BREAKING NEWS-Commuter Plane Crash
CHARLOTTTE, Jan. 8--US Airways has confirmed that flight 5481 has crashed on take-off from Charlotte-Douglas Airport.
There were 19 people and 2 crew members on board the US Airways Express commuter plane.
Eyewitnesses say the plane flipped during take-off.
No word yet from MEDIC on the condition of the people on board.
Then it nose-dived into the US Airways Hangar near the runway.
Watch Channel 9 Eyewitness News for continuing coverage of this Breaking News Event.
Source:Channel 9, Eyewitness News
01/08/2003
An Air Midwest commuter plane crashed this morning on takeoff from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, authorities said, killing 19 passengers and two crew members.
Officials at Carolinas Medical Center have been told not to expect any patients.
Eyewitnesses say the small plane was taking off when it suddenly banked to the left and hit a US Airways hangar shortly before 9 a.m. Pictures from NBC6-TV in Charlotte show the blackened corner of the hangar, but a fire reported earlier is no longer burning.
NBC6-TV This image from T.V. shows one corner of the hanger hit by the plane blackened and burning. |
The plane was enroute for Greenville-Spartanburg Airport when it went down. It was scheduled to arrive at 9:11 a.m.
The runway where the accident happened is shut down, but the airport is not closed at this time.
http://pages.prodigy.net/jedinein/mel/vmcdemo.html
Runaway trim. Out of trim isn't a biggie. Runaway trim is a ***** -- until you catch it. CG is a good possibility.
In the 70s, an Eastern Airlines jet crashed short of the runway, inbound, I think in good weather (maybe some ground fog, but no storms). Don't remember much about it; I think the cause remains a mystery.
In the early 90s, a US Air jet crashed to the right of a runway, was trying to beat a thunderstorm moving in, I guess the pilot and tower thought there was a window there. Wind shear, deadly when you're on approach at speeds just above stall speed. One thing sticks in my mind on that one. Within minutes, there was a traffic jam at the Red Cross with people coming to donate blood for the victims. An immediate instinctive reaction, the desire to help, and it speaks well of our town; sadly, it wasn't needed.
The current case sure sounds like a case of overloading or load shift, leading to a stall. Witnesses reporting an extreme angle of ascent before the crash. Weather was certainly not a factor. Good visibility, high broken clouds, 50-ish.
CBS radio was just on with a report that the pilot was female. Newsworthy, I suppose, but it seemed gratuitous in the way they reported the fact. I'm a male and anything but a feminist, but it seemed like a cheap shot.
