudder, to the right, add rudder and opposite aileron. If one goes further than 10 deg. one starts looking at the cross-control stall correction. Add some power and get into a 30 deg. bank. Suddenly the stall spin possibilities are increased. Proper rudder application during a banking stall is proven when the stall break is straight ahead without any wing drop. Application of aileron during such stall is counterproductive in that it furthers wing stall and causes it to drop.
Wonder if he thought he was going to land in the ocean and tried to bring it up short on the beach.
Some people still believe in God. You give gratitude to God.
At least we've gone through 40+ posts without anyone suggesting it was terrorism, so I guess we have returned to normal.
Old Tin Ear Bloomberg at it again.
It's hard to autorotate when your rotors have come to a screeching halt instead of rotating freely. It's also hard to autorotate when the contrarotating rotors *aren't*. Both are problems with the CH-46 and reasons why the bird kills so many Marines.
The acronym "PARE" keeps it in quick access in my brain. I have had some spin training years ago. The key is to have the "spider-sense" tingling before it even happens and avoid it all together. Have an out, err on the side of caution everytime. Give yourself a buffer and stack the cards on your side.
Power
Aileron
Rudder
Elevator
http://www.richstowell.com/erau.htm
1. Power--Off.
2. Ailerons--Neutralize (& Flaps "up").
3. Rudder--Apply fully opposite to the direction of yaw.
4. Elevator--Push through neutral.
Hold These Inputs Until Rotation Stops, Then:
5. Rudder--Neutralize.
6. Elevator--Easy pull to straight and level.
Yes, very sad, but it would have been horrible on Memorial Day or July Fourth.
thats what happened,, he was going too slowly with not enough altitude,, didn't want to belly land in the ocean and dipped his wing towards the beach and that put the plane into a no recover spin,, alll the way around an idiot pilot killed 3 other people in the safest airplane flying,,,,,,,,
okay pickyparser. "relieved"
Too small a target, dontcha think?
Had he belly landed in the water, would he have been OK? Assuming all could get out and begin to swim to shore before the craft sank -- or would the craft float long enough for a rescue boat to get there?
the stall horn had to be going off and in that case you don't drop your wing at that low altitude,, I believe the rule is no minimum altitude over water,, all seats are floatation devices,, you have a much better chance softlanding in the water than nosediving on land,, sounds to me like he panicked more than once
The victims are two high school students and one of their fathers from a small catholic school here in Wheeling, WV. The mom was on the beach and saw it happen.
How awful...so sorry for the family. That poor mom will not recover soon--if ever. I hope she has a great extended family and giving friends.
Looking at the thing in the picture I'd wonder how to get out once downed in the water. Looks to me like it would lay in the water to the bottom of the windows, and if doors opened (if possible against water pressure) would sink to lay upon the wings. Bust the windows out with an axe? Still beats smashing into the sand I guess.
Wheeling is a great city and I know that the support will be overwhelming for these two families. I am so sorry for the students at Bishop Donahue too. Graduation will be horrible.
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