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Good airplane with excellent safety record.
Posted on 10/12/2002 10:58:30 AM PDT by Freedom of Speech Wins
U.S. counterterrorism expert killed in plane crash in Australia
Sun Sep 29, 5:23 AM ET
BRISBANE, Australia - One of the six victims of last week's plane crash on an exclusive Australian island resort was an American counterterrorism expert on his honeymoon, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The man's new wife, also a counterterrorism strategist, was also supposed to have been on the plane but gave up her seat at the last minute to allow a family of four to sit together on the ill-fated flight Thursday, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
Investigators suspect the plane suffered a mechanical failure. Media reports said air safety officials were testing samples of the plane's fuel, suggesting that it may have been contaminated. However, a spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it was standard practice to carry out such tests.
In a press conference on Hamilton Island Sunday, the wife of Christopher Le Gallo, 33, who died in the crash, spoke of how the memory of their brief happiness has helped her through the tragedy.
Laura Le Gallo, who was married by her pastor father just eight days ago, said they had spent "every minute" of their brief honeymoon "loving and enjoying each other so much."
"On Thursday, we had spent one of the most amazing days of our life scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef," Le Gallo said. "This was a dream of Chris's that I also shared."
The Telegraph said the couple, from Virginia, both worked for SAIC, a San Diego, California-based research and engineering company.
The Telegraph — which did not cite its source for the information — said Christopher Le Gallo was "a leading counterterrorism and nuclear strategist." Meanwhile, his wife had authored this year "an analysis of how a nuclear, chemical or biological attack on American air bases would affect combat capabilities," the report said.
Le Gallo's father, Andre — a veteran CIA ( news - web sites) agent who served in Africa, Hungary, Romania and Iran in the 1960s and 1970s — arrived on the island with his wife late Saturday, the newspaper said.
Le Gallo's parents had flown in from the United States and spent the night in Sydney, where they were consoled by longtime friend, U.S. Ambassador to Australia Tom Schieffer, the report said.
The father and a friend of Laura Le Gallo also arrived at the resort on Saturday.
The plane crashed Thursday after taking off from Hamilton Island, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Queensland state capital, Brisbane, on its way to nearby Lindeman Island. Police said the crash investigation was being handled by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
The other people on the plane were a family of four tourists from New Zealand and an Australian pilot.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said Saturday that the pilot of the plane's previous flight had told investigators the Piper Cherokee Six aircraft had shown no indication of problems.
Family and friends of the victims attended an emotional memorial service on Hamilton Island on Sunday.
Anyone know anything about "contamination" of fuel tests. Never heard of them, but I admit ignorance. Article states they are regularly done.
Good airplane with excellent safety record.
They can check the wreckage to see if the engine was turning over at impact. (Both external and internal cues will tell the investigators this). If it wasn't, they look at why it stopped.
Was fuel present? OK, was it the right kind of fuel? (The 300 HP engine of this Cherokee Six would probably run badly on auto gas. It would stop running if the fuel was contaminated with water [as mentioned by billorites -- it usually gets in to the fuel by condensing inside the tank] or jet fuel [usually gets in because someone messed up]).
Other contaminants that get into fuel are alcohol (found in some auto fuels, but unsafe in aircraft fuel systems), and debris from the rubber tank bladders if they get old and start decomposing (or if some chemical, like the above-mentioned ethanol, was in the fuel).
Like billorites said, during preflight inspection of this particular machine there are three places where the pilot drains fuel into a cup or a tube. If he sees water, he keeps draining till it's all out (water is heavier than gas and settles to the bottom, where the drains are). There is one drain below each wing tank and one underneath the engine.
Anyway, after an accident there are a lot of things the investigators do. Any remaining fuel is checked for the kind of contamination "bill" and I described. The fuel filter will also be examined closely.
The most usual reason for an aero motor to stop turning is operator error -- ran it out of gas, or switched to an empty fuel tank, or pulled the mixture knob when trying to chop the throttle. Second most common is carburetor ice which is unlikely to be a factor in this area (it's pretty arid) in this season (spring), but it will certainly be considered by the investigators.
The same procedures are used by ATSB, America's NTSB, Britain's AAIB and France's BEA, etc. Accident investigation is both an art and a science, but everybody who does it worldwide shares information and techniques. After all, if we can learn something from these accidents these unfortunate souls did not die in vain.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
I don't know what the situation was, or what was available to land on. Maybe the guy tried to make an emergency landing and didn't succeed. Maybe conditions made it impossible.
But, when all is said and done they will probably hang it on the pilot.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Evidently she was a better strategist than he!
This is a story to watch.
That sort of jumped out at me too, but I don't think it's really that unusual. When we discussed taking a helicopter ride in Hawaii, one of us was going to have to stay behind and go on a separate tour and there were only four of us. Guess it just depends on how many want to go at which time. I'm assuming this was a small sightseeing type plane?
I agree with you that this is a story to watch.
Yes, I have heard of this, and... cannot for the life of me remember exactly the other crash...JFK, Jr?.no...? (I'm working on it).
Unless there is foul play involved, I don't think it's that unusual that he went without her. jmo.
I wish I knew of such a test---it should be used for all fluids in a car or plane.
I had my oil changed at a KWIK KAR and 500 miles later, my BRAKES FAILED COMPLETELY.
My brake fluid, which had been bled by the Dealer three-and-a-half months earlier---(i.e. by someone who would KNOW by SIGHT if the brake fluid was significantly off color by contamination)---was dark brown when it is supposedly supposed to be clear to pale yellow.
There was supposedly an oily substance (like regular car oil) in it. Gee, I wonder how it WASN'T in there three-and-a-half months ago, but a few days and 500 miles after getting an OIL CHANGE at KWIK KAR, the BRAKE FLUID suddenly had an OILY CONTAMINATION.
Need I say where NOT to go? That KWIK KAR OIL CHANGE COST ME $2,500.00!!!! I had to have my BRAKES REPLACED as well as everything the CONTAMINATED BRAKE FLUID touched!!!!!
It would sure be nice to have a fluid contamination checker.
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