Just observed what appeared to be 3 or 4 jet aircraft, (military type fighter aircraft), following a commercial airliner, westbound into LAX about 2 minutes ago. From the OC area.
My first thought was possibly AF-1 but I don't think POTUS is in the region.
Maybe we knew that a plane was going to be shot down!!
Posted on Tue, Dec. 20, 2005
The Miami Herald
THE CRASH `It just burst and it went right down' All 20 people aboard, including three infants, were killed when a seaplane operated by a Fort Lauderdale-based airline crashed near Miami Beach. By MATTHEW I. PINZUR mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com
A seaplane's fiery plunge
A Chalk's seaplane burst into flames over South Beach on Monday, killing all 20 people on board -- including three infants -- and plummeting into the ocean so close to shore that lifeguards, surfers and Jet Skiers were the first on the scene.
The cause of the crash remained unknown, but witnesses said the plane's rear half exploded, shearing off the left wing and sending the flight tumbling to the sea shortly after its 2:30 p.m. takeoff from Watson Island.
''All of a sudden it just burst into a big ball of fire and it went right down,'' said Larry Little, 59, who was working construction on the Apogee building in South Pointe and watched the plane somersault into the water.
There were 20 people aboard the Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101: two pilots, 15 ticketed passengers and three infants. Many were believed to be from Bimini, the Bahamian island cluster where the flight was heading.
Nineteen bodies were recovered Monday, and Coast Guard Petty Officer Dana Warr said the search for the last one continued until 9:45 p.m.
''It's over,'' said Warr, a Coast Guard spokesman. ``It's no longer a search-and-rescue operation. It's recovery and salvage.''
The majority of the passengers were found inside the largely intact fuselage, which authorities said came to rest in about 35 feet of water near the rock jetty at the mouth of Government Cut.
''I ran there and when I got there, there were four or five boats looking in the water,'' said Jeff Anderson, 34, who was surfing nearby. ``I didn't see anybody that looked like survivors. I didn't see anybody at all.''
Chalk's, which operates the Grumman G73-T Mallard airplane, is based in Fort Lauderdale and flies to Bimini and Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The plane normally holds 17 passengers plus two pilots, but Chalk's owner Jim Confalone said infants are allowed unticketed.
The flight was to land in Bimini at 9:40 a.m., but long delays are typical of small commuter airlines such as Chalk's. The reason for the delay was unclear.
''We can't make any comments because we don't have enough information at this time to even comment on,'' said Confalone, who was out of town but spoke with The Miami Herald on Monday afternoon. ``They are recovering people out of the water right now as we speak.''
More than a dozen investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Miami late Monday and expected to try to raise the wreck this morning. The plane carried a cockpit voice recorder, but not the data recorders found on larger commercial jets.
''We'll be looking at everything in this investigation,'' said Mark Rosenker, acting NTSB chairman. ``Nothing is off the table.''
The inquiry into the crash's cause is expected to take at least a year.
VIDEO OF CRASH
Investigators will be aided by a 26-second amateur video, which provided a rare glimpse of a doomed plane's last moments. It shows billows of thick, black smoke tracing the downward arc. A piece that appears to be the left wing or part of an engine breaks away in a blaze of flame, following the cabin into the water.
''It does look like an engine explosion, and an explosion so violent it sent the plane out of control,'' said Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the Department of Transportation.
The plane was 58 years old, and Schiavo said its age could have been a factor.
''To be in daily passenger service, that is unheard of -- to be in such punishing service, over saltwater,'' said Schiavo, who now works as an air-disaster attorney in Charleston, S.C. ``This is just an incredibly old plane to be operating and carrying passengers.''
The plane that crashed Monday -- which can take off and land from the water or a runway -- was built in 1947 and had a history of mishaps, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. The FAA called all the mishaps minor because there were no injuries and no substantial damage to the plane.
INCIDENTS
It suffered minor damage to the float under its left wing after the landing gear failed just before touchdown at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in 2004. Another landing-gear failure in 2002, at the same airport, sent the plane skidding down the runway.
In 1987, the plane had to make an emergency landing at sea after its pilots mismanaged the fuel supply. In 1984, the plane's control column suffered ''extreme shaking'' while descending into West Palm Beach, records show.
According to the airline's website, its fleet is ``undergoing an extensive refurbishment program which includes complete mechanical overhaul and cosmetic renovation, in addition to all new interior appointments.''
An FAA spokeswoman said Monday night the agency would not immediately ground the four other planes in Chalk's fleet, a move normally reserved for specific violations of air-safety rules.
''The accident has to be completely investigated,'' said spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
The last crash of a Chalk's plane came in 2000, when 15 passengers were virtually unscathed after an accident off Watson Island. Six years earlier -- under a previous owner -- two crew members were killed when an otherwise-empty plane crashed off Key West. Those 1994 deaths were the only fatalities in Chalk's 86-year history.
Unlike commercial flights, Chalk's passengers and luggage do not go through security checks by the Transportation Security Administration, Confalone said.
''It's too early to speculate as to why it would happen,'' Confalone said. `We've never heard of it happening before.''
Chalk's Miami operations had recently come under scrutiny from city of Miami leaders, who questioned whether Chalk's had been operating at Watson Island according to its contract with the city. The iconic company -- whose planes appeared during Miami Vice's opening-credit montage -- had been warned its contract was in jeopardy.
''They weren't paying the city, they were canceling flights with no notice,'' Miami City Commissioner Tomás Regalado said. For some time, Regalado said, Chalk's Miami facility had lacked customs officials to screen passengers, which Regalado worried created security gaps.
''There was no one to check what or who was in those planes,'' Regalado said. ``To me, it was a weird situation.''
THE SEARCH
Monday afternoon's search-and-rescue effort began with lifeguards and people on surfboards and Jet Skis, who pulled at least a few bodies to land. At least five of those lifeguards were taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center, a precautionary measure because they may have been exposed to fuel in the water.
Within 30 minutes, the landscape was dotted with flashing red and blue lights -- Coast Guard cutters floated on the water, a rescue helicopter hovered and fire-rescue trucks clustered near the South Pointe sand.
Hazardous-materials teams prepared to deal with diesel fuel in the water, and men in white protective gear were seen lifting body bags off boats at the Miami Beach Coast Guard station. The FBI was also on the scene, but spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said there was ''no intelligence'' linking the crash to terrorism.
CUT CLOSED
The mishap also forced the closure of Government Cut, the area's main shipping channel. Three cruise ships scheduled to depart Monday evening were stuck in port indefinitely, along with one cargo vessel. Three more cargo ships were waiting offshore to unload their containers, said port spokeswoman Andria Muniz.
''There is a big debris field,'' said Warr, the Coast Guard spokesman. ``Right now you don't need a 1,000-foot or 1,200-foot cruise ship going through the crash scene.''
Obie Wilchcombe, the member of parliament for Bimini and Bahamian Minister of Tourism, said Chalk's informed him that at least 11 of those on board were from Bimini. Seven were members of the same extended family, according to relatives who came to the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office.
Bimini is a small community of about 1,600 people who live on the tiny islands, 50 miles east of South Florida. Many fly to South Florida for day trips, especially for holiday shopping, and Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie asked his nation to join him in prayer.
''The entire island is upset right now,'' said Bimini resident Lloyd Edgecombe. ``We are a small community. This thing has crushed the entire community.''
Miami Herald staff writers Susan Anasagasti, Jerry Berrios, Noah Bierman, Theresa Bradley, Cara Buckley, Jacqueline Charles, Ina Paiva Cordle, Oscar Corral, Trenton Daniel, Jack Dolan, Steve Harrison, Jennifer Lebovich, Sara Olkon, David Ovalle, Chuck Rabin, Carol Rosenberg, Andrea Torres, Michael Vasquez and Jay Weaver contributed to this report, which contains information from the Tribune Newspaper in Nassau.
SBD