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  • Yet another weird coincidence

    From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to All on Tue Nov 29 02:31:02 2022
    On Sunday evening I was given a ride home from Chessiecon by Michael
    "Herveus" Houghton. First I helped him load Chessiecon stuff into his
    car and unload it at a the con's storage locker in Gaithersburg.

    On the way, we mostly discussed plane crashes, as it was an interest
    we had in common. As we approached Gaithersburg we noticed there was
    a widespread power outage. This was odd since, although there was
    drizzle and fog, there was no thunder, lightning, high winds, or
    freezing temperatures.

    After I got home I checked the news and learned that the power outage
    was caused by a plane crash. In Gaithersburg a small plane had
    embedded itself into high voltage lines, or rather into one of the
    towers that holds them up. Both people in the plane survived, though
    rescuing them was slow and difficult.

    We're fortunate that the power outage didn't extend to the storage
    place, since it has an electronic lock. Without power we couldn't
    have gotten in.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

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  • From Charles Packer@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Tue Nov 29 08:57:57 2022
    On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 02:31:02 +0000, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    On Sunday evening I was given a ride home from Chessiecon by Michael "Herveus" Houghton. First I helped him load Chessiecon stuff into his
    car and unload it at a the con's storage locker in Gaithersburg.

    On the way, we mostly discussed plane crashes, as it was an interest we
    had in common. As we approached Gaithersburg we noticed there was a widespread power outage. This was odd since, although there was drizzle
    and fog, there was no thunder, lightning, high winds, or freezing temperatures.

    After I got home I checked the news and learned that the power outage
    was caused by a plane crash. In Gaithersburg a small plane had embedded itself into high voltage lines, or rather into one of the towers that
    holds them up. Both people in the plane survived, though rescuing them
    was slow and difficult.

    We're fortunate that the power outage didn't extend to the storage
    place, since it has an electronic lock. Without power we couldn't have gotten in.

    At the time that the crash was reported to have happened the ceiling
    was about 600 feet as recorded at DCA. It was about that time
    that I happened to check the relevant Weather Service web page
    after noticing the totally featureless gray sky visible from our
    windows here in Northeast D.C. I have been annoyed that the
    published photos are all from one angle from the rear so that
    you can't see what happened to the plane's engine.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Tue Nov 29 23:32:28 2022
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    I'm surprised that there's as little damage as there is, to the plane
    and to the two people in it, given that it must have decelerated from >cruising speed to zero in a fraction of a second. Apparently the main >medical complaint by the people in the plane was hypothermia. (The
    rescue took several hours, and it was a chilly night.)

    It was way, way below cruising speed. The pilot thought he was on glide
    slope but that he was much closer to the runway than he actually was.
    So he had throttled way down and dropped altitude and was ready to have
    the runway in sight soon. Unfortunately what he got in sight was a transmission line and not the runway.

    How he could have misestimated his distance from the runway is an
    interesting question but nobody has yet reported what kind of approach
    he was shooting, so we don't know what instruments he would have been
    using. VOR approach into that airport is not much fun.
    --scott


    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Charles Packer on Tue Nov 29 23:19:14 2022
    Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:
    At the time that the crash was reported to have happened the ceiling
    was about 600 feet as recorded at DCA. It was about that time that
    I happened to check the relevant Weather Service web page after
    noticing the totally featureless gray sky visible from our windows
    here in Northeast D.C. I have been annoyed that the published
    photos are all from one angle from the rear so that you can't see
    what happened to the plane's engine.

    There are two photos of the front of the plane in today's Washington
    Post. The plane is on the ground, so the view isn't blocked by the
    tower.

    I'm no expert on plane engines, but it's pretty obvious that that
    plane will never fly again. I'm not sure whether the front half of
    the engine is missing or whether the engine got very compressed.

    I'm surprised that there's as little damage as there is, to the plane
    and to the two people in it, given that it must have decelerated from
    cruising speed to zero in a fraction of a second. Apparently the main
    medical complaint by the people in the plane was hypothermia. (The
    rescue took several hours, and it was a chilly night.)

    The newspaper says that the pilot -- or at least someone with the same
    name and same birthday -- has wrecked a plane before.

    At Chessiecon, the lights in the con suite flickered shortly before I
    left. Unfortunately, I didn't make note of the time. I wonder if it
    could have been due to the crash even though Hunt Valley is 38 miles
    (61 km) from Gaithersburg.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

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  • From Charles Packer@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Wed Nov 30 07:51:40 2022
    On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 23:19:14 +0000, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    There are two photos of the front of the plane in today's Washington
    Post. The plane is on the ground, so the view isn't blocked by the
    tower.

    I'm no expert on plane engines, but it's pretty obvious that that plane
    will never fly again. I'm not sure whether the front half of the engine
    is missing or whether the engine got very compressed.


    I saw those pictures too, later in the morning. It looks like
    the nose, with engine, isn't in the picture and fell off somewhere.
    I didn't know those planes were designed like that.

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  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Charles Packer on Thu Dec 1 21:33:33 2022
    Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:
    I saw those pictures too, later in the morning. It looks like the
    nose, with engine, isn't in the picture and fell off somewhere.

    And another picture in the paper the next day, this one from the side.
    And yet another picture today, this one once again from the back.
    It's the news story that just won't die. 9/11, The Next Generation.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

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