Student pilot crashes plane into Farmington police department

[MRQB]

A single-engine airplane crashed into the Farmington Police Department
Thursday night, but everyone, including the pilot, survived.
A student-pilot was the only person aboard the six-seat plane when it
crashed into the building just after 7 p.m. Thursday.

Police say ten inmates in a holding area at the department were safely
transferred to the San Juan County Detention Center.

Fire Marshal Herb Veazey says the student-pilot suffered head and facial
injuries but was conscious when he was transported to San Juan Regional
Medical Center.

"There's some structural damage inside the building a lot of glass and
debris strewn about...bent and twisted I-beams inside the office area," says
Veazey. "We have a lot of fuel leaking down inside the building."

Farmington police say the student-pilot was practicing take-offs and
landings at Four Corners Regional Airport. It has a runway about 400 yards
from the department.

"I was pulling into the back entrance of the police department when a plane
was on coming on a north western approach to the airport and appeared to
have lost power and fell straight into the north end of the building of the
Farmington police department," says Sgt. Hardy.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the airplane, a Beechcraft Bonanza,
apparently lost power before the crash.

The plane crashed into the roof at the station's detective area. Two
detectives in the building escaped without injury.

Authorities worked through the night to remove the remarkably intact plane
from the roof of the facility.



http://www.krqe.com/expanded2.asp?RECORD_KEY%5BBigLocalAdvanced%5D=ID&ID%5BB
igLocalAdvanced%5D=2916

[BTIZ]

lets re name this thread... it is not "crashes into police department."..

it's

Student pilot crashes while landing, hits police department building to
close to runway.

BT

"MRQB" > wrote in message
...
> A single-engine airplane crashed into the Farmington Police Department
> Thursday night, but everyone, including the pilot, survived.
> A student-pilot was the only person aboard the six-seat plane when it
> crashed into the building just after 7 p.m. Thursday.
>
> Police say ten inmates in a holding area at the department were safely
> transferred to the San Juan County Detention Center.
>
> Fire Marshal Herb Veazey says the student-pilot suffered head and facial
> injuries but was conscious when he was transported to San Juan Regional
> Medical Center.
>
> "There's some structural damage inside the building a lot of glass and
> debris strewn about...bent and twisted I-beams inside the office area,"
says
> Veazey. "We have a lot of fuel leaking down inside the building."
>
> Farmington police say the student-pilot was practicing take-offs and
> landings at Four Corners Regional Airport. It has a runway about 400 yards
> from the department.
>
> "I was pulling into the back entrance of the police department when a
plane
> was on coming on a north western approach to the airport and appeared to
> have lost power and fell straight into the north end of the building of
the
> Farmington police department," says Sgt. Hardy.
>
> The Federal Aviation Administration says the airplane, a Beechcraft
Bonanza,
> apparently lost power before the crash.
>
> The plane crashed into the roof at the station's detective area. Two
> detectives in the building escaped without injury.
>
> Authorities worked through the night to remove the remarkably intact plane
> from the roof of the facility.
>
>
>
>
http://www.krqe.com/expanded2.asp?RECORD_KEY%5BBigLocalAdvanced%5D=ID&ID%5BB
> igLocalAdvanced%5D=2916
>
>
>
>

[scott ARMSTRONG]

maybe he wanted to join "the flying squad" !!!!

[Robert Moore]

Richard Riley > wrote

> Strange that a student pilot is solo in a Bonanza - he must own it.

My first solo was in a Bonanza.....well, we called it a T-34. :-)

Bob Moore

[C J Campbell]

"Richard Riley" > wrote in message
...
|
| Strange that a student pilot is solo in a Bonanza - he must own it.
|

There are a couple of outfits that do all their primary training in
Bonanzas. IIRC Mesa is one.

[John Gaquin]

"Robert Moore" > wrote in message >
> My first solo was in a Bonanza.....well, we called it a T-34. :-)
>
> Bob Moore

We had a T-34A at the Lowry Aeroclub where I learned to fly. Loved that
plane!

JG

[BTIZ]

and will the LBPD be prosecuted for the accident? But doesn't a helo pilot
has to take due care that his rotor wash does not do damage.

I had the same problem a few years back.. a helo doing hover practice on the
parallel runway.. unseen blade winds.. lifted and pushed my landing glider
sideways.. I had seen the helo, and expected some winds.. I was ready.. felt
the lift,, closed the spoilers.. and landed long beyond the rotor effects.

The poor T-18 pilot never had a choice.
BT

"Richard Riley" > wrote in message
...
> At least when we screw up, we don't kill them.
>
> Today at Compton airport one of the old timers was landing his T-18,
> just past the threshold when a Long Beach PD helo flew directly over
> him. The downwash flipped him over. He died on the way to the
> hospital.
>
> Strange that a student pilot is solo in a Bonanza - he must own it.
>
> On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 18:12:04 -0800, "MRQB" > wrote:
>
> :A single-engine airplane crashed into the Farmington Police Department
> :Thursday night, but everyone, including the pilot, survived.
> :A student-pilot was the only person aboard the six-seat plane when it
> :crashed into the building just after 7 p.m. Thursday.
> :
> :Police say ten inmates in a holding area at the department were safely
> :transferred to the San Juan County Detention Center.
> :
> :Fire Marshal Herb Veazey says the student-pilot suffered head and facial
> :injuries but was conscious when he was transported to San Juan Regional
> :Medical Center.
> :
> :"There's some structural damage inside the building a lot of glass and
> :debris strewn about...bent and twisted I-beams inside the office area,"
says
> :Veazey. "We have a lot of fuel leaking down inside the building."
> :
> :Farmington police say the student-pilot was practicing take-offs and
> :landings at Four Corners Regional Airport. It has a runway about 400
yards
> :from the department.
> :
> :"I was pulling into the back entrance of the police department when a
plane
> :was on coming on a north western approach to the airport and appeared to
> :have lost power and fell straight into the north end of the building of
the
> :Farmington police department," says Sgt. Hardy.
> :
> :The Federal Aviation Administration says the airplane, a Beechcraft
Bonanza,
> :apparently lost power before the crash.
> :
> :The plane crashed into the roof at the station's detective area. Two
> :detectives in the building escaped without injury.
> :
> :Authorities worked through the night to remove the remarkably intact
plane
> :from the roof of the facility.
> :
> :
> :
>
:http://www.krqe.com/expanded2.asp?RECORD_KEY%5BBigLocalAdvanced%5D=ID&ID%5B
B
> :igLocalAdvanced%5D=2916
> :
> :
> :
>

[Wdtabor]

In article >, "MRQB" >
writes:

>A single-engine airplane crashed into the Farmington Police Department
>Thursday night, but everyone, including the pilot, survived.
>A student-pilot was the only person aboard the six-seat plane when it
>crashed into the building just after 7 p.m. Thursday.
>

When she reported this incident on the Today show, 'perky' Katie Kouric made my
blood boil when she snidely remarked that it was convenient the student crashed
into a jail since that was where he belonged.

Nice way to report what could have been a tragic accident had the student
panicked and stalled it in.

Don

--
Wm. Donald (Don) Tabor Jr., DDS
PP-ASEL
Chesapeake, VA - CPK, PVG

[[email protected]]

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 23:30:13 -0800, Richard Riley
> wrote:

>At least when we screw up, we don't kill them.
>
>Today at Compton airport one of the old timers was landing his T-18,
>just past the threshold when a Long Beach PD helo flew directly over
>him. The downwash flipped him over. He died on the way to the
>hospital.


LA Times January 24, 2004 edition:

Pilot Dies After Plane Crash at Compton Airport
By Eric Malnic, Times Staff Writer

A small, homebuilt plane spun out of control in the wake of a Long
Beach police helicopter and crashed at Compton Airport Friday morning,
fatally injuring the pilot, federal aviation officials said.

The pilot was identified as Rajko Roy Medan, 73, of Carson,, an
experienced flier who worked at the airport as an operations
coordinator. Medan owned the high-performance, single-engine Thorp
T-18, which was based at the airport.

Donn Walker, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said
the helicopter was hovering over the airport at 9:53 a.m., practicing
emergency landing techniques, when the plane attempted to land beneath
it.

Walker said the plane apparently was caught in the downward wash of
air from the helicopters's rotor.

"The Thorp spun around and crashed upside-down on Runway 25 Right,"
Walker said. "The plane was severely damaged."

Walker said bystanders dashed to the fallen plane, righted it and
pulled Medan, the only one on board, from the wreckage.

Walker said the rescuers attempted live-saving procedures until an
ambulance arrived to transport the pilot to a nearby hospital.

Medan died en route to the hospital, according to the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department.

Compton Airport does not have a control tower, and it is up to pilots
to see and avoid one another while utilizing the facility. Pilots are
taught to report their positions and flight intentions by radio while
operating at or near such airports, but radio communications is not
mandatory.

The T-18, like all homebuilt aircraft, is classified as "experimental"
by the FAA, but the design of the 200-mph plane, introduced in the
early 1960s, has been approved by the FAA and each airplane is
thoroughly inspected before it is flown.

[Ash Wyllie]

Robert Moore opined

>Richard Riley > wrote

>> Strange that a student pilot is solo in a Bonanza - he must own it.

>My first solo was in a Bonanza.....well, we called it a T-34. :-)

A 6 seat T-34. Were there 5 instructors?

-ash
for assistance dial MYCROFTXXX

[CV]

BTIZ wrote:
> lets re name this thread... it is not "crashes into police department."..
>
> it's
>
> Student pilot crashes while landing, hits police department building to
> close to runway.

What exactly is meant by "closing to runway" and how would hitting the
police department building achieve that ?

[Nathan Gilliatt]

In article >,
CV > wrote:

> BTIZ wrote:
> > Student pilot crashes while landing, hits police department building to
> > close to runway.
>
> What exactly is meant by "closing to runway" and how would hitting the
> police department building achieve that ?

It's called a typo. Read it as "too close to runway." Better now?

[Robert Moore]

"Ash Wyllie" > wrote

> A 6 seat T-34. Were there 5 instructors?

Nope! But Fuji Heavy Industries did manufacture a 4-seat
version of the T-34 designated the LM-2 for the Japanese
Self Defense Force. BTW, the Bonanza only had 4 seats
when the T-34 was developed from the same basic airframe.

Bob Moore

[SeeAndAvoid]

"Wdtabor" wrote in message
> When she reported this incident on the Today show, 'perky' Katie Kouric
> made my blood boil when she snidely remarked that it was convenient the
> student crashed into a jail since that was where he belonged.
>
> Nice way to report what could have been a tragic accident had the student
> panicked and stalled it in.
>
> Don

WHAT? She really said that? Stupid &*$%#.

Someone asked about a student pilot in a Bonanza, yep, and it even has (had)
TCAS on board. That was a Mesa flight school airplane, work it all the
time, worked it that day probably, much earlier obviously. They lose about
one a year or so.

Chris

[BTIZ]

thanx Nathan..
BT

"Nathan Gilliatt" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> CV > wrote:
>
> > BTIZ wrote:
> > > Student pilot crashes while landing, hits police department building
to
> > > close to runway.
> >
> > What exactly is meant by "closing to runway" and how would hitting the
> > police department building achieve that ?
>
> It's called a typo. Read it as "too close to runway." Better now?

[BTIZ]

ok.. do we now bombard Katey with emails.. like we did CBS on that other
report... maybe we should comment that when her daughters learn to drive a
car and have their first accident.. they should be jailed.

ohh.. that's right.. they'll never learn to drive.. they'll have
chauffeurs..

BT

"Wdtabor" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, "MRQB"
>
> writes:
>
> >A single-engine airplane crashed into the Farmington Police Department
> >Thursday night, but everyone, including the pilot, survived.
> >A student-pilot was the only person aboard the six-seat plane when it
> >crashed into the building just after 7 p.m. Thursday.
> >
>
> When she reported this incident on the Today show, 'perky' Katie Kouric
made my
> blood boil when she snidely remarked that it was convenient the student
crashed
> into a jail since that was where he belonged.
>
> Nice way to report what could have been a tragic accident had the student
> panicked and stalled it in.
>
> Don
>
> --
> Wm. Donald (Don) Tabor Jr., DDS
> PP-ASEL
> Chesapeake, VA - CPK, PVG

[Jeff Franks]

> The T-18, like all homebuilt aircraft, is classified as "experimental"
> by the FAA, but the design of the 200-mph plane, introduced in the
> early 1960s, has been approved by the FAA and each airplane is
> thoroughly inspected before it is flown.

WOW! Thats a first. They actually DOWNPLAYED the term EXPERIMENTAL when
talking about homebuilts. Now if we could get the media to understand that
when a plane stalls, it doesn't mean that the engine quit.




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[SeeAndAvoid]

I was very disappointed, but not surprised, to hear the outrageous comment
Ms. Couric made about an airplane accident in Farmington, NM. A pilot who
loses an engine and crashes, and extremely lucky to be alive, belongs in
jail? An airplane crashes into a building of some kind and you
automatically assume, and broadcast to millions of people, that is must be
some terrorist wannabe?



That particular airplane, and a few others just like it, belong to a flight
school in Farmington. Student pilots and instructors are flying them
multiple times, daily. Where do you think pilots come from? They have to
train somewhere, at usually about $40k of their own money. Yet you see fit
to shoot your uninformed mouth off about a poor student that nearly died?
He, or someone like him, could be your next charter pilot. I'm sure airline
travel is beneath you.



I expect this to be ignored and dumped into your trash bin. Ms. Couric,
with all due respect, which your profession commands less every day from the
general public, stick to the 'soft' stuff and keep your big yapper shut.
We're not all in awe of your 'celebrity' status, you're paid to inform and
entertain. Read the news or sing a song and I may throw a dime in your cup,
otherwise don't overestimate the importance in the grand scheme of things of
what you provide to the public.





(Gave my name and return address. Think I'll get a response? Doubt it.)

Chris

[Tom Sixkiller]

"SeeAndAvoid" > wrote in message
link.net...
> I was very disappointed, but not surprised, to hear the outrageous comment
> Ms. Couric made about an airplane accident in Farmington, NM. A pilot who
> loses an engine and crashes, and extremely lucky to be alive, belongs in
> jail? An airplane crashes into a building of some kind and you
> automatically assume, and broadcast to millions of people, that is must be
> some terrorist wannabe?
>
>
>
> That particular airplane, and a few others just like it, belong to a
flight
> school in Farmington. Student pilots and instructors are flying them
> multiple times, daily. Where do you think pilots come from? They have to
> train somewhere, at usually about $40k of their own money. Yet you see
fit
> to shoot your uninformed mouth off about a poor student that nearly died?
> He, or someone like him, could be your next charter pilot. I'm sure
airline
> travel is beneath you.
>
>
>
> I expect this to be ignored and dumped into your trash bin. Ms. Couric,
> with all due respect, which your profession commands less every day from
the
> general public, stick to the 'soft' stuff and keep your big yapper shut.
> We're not all in awe of your 'celebrity' status, you're paid to inform and
> entertain. Read the news or sing a song and I may throw a dime in your
cup,
> otherwise don't overestimate the importance in the grand scheme of things
of
> what you provide to the public.
>
>
> (Gave my name and return address. Think I'll get a response? Doubt it.)

You assume the story wasn't a hatchet job from the beginning. :~(

[C J Campbell]

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
...
|
| "Richard Riley" > wrote in message
| ...
| |
| | Strange that a student pilot is solo in a Bonanza - he must own it.
| |
|
| There are a couple of outfits that do all their primary training in
| Bonanzas. IIRC Mesa is one.

And as it turned out the pilot was a student at Mesa.