BreakingNews: Polish President Dies in Plane Crash

WARSAWA - plane carrying the Polish president and dozens of the country’s top political and military leaders to the site of a Soviet massacre of Polish officers in World War II crashed in western Russia on Saturday, killing everyone on board.

President Lech Kaczynski’s plane tried to land in a thick fog, missing the runway and snagging treetops about half a mile from the airport in Smolensk, scattering chunks of fuselage across a bare forest.

The crash came as a stunning blow to Poland, wiping out a large portion of the country’s leadership in one fiery explosion. And in a chilling twist, it happened at the moment that Russia and Poland were beginning to come to terms with the killing of more than 20,000 members of Poland’s elite officer corps in the same place 70 years ago.

“It is a damned place,” former President Aleksander Kwasniewski told TVN24. “It sends shivers down my spine.”

“This is a wound which will be very difficult to heal,” he said.

A top Russian military official said air traffic controllers at the Smolensk airport had several times ordered the crew of the plane not to land, warned that it was descending below the glide path and recommended it reroute to another airport.

“Nevertheless, the crew continued the descent,” said Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Alyoshin, the first deputy chief of the Russian Air Force Staff. “Unfortunately, the result was tragic.”

Russian emergency officials said 97 people were killed. They included Poland’s deputy foreign minister and a dozen members of Parliament, the chiefs of the army and the navy, and the president of the national bank. They included Anna Walentynowicz, 80, the former dock worker whose firing in 1980 set off the Solidarity strike that ultimately overthrew Polish Communism, as well as relatives of victims of the massacre that they were on their way to commemorate.

Poles united in their grief in a way that recalled the death of the Polish pope, John Paul II, five years ago. Thousands massed outside the Presidential Palace, laying flowers and lighting candles.

Magda Niemczyk, a 24-year-old student, held a single tulip. “I wanted to be together with the other Polish people,” she said.

“It’s a national tragedy,” said Ryszard Figurski, 70, a retired telecommunications worker. “Apart from their official positions, it is also simply the loss of so many lives.”

Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, one of the highest-ranking Polish leaders not on board the plane, told Radio Zet in Poland that he was the one to inform Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who “was in tears when he heard about the catastrophe.”

The crash happened days after Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin became the first Russian leader to join Polish officials in commemorating the 1940 massacre at Katyn Woods, a wound that has festered between the two countries for decades and to Poles was a symbol of Russian domination.

Former President Lech Walesa, who presided over Poland’s transition from Communism, called the crash “the second disaster after Katyn.”

“They wanted to cut off our head there, and here the flower of our nation has also perished,” he said.

The repercussions on Poland’s coming presidential elections were far from clear. The Law and Justice Party lost numerous important leaders in addition to the president, including its parliamentary leader. Mr. Kaczynski had been trailing far behind his opponent in the polls, but the outpouring of sympathy from the mourning public might benefit his party in the moved-up presidential election.

Under Poland’s Constitution, the leader of the lower house of Parliament, now acting president, has 14 days to announce new elections, which must then take place within 60 days.

While the crash is not likely to substantially change Poland’s relationships with other countries, including its plans to host part of an American missile defense system, it could agitate Poland’s relationship with Russia.

Mr. Kaczynski, 60, a pugnacious nationalist who often clashed with Russia, was on his way to Katyn, where members of the Soviet secret police executed Polish officers captured after the Red Army invaded Poland in 1939.

Breaking news: Bravo crash in Sragen, Pilot Die

Indonesian Air Force Crash Kills Pilot
Yet another military plane crashed in Central Java on Thursday morning, killing one person and bringing to nine the total number of military aircraft accidents in the country this year.

The Bravo AS 202 Air Force plane, which was on a training mission, went down in the district of Sragen around 10:30 a.m. and landed in a rice field before breaking into pieces.

Debris was scattered over a wide area and the sole passenger and pilot, Second Lt. Felix, a student of the Air Force’s 2008 flight school class, was killed.

“Felix was doing an exercise as part of preparations for the Solo Aerobatics event, which will be held in October,” said Bambang Susilo, the head of Air Force’s communications office.

Bambang could not say what caused the crash, but said a range of factors including human error, poor weather, machinery problems or operational failure could be to blame.

“Our team is still investigating the incident,” he said, adding the weather in Sragen was clear and sunny at the time of the crash.

According to Bambang, the plane took off from the Adi Sumarno Air Field in Solo, East Java, around 10 a.m.

A Navy Nomad P-837 surveillance aircraft went down in East Kalimantan on Sept. 9, killing at least four people, including two civilians, and injured five others.

That incident prompted lawmakers in the House of Representatives to demand that the military ground all of its aging aircraft to curb the possibility of further accidents.

Most of the military’s aircraft were purchased in the 1970s and 1980s.

An Air Force Hercules C-130 transport plane crashed in East Java in May, killing at least 101 people on board.

Budget constraints have been blamed for frequent military plane accidents in the country.

In the 2010 budget proposal President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono submitted to the House last August, the government allocated Rp 40.6 trillion ($4.18 billion) on national defense, up 20 percent from this year.

Yudhoyono also promised to gradually increase military spending over the course of his upcoming term.

Earlier he stated that the ideal level for defense spending would be about Rp 100 trillion to Rp 120 trillion per year.

Breaking news: Nomad crash in Tarakan 5 Passenger die

Five killed in Nomad plane crash
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 00:27 WIB | National | | Viewed 266 time(s)

A type of Nomad plane of the Indonesian Navy crashed in East Kalimantan on Monday (9/7). (ANTARA/alutsista.blogspot.com/*)Jakarta (ANTARA Nes) - Five people were reported killed after a maritime reconnaissance Nomad plane of the Indonesian Navy crashed in East Kalimantan province on Monday.

Some of the bodies had been found, a source at the Balikpapan air base said.
The plane with three crew members and six passengers on board met the accident on its flight from Long Bawan, Nunukan district, to Juwata airport in Tarakan city, East Kalimantan.

The three crew members were pilot 1st Lt. Erwin, co-pilot 1st Lt. Saiful and technician Sgt. Maj. Sodikin, while the identities of six passengers remained unknown.

There was no immediate report on the identities of those killed in the crash.
The ill-fated plane left Tarakan for Nunukan at 11.11 a.m. The plane was supposed to return back at Tarakan at 02.30 but crashed at Long Apung, Bulungan district, at 02.28 p.m., the source said.

A team of search and rescue workers had been sent to the crash site, it said.
Spokesman for the Juwata airport Muhamad Nafiek said five people were killed and four others survived the accident.

Chief of the Bulungan police resort Adj. Chief Coms. Pumal Barus said two teams of rescue workers had been fielded to the scene to evacuate the victims.

Spokesman of the Indonesian Navy, Commodore Iskandar Sitompul, said in Jakarta earlier in the day that the Nomad plane was on a routine patrol flight. It was carrying nine crew members and passengers on board.(*)

Breaking news : Twin-Otter Merpati Crash in Oksibil,Papua 15 die

Merpati's Twin Otter Plane Missing At Jayapura, Papua - Equal Life
Date: 3 August 2009
Merpati plane with flight from Jayapura to Oksibil lost contact with the tower. Until now has not known yet about the fate of crews and passengers of the plane. "True, we lost contact with the Twin Otter aircraft is," said Merpati PR
The plane departed from Sentani Airport at 10.15 WIT (Indonesian East Region Time) and should have reached Sentani at 11:05 WIT; but suddenly the airport authorities had lost contact with the Merpati plane at 10:28 WIT on the distance
A Merpati Nusantara Airlines DHC-6-30 Twin Otter (registration PK-NVC) has been declared missing by authorities in Indonesia after it failed to reach its destination yesterday. On the morning of August 2, 2009 Merpati Flight MZ9760D
Now Bambang has joined a pure state-owned company, PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines. However, he is fully aware that he was appointed to the job due to an emergency situation and it is not a permanent position. "I know that at any time and
Rescue teams have reached the Merpati Nusantara de Havilland Canada Twin Otter that crashed in west Papua on 2 August, and have confirmed all 15 passengers

Breaking news: Two Plane Collide at Hudson River 9 People Die

9 Dead After Copter and Plane Collide Over Hudson
Above the River, Pilots Must Serve as Their Own Traffic Controllers (August 9, 2009)
Families Shattered as a Dream Trip From Italy Ends in Death (August 10, 2009)
A Flight Later, 2 Deaths Avoided (August 9, 2009)

Steven M. Altman, 60, pilot of the private plane that crashed. More Photos >
Readers' Comments
Readers shared their thoughts on this article.
Read All Comments (150) »The cause of the accident was under investigation. But what perhaps thousands of people out on a crystalline summer day saw from both sides of the Hudson was a stunning, low-altitude accident in which the plane rolled up and into the helicopter, striking with a crack like thunder as the helicopter’s blades and one of the plane’s wings flew off, and then both aircraft fell and vanished into the river.

As witnesses watched from parks and balconies, three bodies were recovered, one floating in the water and two others from wreckage believed to be that of the helicopter, located by divers on the murky riverbed 30 feet down. The search for the plane was impeded by visibility of only two or three feet at the bottom.

But officials held out no hope of survivors.

“This is not going to have a happy ending,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a news conference, contrasting the outcome with the spectacular landing of a US Airways jetliner in the icy Hudson on Jan. 15, when all 155 on board were rescued by ferries and emergency boats.

From all appearances, the mayor said in somber tones, the crash was “not survivable.” He said divers searching for the remaining victims, and then trying to recover the submerged aircraft, would proceed with caution to avoid further loss of life. “This has changed from a rescue to a recovery mission,” he said.

The victims included five Italian tourists and a pilot aboard the helicopter, which had just taken off from the West 30th Street heliport in Manhattan. Aviation authorities identified the pilot and owner of the plane as Steven M. Altman, of Ambler, Pa., and said he carried two passengers; a law enforcement official said one was Mr. Altman’s brother Daniel Altman and the other a teenage boy.

Reached at home, the pilot’s wife, Pamala, said her husband was licensed and had been scheduled to fly his plane on Saturday from Teterboro Airport in northern New Jersey to Ocean City, on the Jersey Shore.

The Italian tourists — a woman, two men and two youths, according to the Italian Embassy — were traveling together in a group of about a dozen relatives and friends. People familiar with their plans said they lived in the Bologna area. Others in the group were taken to a Red Cross center on West 49th Street, where they received counseling.

It was the worst air accident in the New York City area since Nov. 12, 2001, when 265 people were killed in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Belle Harbor, Queens, as it took off from Kennedy International Airport for the Dominican Republic. It was the first fatal crash since Oct. 11, 2006, when a small plane flying over the East River hit a 42-story building on Manhattan’s East Side, killing the Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor.

Saturday’s crash raised questions about the scores of virtually unregulated low-altitude flights every day in a busy corridor over the Hudson. Helicopters and small planes may fly over the river under a 1,100-foot ceiling, well below a 5,000-foot minimum altitude in airspace reserved for airliners. Mayor Bloomberg, asked about federal rules for the corridor, said he did not favor changes in the rules, citing the city’s interests in tourism.

As investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board began an inquiry that was expected to take weeks or months, the convergence of the doomed aircraft seemed wildly improbable in retrospect. Federal Aviation Administration officials, citing radar tracks, said the airplane took off from Teterboro at 11:50 a.m., after stopping there for a half-hour and picking up a passenger. The plane arrived over the Hudson at 11:52 and turned south.

The helicopter, a European-made craft owned by a Liberty Helicopters, took off from the West 30th Street heliport at almost the same time for a sightseeing tour. The helicopter took off, headed out over the river, turned south and climbed to between 500 and 1,000 feet.

On a sun-drenched Saturday that beckoned many out of doors, there were countless witnesses to the dramatic denouement — joggers, bikers, strollers, people lunching in restaurants and lounging in high-rise apartments lining the Hudson — but many got only glimpses of what happened, looking out over the milewide river when they heard what sounded like distant thunder in a mostly clear sky.

Many said the small airplane, a white-and-red, single-engine Piper PA-32R, came up behind and under the helicopter. A Liberty pilot watching from the heliport radioed to warn the copter, said Deborah A. P. Hersman, chairwoman of the safety board.

“You have a fixed wing behind you,” he said. But he got no response.

The plane suddenly went into a left-turning roll, banking steeply, as if its pilot was unaware of impending danger, and at 11:56 a.m. rammed the rear underside of the copter not far off the Hoboken shoreline.

The aircraft appeared to break apart in midair — the plane’s left wing tumbling, the detached rotor blades of the helicopter spinning away like a child’s toy, witnesses said. The fuselages parted in a puff of dark smoke and fell away into the choppy blue-gray Hudson. It took only seconds, and the two craft were gone in the eerie silence that followed.

Colin Rich, 26, of Brooklyn, saw the crash from a river park in Manhattan: “Both appeared to be heading south, and the plane rolled into the side of the helicopter. Right before that, it appeared very suspect because I saw them getting so close to each other.”

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Breaking news: Super puma crash in Bogor 4 Soldiers die

Another RI Military Airplane crash. Super Puma Helicopter crashed in Bogor, four dead.
Another Republic of Indonesia (RI) Military airplane crash today. Helicopter type of Super Puma SA 330 belong to the Indonesian Air Force was crashed in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, today, at 14.10 local times, Friday, June 12, 2009. Four passenger of Helicopter, including Pilot Major Sobic Fanani, co pilot Lieutenant Wisnu and two Helicopter technicians Serka Catur and Sertu Dodi, all members of Indonesian Air Force were dead on the crash.
Indonesian Air Force Speaker Marsma Bambang Sulistyo said that the Helicopter registered number H 3306 was doing a flying practice close to the Atang Sanjaya Air Force Airport, Bogor, and West Java. Catur and Dodi were passing a way in the crashed location, and Pilot Sobic and Co Pilot Wisno were passing away later in 16.30 local times in Atang Sanjaya Hospital.
There are seven passengers in the Helicopters, three others passenger Letda Ronny, Serka Efran, and Serka Ferdinand are still taking care in Atang Sanjaya Hospital, Bogor.

Breaking News: Aria Air Crash 17 Passenger die

Aria Air Crash Kills 17
Saturday July 25, 2009
The second airline crash in 2 weeks in Iran. This time it is an Aria Air aircraft that was involved. Aria Air - Iran - Crash Kills at Least 17 People on Board.

Aria Air flight 1525 crashed killing at least 17 people on board, and at least 20 injured. 153 people were on board. The flight had flown from Tehran, Iran to the Iranian city of Mashhad. There have been conflicting reports of what happened. Reports also differ regarding the breakdown of the fatalities - some citing 13 of the dead as crew members, others as 3 crew members and the rest of the 19 as passengers.