Los Angeles radio tower crash kills 2

Yesterday morning a Cessna 182 hit the 760 foot (AGL) tower of 50
kilowatt AM radio station KFI in La Mirada, Calif. The married couple
aboard the 182 were killed, and the tower came down. KFI was off the
air about an hour.

According to media reports, the plane took off from El Monte and was
landing at Fullerton Airport to pick up two people. An FAA official
said they were on base leg at the time of the crash.

If I have this figured right, the 182 was coming from the north (El
Monte is 13 nm away at 350 degrees true) and on right base for Runway
6. The radio tower is 1.5 nm from the threshold on my topo, bearing
290 true. I measure it 33 degrees off the extended centerline, offset
to the north.

Has anyone flown into Fullerton? How big a problem is the tower?
Channel 7's story on the 11 a.m. news today had an interview with a
pilot who said the tower is very hard to see from the air. On the
other hand, the other guy they put on the air pointed out the tower is
on the charts and has coexested with the airport since 1947.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/122...ane_crash.html

--

Paul Hirose
To reply by email delete INVALID from address.

On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 22:46:37 GMT, Paul Hirose
wrote in
::

Has anyone flown into Fullerton? How big a problem is the tower?
Channel 7's story on the 11 a.m. news today had an interview with a
pilot who said the tower is very hard to see from the air. On the
other hand, the other guy they put on the air pointed out the tower is
on the charts and has coexested with the airport since 1947.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/122...ane_crash.html

The KFI radio tower is a little over a mile NW of Fullerton Airport.
There is often haze in the vicinity, and viewed against the ground,
the tower can be less than conspicuous. If I recall correctly, it is
not freestanding, but guyed. I make a specific effort to locate the
tower whenever I'm operating in the vicinity, because I am aware of
its insidious nature. Because the tower is 760' AGL, aircraft at the
standard traffic pattern level of 800' are vulnerable. One just
doesn't expect such a tall tower in such close proximity to an active
airport.

"Larry Dighera" wrote

Because the tower is 760' AGL, aircraft at the
standard traffic pattern level of 800' are vulnerable. One just
doesn't expect such a tall tower in such close proximity to an active
airport.

Perhaps now that it has bee knocked down, the FAA and FCC will get together
and find a more suitable location for a new tower. (wishful thinking)
--
Jim in NC

On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:32:29 -0500, "Morgans"
wrote in ::


"Larry Dighera" wrote

Because the tower is 760' AGL, aircraft at the
standard traffic pattern level of 800' are vulnerable. One just
doesn't expect such a tall tower in such close proximity to an active
airport.

Perhaps now that it has bee knocked down, the FAA and FCC will get together
and find a more suitable location for a new tower. (wishful thinking)

The TV news report I saw last night had a spokesman for KFI stating
that the tower would be reconstructed on the exact same site with the
same guy wire locations.

Perhaps painting it day-glow orange and installing xenon strobes all
over it might help make it a little more conspicuous.

The TV news report I saw last night had a spokesman for KFI stating
that the tower would be reconstructed on the exact same site with the
same guy wire locations.

Yeah that makes total sense.

Crash in to a house that's built too close to the airport, close the
airport.

Crash in to a tower that's built too close to the airport, rebuild the
tower.

Your local, state and federal government hard at work for your safety.

I've flown in and out of Fullerton and wondered how it was we were so lucky
that no one had hit that tower.

PJ

============================================
Here's to the duck who swam a lake and never lost a feather,
May sometime another year, we all be back together.
JJW
============================================

"PJ Hunt" wrote in message
...
The TV news report I saw last night had a spokesman for KFI stating
that the tower would be reconstructed on the exact same site with the
same guy wire locations.

Yeah that makes total sense.

Crash in to a house that's built too close to the airport, close the
airport.

Crash in to a tower that's built too close to the airport, rebuild the
tower.


Was the tower built too close to the airport, or was the airport built too
close to the tower?

Larry Dighera ) wrote:

The TV news report I saw last night had a spokesman for KFI stating
that the tower would be reconstructed on the exact same site with the
same guy wire locations.

How were they able to get their signal back on the air so quickly?

I take it there must be some type of disaster recovery plan that
involves rerouting the signal to another local tower?

--
Peter

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 00:48:34 -0500, Peter R.
wrote:

Larry Dighera ) wrote:

The TV news report I saw last night had a spokesman for KFI stating
that the tower would be reconstructed on the exact same site with the
same guy wire locations.

How were they able to get their signal back on the air so quickly?

I take it there must be some type of disaster recovery plan that
involves rerouting the signal to another local tower?


Yep. Most radio stations have at least one alternate transmission
station. Power it up, flip a switch, and maybe shift the crew to the
new site and your back running commercials making money.

z

"Peter R." wrote:

How were they able to get their signal back on the air so quickly?

I take it there must be some type of disaster recovery plan that
involves rerouting the signal to another local tower?

There's a second 250 foot tower on the property that is used as backup.

In article , Peter R.
writes:

How were they able to get their signal back on the air so quickly?

They have a 200' aux tower right next to it. Years ago, they considered taking
it down, but KFI's engineers convinced them otherwise, and upgraded its output
from 5k to 25k watts.

John