Posted on 05/24/2005 5:35:33 AM PDT by Calpernia
Two people were killed Monday morning when the small plane they were in crashed and burst into flames near Danbury Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The Cessna 182 went down at 11:30 a.m. in a wooded area about four miles north of the airport, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said.
The crash site is near both New Fairfield High School and a middle school. Both schools remained in session and no students were injured, school officials said.
Sgt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman, said the plane was heading to Long Island from Albany, N.Y.
Federal and state authorities did not release the victims' names Monday, but The News-Times of Danbury and Newsday of New York identified them as Alfred and Donna Zadow of Wading River, N.Y.
The newspapers reported that the Long Island couple were returning from a weekend trip to upstate New York.
Newsday reported on its Web site that Alfred Zadow was an air traffic controller at Farmingdale's Republic Airport, and Donna Zadow was an administrative assistant at the Brookhaven National Lab.
``I believe, 100 percent, that he and Donna decided, 'Here we go.' They knew they were going to die,'' Elizabeth Luyster, Alfred Zadow's sister, told Newsday. ``They had enough time to talk about it.''
She said her statements were based on what Connecticut authorities told the family.
``I am glad they were together when they died,'' she added. ``One without the other, they wouldn't have wanted to live.''
The pilot spoke with both Long Island and Danbury airports, and attempted to make an emergency landing in the field near the schools.
``At some point and time during the flight, the pilot reported experiencing engine and oil pressure problems,'' Vance said.
Federal investigators were called to the scene to investigate.
The plane was registered to the Gace Flying Club out of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., Peters said.
Rich Raine, a member of the flying club, confirmed that the victims were a husband and wife who were members of the club, but would not give their names.
``They were very well known in the club,'' Raine told the News-Times. ``It's the first time this has happened here. We're all very upset.''
Witnesses said the plane came over the high school's softball field and looked like it was starting to circle, then clipped the top of the trees and went straight down, and became engulfed in flames on impact.
Flames reached 20 to 30 feet in the air and there was a series of small explosions, witnesses said.
ping
This doesn't make any sense - the woman implies a suicide pact.
I have no doubt that the PIC was trying as hard as he could to get the aircraft down safely.
Looks like what happened here is a simple failure to maintain airspeed during an emergency landing. Stall/spin.
Also, is there a computer simulator that you can purchase with footpedals and yoke that mimic the "stall". Maybe with the new faster computers and 3-D/goggles it might be profitable to develop a way of putting in the flight characteristics of the plane you're flying and practice stalling without dying.
I think it is more than a 2nd time. I think it is the 2nd time in a month on the East Coast; but I remember seeing a few Cessna articles about crashing in, California?, also.
Not every stall will kill you - hell, I ran into an accelerated stall at the top of a loop just last weekend, because I didn't take the high density altitude into account during the maneuver.
Okay. Had to get to the fourth paragraph to find out what the hell a LI couple was.
Oh I'm sorry. I didn't even think of clarifying that.
LI = Long Island
For anyone else reading :)
I'm not busting your chops, I'm actually interested.
Bump ......
Other than all that, they're great!
Ping,
These bands sound NOTHING like the real Beach Boys. Really an inferior imitation of them.
"Catch A Wave" was probably the best Beach Boys song ever but nobody ever plays that anymore.
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