Minden midair police report and photos

Found this from someone claiming to be a Sheriff's deputy (and I have no
reason to believe otherwise.) You have to hand it to the Hawker pilots, at
least for getting the airplane on the ground with this kind of damage.

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I am a Sheriff's Deputy in Carson City Nevada and on August 28 I responded
to the folllowing accident.

A Hawker 800XP landed gear up at our airport. On arriving at the scene I
found that the pilot, co-pilot and the three passengers were all OK. I
observed several odd things about the crashed jet. The nose was missing and
the right wing leading edge inboard was demolished. There was sporatic
damage on the fuse, right nacelle and horizontal. All very odd damage for a
gear up landing.

There was literally, a slice in the front left side of the fuse that went
from the radar housing bulkhead up and rearward to just under the pilots
window. Hanging out of this slice was a spar of some sort that did not
belong to this jet.

It was quickly determined to be a mid-air collision with pieces that
appeared to belong to a glider. On talking with the female pilot this was
confirmed. her face looked as though she had been attacked by a slasher. Teh
co-pilot confirme d the collision and was completely unharmed as were the
three passengers.

I looked into the cockpit and I was completely amazed. The co-pilot side had
only a small amount of debris strewn about while the pilot side looked as
though it had been dynamited. The panel had literally exploded into the
pilots face. The lower panel collapsed onto the yoke.

We implemented search and rescue with Aero Squadron and even our local
med-evac joined in. As the jet was IFR we had a location from flight
following as to where they were when the mayday was given. Within two hours
glider wreckage was located in the mountains east of Minden. A very popular
soaring destination. MEV. Our next notification was that a parachute canopy
was located on the ground and that the harness was open as though the pilot
landed safely and removed the harness. Before we knew it we had a call that
one of the local Tribal Officers had picked up the glider pilot as he was
walking out of the mountains. Minor cuts a nd bruises.

This event was so far, full of miracles. I just could not believe that
everyone involved was alive and well needing nothing more than stitches.

Now it was time to concentrate on getting the jet on its wheels or on a
trailer and off of the runway. This proved to be a non-event as we had two
of what I now assume to be the best crane operators in the west. They
properly slinged, lifted and moved this jet up, out of the dirt and onto the
runway as though they were playing with toys. The wheels dropped and that
majestic, beat up machine stood there in all of her glory as though it knew
that it held it together just long enough to get the folks home.

Lest anyone question the miracle status of this event I will continue with
indicating factors. The total fuel that was left onboard was estimated by
the crew to be about 500 gallons. Well when we lifted up the jet it drained
about 40 to 50 gallons. When the right wing ruptured it obviously lost its
fuel . When emptied it began to vacuum fuel out of the left tank via what
was told to me to be a cross feed system.

Wait, there is more. I don't think that I mentioned who braught the jet
home. Through all of her injuries and the damage in front of her the first
officer braought that jet and its cargo home. The co-pilot did his job
calling out emergency procedure and the other ten thousand things but the
pilot waded through her blood and injuries, the aircraft damage and the fact
that she may have just been half of what was suspected to be a collision
that killed another person and braught that jet in like a miracle worker.
She even kept it on the runway until the very end when it just barely
slipped off of side and into the dirt.

I am still whirling from the circumstances of this incident and the amazing
fact that everyone survived.

Lets recap.
Jet hits glider at over 300 Knots
Injured pilot lands jet
Glider pilot ejects and is recovered relatively unharm ed
All persons live

In case I have not described this incident well enough I will let a few
photos speak the rest.

We can all identify the lessons that we can learn from this incident and if
I ever have the luck to travel in a Corporate Jet I hope that A is my pilot.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4683/11dy6.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5328/5oy9.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/2266/dscf0034vm0.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/2240/14nx6.jpg
__________________
Bill Abbott
N-7BA
Flying someday