Rand Robinson KR-2 small plane crashes in Washington County, WI corn field, pilot not hurt

Posted July 21, 2015, 

 

by FOX6 News

WASHINGTON COUNTY, WI

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crash of a small plane in a corn field in the Town of Barton on Tuesday morning, July 21st.
Deputies were dispatched to the scene on Country Trunk D around 8:15 a.m.  When they arrived, they found the pilot was not hurt.

The investigation determined the pilot, a 58-year-old Harvest, Alabama man with 25 years of flying experience, had taken off from EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh and was traveling to DeKalb, Illinois. He was flying a home-built, experimental aircraft — and reached an altitude of approximately 7,500 feet.

Approximately 23 minutes into the flight, the engine suffered a mechanical failure which stalled the plane’s engine. The pilot then glided the aircraft for 15 miles attempting to reach a homemade air field in the Town of Barton which no longer exists. The pilot then landed the aircraft in a soy bean field, traveled several hundred feet and came to rest in a bordering corn field.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is being assisted by the FAA Milwaukee office. At this time it is believed that the engine suffered a mechanical failure while in flight.

Date:	21-JUL-2015
Time:	-08:15
Type:	Rand Robinson KR-2
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	N891JF
C/n / msn:	7219
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Unknown
Location:	NW of Barton, WI -   United States of America
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:	Wittman Rgnl (KOSH)
Destination airport:	DeKalb Taylor Muni (KDKB)

 

Narrative:
Following a loss of engine power enroute from Oshkosh, the aircraft, an experimental Faughn built KR-2, force landed to farm field terrain east of Hahn Sky Ranch Airport (2T5), West Bend, Wisconsin. The airplane sustained unreported damage and the sole pilot onboard was not injured. Sources: http://fox11online.com/news/local/fox-cities/plane-crashes-after-leaving-airventure-in-washington-county
http://www.wkow.com/story/29599245/2015/07/21/small-plane-goes-down-in-washington-county-field
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=891JF
http://jfaughn.com/other/kr/krgeneral/kr_2.html

 

Oil firms trying to sell ageing North Sea oilfields are considering shouldering hundreds of millions of dollars in future dismantling costs to help find buyers

Old North Sea Assets Causing Owners Pain

By Reuters 

  2015-07-21 18:08:03 

Oil firms trying to sell ageing North Sea oilfields are considering shouldering hundreds of millions of dollars in future dismantling costs to help find buyers, industry sources say.

One of the world's oldest and most important offshore oil and gas production basins, the U.K. North Sea faces dwindling output and a growing number of redundant platforms that require decommissioning in a scale and complexity never seen before.

The near halving of oil prices over the past year to below $60 a barrel has forced the industry to slash spending, increase efficiencies and sell or shut down assets that are least profitable or which do not fit their portfolios. 

But despite a large rise in the number of assets up for sale in the North Sea in recent months, only a few deals have been completed.

"There remains a very big gap between buyers and sellers and that hasn't been narrowing the way some expected," said Christopher Young, director of the Strategy Group at KPMG.
Decommissioning, which involves plugging wells with cement on the seabed and removing obsolete platforms and pipelines, has proved to be a major stumbling block for deals.

As companies come to grips with an extended period of low oil prices, the urgency to sell assets is growing. As a result, boards are weighing up new strategies.

"A lot of companies under stress are now starting to consider if retaining some or all of the decommissioning liability might be an option for selling," Young said.

"Our conversations with a number of North Sea operators suggest that others are now considering selling assets while retaining decommissioning liabilities."
BP and Total are among several field operators considering such a strategy, according to the sources.

"On the big old fields, which is what the majors are selling, decommissioning is a major issue. They have been trying to sell some of those fields for quite some time. It's unattractive to take on those decommissioning liabilities," Tony Durrant, Chief executive of Premier Oil, said.

"The others, including BP, are coming around to the view that the only way they can reduce their assets in the UK is by retaining those liabilities."

Decommissioning costs can reach hundreds of millions of dollars for the larger North Sea assets.

Total decommissioning costs in the UK continental shelf over the next 30 years are expected to reach around 50 billion pounds ($78 billion), according to a strategic industry review by Sir Ian Wood for the British government.
BP, which has been selling assets in the North Sea since 1996, said it is considering all options.

"Our preference is to sell assets with the decommissioning liability, however the agreements reached with buyers are deal specific," a spokesman said.
Total was not immediately available for comment.

DE-RISKING

The concept of shouldering the decommissioning costs was used at least once when BP sold to DNO in 2003 the Thistle field, today operated by Enquest.
The oil price drop also offers opportunity for buyers, particularly private equity funds such as Caryle Group, and Riverstone to invest in the North Sea.

Removing the decommissioning costs would make late-life assets more attractive and remove a lot of risk buyers might associate with them.
"The number of potential buyers for such assets will be far higher than is the case in a traditional sale," a KPMG report said.

At the same time, seller will receive a higher price for the asset which would boost balance sheets in the short-term.

But the risks for sellers are significant as they will have to earmark large sums of money for the future decommissioning. Legal pitfalls may also arise, KPMG said.

Dredging NZ sentenced after death of worker who was crushed between an excavator and the wall of a hopper, on a barge

Auckland, New Zealand 

 

By MarEx 

  2015-07-21 19:11:23 

Dredging NZ has been fined NZ$79,500 ($53,000) and ordered to pay NZ$42,000 ($29,000) in reparation after the death of a worker, crushed on a dredging barge in West Park Marina, Auckland, New Zealand, on November 19, 2013.

Peter Bateman died after being crushed between an excavator and the wall of a hopper, on a barge being skippered by Brent Darrach.

Dredging NZ was sentenced in Auckland District Court after pleading guilty to a charge laid by Maritime New Zealand under section 6 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, that as an employer it failed to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees at work.

In May, Darrach was fined NZ$10,000 ($6,500) and ordered to pay reparation of NZ$18,000 ($12,000) after pleading guilty to a charge under section 19 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, that as an employee he failed to take all practicable steps to ensure no action or inaction of himself while at work harmed any other person.

The company operates barges fitted with an excavator and a hopper, or walled bin, in which to collect excavated material.

The accident happened when Bateman left the barge he was operating to board Darrach’s barge to travel as a passenger a short distance to the wharf.

The barges are moved by using the excavator arm to pull and push off the seabed. Bateman died when the excavator rotated, crushing him between the back of the excavator and the hopper wall.

Dredging NZ had no protocols for operation of the vessels, particularly where passengers were involved.  The danger zone within the turning area of excavator was not marked on the barge and Bateman was standing within this area when the accident occurred.

“There was no designated place on board where passengers were directed to sit, and no procedure for the operator to follow to ensure passengers, or nearby personnel, were well clear of any hazards,” Maritime NZ Director Keith Manch said.

“Alternatively, the company could have had in place a policy ensuring that passengers were not carried on barges while they were operating.

“This was a tragic event that could have been avoided if appropriate safety systems were in place.”

Cargo Ship Majed & Randy Damages Villa in Bosphorus Strait after Experiencing a Rudder Malfunction

July 21, 2015 by Mike Schuler

Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait was closed to ship traffic Tuesday after a cargo ship ran into a shoreside villa.

The accident occurred at 12:58 p.m. Tuesday when the 106-meter Sierra Leone-flagged Majed & Randy slammed into the villa near Istanbul’s Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge after experiencing a rudder malfunction.


GAC Shipping said that cargo ship had no pilot on board at the time of the allision.

Turkey’s General Directorate of Coast Safety dispatched two tugs and pilot for assistance. The cargo ship remains at anchor in the general vicinity of the accident.


There were no reports of pollution or injuries.

The Strait was due to re-open a few hours late at 15:30 local time, GAC shipping said.

//------------------------////

Cargo Ship Slams into Bosphorus Strait Villa

By MarEx 

2015-07-21

The cargo ship M/V Majed and Randy crashed into a fashionable villa on Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait on July 21st closing ships traffic on the major waterway. There was no marine pilot onboard the vessel when it suffered a propulsion malfunction.

The 6,476 ton vessel is owned by Farah-M Shipping and flagged in Sierra Leone. The Bosphorus Strait is the world’s narrowest waterway used for commercial marine traffic and it forms the boundary between Asia and Europe. It is the only maritime outlet for Russian oil and other commodities from the Black Sea. An estimated 10,000 oil tankers carry about 150 million tons of petroleum products through the strait each year.

The Coast Guard deployed tugboats and a pilot to assist the M/V Majed and Randy, which remained anchored in the area of the collision. There are no immediately plans to re-open the strait at this time. There were no injuries due to the allision incident.

During the Crimea – Russian conflict in July 2014, the M/V Majed and Randy was docked at a Sevastopol grain terminal. According to Russian authorities Crimea was exporting grain to Saudi Arabia and Northern Cyprus, which was against E.U. sanctions

IMO: 8000305
Name: Majed and Randy
MMSI: 667002231
Type: General Cargo
Gross Tonnage: 3905
Summer DWT: 6476 t
Build: 1980
Flag: Sierra Leone
Home port: Freetown

14 aftershocks reported after 4.0 earthquake hits Fremont, California

Many Bay Area residents had an early wake-up call Tuesday morning as a 4.0 earthquake hit two miles northeast of Fremont.

 

Bay City News 

 

Tuesday, July 21, 2015 01:53PM

 

FREMONT, Calif. -- 

 

Many Bay Area residents had an early wake-up call Tuesday morning as a 4.0 earthquake hit two miles northeast of Fremont.

The 2:41 a.m. earthquake on the border of Fremont and Union City occurred on the Hayward Fault at a depth of 5 miles. The epicenter was at a spot just north of the intersection of Niles Canyon Road and Mission Boulevard.

While damage from the quake was minimal, scientists warn that a much larger one is expected on the Hayward Fault, which extends from San Pablo Bay in the north to Fremont in the south and passes through heavily populated areas including Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward and Fremont.

The last big earthquake on the fault, estimated to have a 6.8-magnitude, occurred in 1868, according to the USGS.

It killed about 30 people and caused extensive property damage in the Bay Area, particularly in the city of Hayward, from which the fault derives its name. Until the larger 1906 earthquake, it was widely referred to as the "Great San Francisco Earthquake."

"The population is now 100 times bigger in the East Bay, so we have many more people that will be impacted," said Tom Brocher, a research geophysicist with the USGS.

"We keep a close eye on the Hayward Fault because it does sit in the heart of the Bay Area and when we do get a big earthquake on it, it's going to have a big impact on the entire Bay Area," Brocher said.

While a 2008 report put the probability of a 6.7-magnitude or larger earthquake on the Hayward-Rodgers Creek Fault system over the next 30 years at 31 percent, Brocher said the reality is a major quake is expected on the fault "any day now."

"The past five major earthquakes 1/8 on the fault 3/8 have been about 140 years apart, and now we're 147 years from that 1868 earthquake, so we definitely feel that could happen any time," Brocher said.

Brocher urged residents to take steps to prepare for a major earthquake.

The USGS shake map shows residents in the areas close to Fremont and Union City experienced light shaking in this morning's event, while weaker shaking might have been felt in areas as far south as Santa Cruz, up the Peninsula and as far east as Livermore.

Residents throughout the Bay Area reported feeling the quake, with responses concentrated in the East and South Bay, according to the USGS.

Brocher said this morning's 4.0 earthquake was not likely to have much of an impact one way or the other on the likelihood of a major earthquake occurring on the same fault.