FATAL CROP DUSTER CRASH IN ACADIA PARISH, LOUISIANA

MAY 5, 2015

Acadia Parish Sheriff Wayne Melancon is identifying the pilot in Tuesday’s crash as 32 year old Jed Lucas Toups of Heinen Road in Basile. According to Melancon the investigation will be turned over to FAA later today.

Shortly after 12:30 pm on Tuesday, a call came into Acadian Ambulance of a crop duster that crashed in Acadia Parish in the 300 block of Unatex Rd located behind Tanmoore Construction.

The duster, an Airtractor model plane, was fertilizing the field when it hit trees, caught fire, and landed 400-500 feet away from the field. A coroner arrived to the scene shortly before 3:00 pm and will release a name late in the evening. So far, News 10 has confirmation that duster was being flown by a 32-year-old male.

Emergency crews will remain on scene throughout Tuesday night until the Federal Aviation Administration arrives when they will take over the investigation.

May 5, 2015

Date:	05-MAY-2015
Time:	12:41 LT
Type:	Air Tractor AT-502B
Owner/operator:	Lejeune Aerial Applications LLC
Registration:	N4221G
C/n / msn:	502B-2668
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	Arcadia Parish east of Basile, LA -   United States of America
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Agricultural
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:

The aircraft impacted trees and terrain during a aerial application flight east of Basile, Louisiana. The airplane was destroyed and the sole pilot onboard received fatal injuries.

Sources:

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=175941
http://www.dailyworld.com/story/news/local/2015/05/05/crop-duster-pilot-dead-plane-crash/26938663/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=
http://klfy.com/2015/05/05/update-fatal-crop-duster-crash-in-acadia-parish/
http://www.asias.faa.gov/pls/apex/f?p=100:96:::::P96_ENTRY_DATE,P96_FATAL_FLG:06-MAY-15,YES
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=4221G

2007 SONEX SMALL PLANE CRASHES AT KENDALLVILLE AIRPORT, PILOT OK

MAY 7, 2015

KENDALLVILLE, IND. (WANE)

Kendallville police and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating a small single-engine plane crash near the Kendallville Municipal Airport.

Authorities were called to 363 Airport Road shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday. The airport is located about one mile north of the city off State Road 3.

According to Kendallville Police Department Sergeant Doug Davis, the pilot of a 2007 Sonex took off from the airport headed east but made a northward turn to avoid hitting birds which were flying towards the aircraft.

The pilot, Wesley Ortell, lost control and attempted to land the airplane in a grassy area north of the runway, but the aircraft’s nose hit the ground. The plane flipped onto it’s top.

Wesley was not hurt in the crash and authorities said the aircraft had minimal damage.

No other damage or injuries were reported.

The FAA is expected to handle the remaining aspects of the investigation.

Date:	06-MAY-2015
Time:	20:00
Type:	Sonex
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	N683DB
C/n / msn:	0691
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Minor
Location:	Kendallville Municipal Airport (C62), Kendallville, IN -   United States of America
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Unknown
Departure airport:	Kendallville Muni (C62)
Destination airport:

Narrative:

The aircraft, an experimental Burton built Sonex, experienced a loss of control during an avian avoidance maneuver shortly after takeoff from Kendallville Municipal Airport (C62), Kendallville, Indiana, and force landed to open field terrain, coming to rest inverted. The airplane sustained minor damage and the sole pilot onboard was not injured.

Sources:

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=175967
http://www.wowo.com/ArticleDisplay/tabid/74/ArticleId/29827/FAA-Investigates-Kendallville-Plane-Crash.aspx
http://wane.com/2015/05/07/small-plane-crashes-at-kendallville-airport-pilot-unhurt/
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=683DB

http://builder.sonexaircraft.com/pictures/Sonex_691_1.jpg?9801.61869230668

JUDGE DISMISSES SUIT TIED TO WIDOW OF ALASKA AIRMAN WHO DIED IN C-17 CRASH ALONG WITH 3 OTHERS ON THE BASIS THAT FLIGHT WAS A MILITARY OPERATION AND THE LAWSUIT WAS BARRED UNDER THE IMMUNITY FROM CIVIL LITIGATION APPLIED TO MILITARY ACTIVITIES.

MAY 5, 2015

All four crew members aboard a 3rd Wing C-17 Globemaster died when the plane crashed July 28, 2010, near Anchorage during a training flight. The widow of one of the men killed in the crash filed suit against the state in 2012, seeking compensatory damages for her husband's death. Senior Airman CYNTHIA SPALDING / U.S. Air Force 

A federal judge has granted the state of Alaska’s request to dismiss a lawsuit originally filed by the widow of an airman who died in a military cargo-plane crash during a July 2010 training flight for the popular Arctic Thunder air show. 

The crash of the C-17 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson killed three Alaska Air National Guardsmen and one active-duty Air Force member. An Air Force investigation determined the transport plane crashed due to pilot error.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick dismissed the civil lawsuit, asserting the flight was a military operation and the lawsuit was barred under the immunity from civil litigation applied to military activities.

The men killed in the crash were Capt. Jeffrey Hill, 31, Maj. Aaron “Zippy” Malone, 36, Maj. Michael Freyholtz, 34, and Master Sgt. Thomas Cicardo, 47, who was posthumously promoted to senior master sergeant.

Cicardo was not a pilot, unlike the other three airmen. He worked as a guard loadmaster, a flight member who generally plans cargo and passenger placement.

Cicardo’s wife, Theresa Dayton, filed suit against the state in December 2012. Her attorney argued pilot Freyholtz developed and used unauthorized flight maneuvers during the training demonstration.

Dayton’s attorney did not return a call for comment Tuesday. What will happen to Dayton's case is unclear.

Freyholtz's moves deviated from the Air Force’s flight procedures and “reflected Maj. Freyholtz’s desire to make his maneuvers more impressive to a viewer on the ground, and keep his operation of the C-17 closer to the show center …,” the initial complaint says.

The Air Force's probe after the crash found that the C-17 pilots ignored a stall-warning system and used incorrect procedures in an attempt to regain altitude. The C-17 crashed in a wooded area about a minute after takeoff. In addition to killing the men, the crash damaged a section of the Alaska Railroad.

The state filed its own complaint against the U.S. and the estates of the flight crew, arguing the crew members were acting as employees of the federal government at the time of the crash.

The case was moved to federal court, and the federal government substituted itself as the defendant in place of the crew member estates. The government then successfully argued that established case law barred service members’ suits arising from injuries suffered in the course of military service. This is known as the Feres Doctrine.

The case against the federal government was dismissed as a result.

Because the federal court case established that Cicardo and the other crew members were actively engaged in military duty as employees of the federal government, the state subsequently argued the Feres Doctrine also applied in its case and asked for a dismissal.

Dayton, through her attorney, said the immunity granted by the doctrine did not apply to the state as her husband, a member of the Alaska Air Guard, could be considered “a borrowed servant of the state,” according to court documents.

Judge Sedwick disagreed.

“The complaint here specifically premises its allegation of intentional misconduct on the pilot’s deviance from military procedures and instructions and not on civilian regulations. Thus, the resolution of the case necessarily involves military expertise,” Sedwick wrote in an order dismissing the case dated May 4. 

Source: http://www.adn.com

Accident Aboard Pemex Jack-Up Kills 2 Workers, Injures 10

By Reuters On May 5, 2015

This photo has been circulating online allegedly showing the Troll Solution jack-up partially sunk. Photo: Twitter

MEXICO CITY, May 5 (Reuters) – Mexican oil company Pemex said an accident on Tuesday has left an offshore maintenance rig in the southern Bay of Campeche listing, killing two workers, but has not affected crude production.

Pemex said the Troll Solution rig, which was contracted to operate in Pemex’s Abkatun-Pol-Chuc shallow water oil field, was positioning itself to carry out maintenance on wells linked to the Caan Alf platform.

It earlier reported that two workers had suffered minor injuries.

“The accident on the Troll Solution platform does not affect production because it is a mobile platform dedicated to well maintenance,” Pemex said in a Tweet.
Oilfield services firm Typhoon Offshore, owned by Mexican conglomerate Grupo Salinas and operator of the platform, said in a statement that the platform had been completely evacuated and that 10 workers were injured and receiving medical care.

Local media put the injured toll at 28 workers.

A Grupo Salinas spokesperson added that there was no oil or gas spilled as a nearby well was closed prior to the incident.

Photos circulated on social media showed dark streaks in the water stretching a few hundred meters (yards) from what appeared to be the platform, which was tilting steeply.

A Pemex spokesman also said there had been no crude spill but added that the platform probably contained diesel. “That could have fallen into the water,” he added.

The Caan field where the accident occurred produced nearly 12,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude in March, according to Pemex data. That in turn is part of the Abkatun-Pol-Chuc area, which produced almost 309,000 bpd in March.

Pemex said the platform was continuing to lean into the sea, but another spokesman for the company added that the accident had not “compromised” any wells.

The incident was the second platform mishap in barely a month to hit the Mexican oil giant, which made a loss of more than $6 billion in the first quarter of 2015.

On April 1, at least four people died at a fire in a separate platform in the Abkatun Pol Chuc complex, which temporarily dented production in the area.
Around 70 percent of Pemex’s crude oil output comes from the southern Gulf of Mexico.

Pemex said around 100 workers were evacuated. (Reporting by Mexico Newsroom; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Bernard Orr)

LO ÚLTIMO: Muere un segundo trabajador tras un accidente de @Pemex http://t.co/l8eCyo8RUc Foto: @Joseluis_hc pic.twitter.com/iNb5CwELuN

— CNN México (@CNNMex) May 5, 2015

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

Scorched ‘Sorrento’ Ferry Towed to Port

By Mike Schuler On May 6, 2015

The fire-scorched ferry is finally headed for Segunto, Spain more than a week after the ship burst into flames while crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

The fire broke out in the lower decks of the ferry Sorrento, operated by Trasmediterranea-Acciona, about an hour after departing from the island of Mallorca to the Spanish port of Valencia on April 28th. All 156 passengers and crew were able to escape the burning ship.

Although the fire was extinguished within about a day, the ferry has been held at see while undergoing inspections and as arrangements were made for its tow to port.

According to Spain’s Salvamento Maritimo, the Sorrento was under tow early Wednesday to Segunto, Spain by Gianemilio C tugboat with the emergency vessel Clara Campoamor providing escort. AIS data showed the Clara Campoamor just off the coast of Valencia, just south of Segunto, as of 18:26 GMT.

Here are some photos showing the damage and fire to the vessel. Photos courtesy Salvamento Maritimo.