Posted on 08/30/2014 4:28:28 PM PDT by Brown Deer
RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - A Cirrus SR22 recreational plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean Saturday, 51 miles southeast of Chincoteague Island, Va. The Coast Guard reported one person was on board.
Sources with knowledge of the initial investigation say it is highly likely the pilot is dead.
According to the NTSB, the plane took off from Waukesha, Wisc. and was scheduled to land in Manassas, Va.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 5th District in Portsmouth, Va. received notification at approximately 2:40 p.m. that the aircraft with only the pilot aboard failed to land at Manassas Regional Airport as scheduled.
Instead the plane remained at an altitude of approximately 13,000 feet and continued into restricted air space near Washington, D.C.
Two U.S. F-16 aircraft came alongside the Cessna to investigate and observed the pilot to be unconscious in the cockpit.
The F-16 airmen escorted the plane on its course over the Eastern Shore of Virginia until it eventually ran out of fuel and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Coast Guard launched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Air Station Elizabeth City in North Carolina and the crew of Cutter Beluga, homeported in Virignia Beach, to respond.
The NTSB signaled Saturday afternoon it has started an investigation into the crash.
Dang. That doesn’t sound good.
And this is why you should always have a co-pilot
He had made a significant navigational error.
Oh, I see - it looks like the pilot had an attack of some sort and wasn’t conscious (or was already dead) before the crash.
Being unconscious will often cause that...
I caught that on the second reading. Poor fellow.
He had made a significant navigational error.
Dead Reckoning.
*facepalm*
Well he went out doing something he enjoyed.
And thankfully his crash didn’t cause damage on the ground.
Rest in peace.
I agree. It would have been very unfortunate if people on the ground were hurt or killed.
Ditto, TC...
A Cirrus is not a Cessna, but to the media all GA planes are Cessnas.
According to Wikipedia, the Cirrus SR22 is the light plane that has the built-in parachute descent system for emergencies.
Used to be the media faulted Piper Cubs, as the SUV of aviation. But, this is progress... From a 1940s vintage aircraft all the way into the 1970s Cessna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_Recovery_Systems#Cirrus_Airframe_Parachute_System_.28CAPS.29
Good info with pictures about the parachute descent system on the Cirrus SR22
Yes - and at $650k each, a very expensive plane - I know a Cirrus instructor.......and the parachutes have saved the planes and their passengers several hundred times......when I said the planes must have a high failure rate, he pointed out that actually the failure rate was exceptionally low.....
More info on the Waukesha plane that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
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