Amazing Aircraft crashes

Date of Crash: December 24, 1971
Aircraft type: Lockheed Electra L-188A
Crash Site: Puerto Inca, Peru
Passengers & Crew: 92
Fatalities: 91
Cause of Crash: Human Error and Structural failure possibly struck by lightning

On Christmas Eve 1971 the Peruvian airliner, had taken off from the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima on a flight to Pucallpa, Peru. About a half hour after takeoff and at about 21,000 feet, the aircraft entered a thunderstorm and heavy turbulence and was possibly struck by lightning. The pilots had difficulty controlling the aircraft and it soon went into a dive.

The crew attempted to level out the plane, but the fire and turbulent forces on the wings caused the right wing and most of the left wing to separate from the aircraft. The aircraft came crashing down in a mountainous region of the Amazon. Miraculously, a German teenager (17) Juliane Koepcke who was traveling with her mother survived the crash and was still strapped in her seat.

After searching for her mother in vain Koepcke wandered through the jungle for nine days looking for help. On the ninth day, she found a canoe and shelter. Hours later, local lumbermen returned and found her. The men took her on the final seven hour journey via canoe down the river to a lumber station where she was airlifted to a hospital.

Cecelia Cichan

Date of Crash: August 16, 1987
Aircraft type: McDonnell Douglas MD-82
Operator : Northwest Airlines
Crash Site: Romulus, Michigan (western Detroit)
Passengers & Crew Onboard: 155
Fatalities Onboard: 154 – 2 on the ground were also killed
Cause of Crash: Pilot error

After taking off from Metro Airport, during the initial climb, the plane rolled about 35 degrees in each direction. The left wing struck a light pole about ½ mile (800 m) from the end of the runway, struck other light poles, the roof of a car rental building, and then the ground. Cecelia Cichan was located by rescue workers in her seat several feet away from her mother’s body along with Cecelia’s father, and her 6-year-old brother. Her survival of the crash was considered unexplainable and miraculous by many, including airline crash investigators.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew’s failure to use the taxi checklist to ensure the flaps and slats were extended for takeoff. Cecelia is now married and earned a Psychology degree from the University of Alabama. Although she has made no public statements or attended annual memorial services regarding the tragic crash, she corresponds with some of the crash victims’ loved ones.

Vesna Vulović

Date of Crash: January 26, 1972
Aircraft type: McDonnell-Douglas DC-9
Operator: Jugoslovenski Aero transport
Cause of Crash: Bombing
Crash Site: Hinterhermsdorf , East Germany
Passengers & Crew :28
Fatalities: 27

This is close to the top of the list because of the overall circumstances and the unbelievable survival story of Vesna Vulović . Vesna was a flight attendant onboard when a bomb went off at the altitude of 33,000 ft. (10,050 meters). The terrorist act was attributed to Croatian Ustashe terrorists. The explosion tore the jet into several pieces in mid-air. The wreckage fell through the sky for three minutes before striking a frozen mountainside. A German man upon arriving at the crash found Vesna lying half outside of the plane, with another crew member’s body on top of her, and a serving cart pinned against her body.

The man was a medic in the second world war, and did what he could for her until further help arrived. Vesna’s injuries included a fractured skull, two broken legs and three broken vertebrae, which left her temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. She regained the use of her legs after surgery and continued working for JAT at a desk job. It was discovered later her schedule had been mixed up with that of another flight attendant named Vesna, and she was subsequently placed on the wrong flight.

Vesna still holds the Guinness World Record for the highest fall survived without a parachute, at 33,330 feet. She is considered a national heroine throughout the former Yugoslavia.

Mohammed el-Fateh Osman

Date of Crash: July 8, 2003
Aircraft type: Boeing 737
Operator : Sudan Airways
Crash Site: Port Sudan
Passengers & Crew: 116
Fatalities: 115
Cause of Crash: *Unknown

About 10 minutes after takeoff heading from Port Sudan on the northeastern coast to the capital, the pilot radioed the control tower about a problem in one engine. The pilot killed that engine and told the tower he was returning to the airport. Ten minutes later Sudanese airliner plunged into a hillside while attempting an emergency landing killing 116 people and leaving only 3-year old Mohammed el-Fateh Osman amid a scene of charred corpses as the only survivor.

The boy was found injured and lying on a fallen tree by a nomad. The boy’s mother was among the victims. Mohammed lost part of a lower leg and was treated for severe burns. The bodies were buried in a mass grave after performing the Muslim prayer because the conditions of the bodies would not allow transporting and delivering them to the relatives.

*The country blamed the United States on the crash saying that sanctions had restricted vital aircraft parts. The United States denied that claim stating that there was no ban on equipment required for aviation safety.

George Lamson, Jr.

Date of Crash: January 21, 1985
Aircraft type: Lockheed Electra 188
Crash Site: Reno, Nevada, USA
Passengers & Crew: 71
Fatalities: 70
Cause of Crash: Pilot/Ground Crew error

After a weekend of skiing 17 year old George Lamson had taken a seat next to his father in the front row of the airplane’s cabin, directly behind the bulkhead. As the plane began to shudder the plane’s right wing dipped as it began its ill-advised right turn. Lamson pulled his knees to his chest just as the plane hit the ground. The force of the crash ripped Lamson’s seat from of the fuselage and was catapulted out of the plane landing upright in the middle of the highway and was still strapped in his seatbelt.

He unbuckled and dashed toward a field at the far edge of the pavement as the plane exploded. Three people survived the crash initially including George Lamson’s father but both died a few days later of severe burns and head injuries. It was later determined that the probable cause of this accident was the captain’s failure to control and the copilot’s failure to monitor the flight path and airspeed of the aircraft. This is what caused the unexpected vibration shortly after takeoff.

Lamson was recently contacted by the press and is a now a father himself. He asked the reporter not to reveal anything more of his work or whereabouts and remains a very private person.

Erika Delgado

Date of Crash: Jan 13, 1995
Aircraft type: DC-9
Operator : Intercontinental airlines
Crash Site: Maria La Baja, 500 miles north- west of Bogota
Passengers & Crew: 52
Fatalities: 51
Cause of Crash: Unknown

This airliner exploded in mid-air as the pilot apparently was attempting an emergency landing near a swamp but hit a grassy field and exploded and then toppled into a lagoon. A farmer said he heard cries for help and found a 9 year old girl Erika Delgado on a mound of seaweed, which had broken her fall. She was the only survivor. She was travelling with her parents and a younger brother from Bogota to the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena.

The rescuers said she told them her mother had shoved her out of the plane as it broke up and burst into flames. She was taken to hospital in shock and with a broken arm. Erika later recalls someone approached and ignored her cries for help but ripped a gold necklace from her neck and ran away. Witnesses say scavengers also looted the bodies of other passengers. Erika issued a plea for the return of the necklace, which she says was the only memento of her father.

Nestor Mata

Date of Crash: March 17, 1957
Aircraft type: C-47 Skytrain
Operator : Philippine Air Force
Crash Site: 22 miles NW of Cebu City, Philippines
Passengers & Crew: 26
Fatalities: 25
Cause of Crash: Metal fatigue

This crash killed the 7th President of the Philippines, Ramon Magsaysay, as well as many high ranking military officials. A reporter for the Philippine Herald, Nestor Mata, was the sole survivor of the accident. The aircraft took off from Lahug Airport for Nichols Field, eyewitnesses on the ground observed that the airplane had not gained enough altitude as it approached the mountain ranges in Balamban. Mata was sitting in the second seat next to the President’s compartment when the crash occurred and remembers there was a blinding flash for a moment, then he fell unconscious.

When he regained consciousness he found himself on the side of a steep cliff among trees and bushes. As he was in agonizing pain, he began shouting, ‘Mr. President! Mr. President!’ When some farmers found him they had to return to the village to get a hammock on which they loaded and carried him for 18 hours through rugged terrain.

As soon as Mata reached the Southern Island Hospital in Cebu he was treated for severe shock and pain from second and third degree burn. Mata did not lose consciousness in the hospital and was able to dictate to a nurse a press dispatch to his paper. It began ‘President Magsaysay is dead.’

Foye Kenneth Roberts

Date of Crash: JUNE 14 1943
Aircraft type: B-17C Flying Fortress
Crash Site: BAKERS CREEK NEAR MACKAY, QLD Australia
Passengers & Crew: 41
Fatalities: 40
Cause of Crash: unknown

For reasons of military security and morale, this incident was hushed-up by U.S. Army and Australian civil authorities for many years. The plane carried forty-one American servicemen returning from ten days of leave. The aircraft took off into ground fog and leveled off at an altitude of about 300 feet. In a matter of minutes the plane had caught fire in the air, and as it dived into the trees one of its wings came away leaving a great opening in the fuselage through which most of the passengers were emptied into the bush before the final impact.

The only survivor was Foye Kenneth Roberts. Robert’s suffered head injuries that were not diagnosed at the time of the crash and lost his speech for many years after lifesaving brain surgery. Robert’s cannot recall anything of the actual crash. In February 2004 Foye Kenneth Roberts, passed away. Another fact that is remarkable is that still to this day this crash rates as the worst aviation disaster in Australian history.

James Polehinke

Date of Crash: August 27, 2006
Aircraft type: Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) CRJ-100ER
Operator : Comair (d/b/a Delta Connection
Crash Site: Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Kentucky
Passengers & Crew Onboard: 50
Fatalities: 49
Cause of Crash: Pilot Error

This aircraft was assigned the airport’s Runway 22 for the takeoff, but used Runway 26 instead. Runway 26 was too short for a safe takeoff, causing the aircraft to overrun at the end of the runway before it could become airborne killing all 47 passengers and two of the three crew. The Flights First officer James Polehinke was the only survivor.

Polehinke suffered serious injuries, including multiple broken bones, a collapsed lung, and severe bleeding. Doctors later determined that Polehinke had suffered brain damage and has no memory of the crash or the events leading up to it. Polehinke was flying the plane when it crashed, but it was the flight’s captain, Jeffrey Clay, who taxied the aircraft onto the wrong runway.

First Lieutenant Martin Farkaš

Date of Crash: January 19, 2006
Aircraft type: Antonov An-24
Operator: Slovak Air Force
Crash Site: Hejce, Hungary
Passengers & Crew: 43
Fatalities : 42
Cause of Crash: Pilot Error

This airplane was carrying Slovak peacekeepers. The aircraft crashed in snowy and forested terrain on Borsó Hill at an elevation of 700 meters (2,300 feet) near the Hungarian village of Hejce and the town of Telkibánya. The plane hit the tops of trees before catching fire and crashing.

The bodies and wreckage were scattered over a large area. Michaela Farkasova, the wife of the only survivor, reported that she received a cellular telephone call from her husband and told her that his plane had crashed in a forest. He asked her to alert rescue services. Shortly after the phone call Farkas was found. According to rescuers, his survival was pure luck as he was found in the aircraft’s lavatory, which received little damage.

Farkaš suffered minor brain swelling and lung injuries after the crash. He was put into a medically induced coma, and was soon reported to be in stable condition. Further investigations indicated that the pilot descended too early in the dark towards the lights of Košice.

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home made air conditioner

Credit goes out to Pete H. in sunny England for this great build. This version of the homemade air conditioner removes the need to drain water outside by using an aquarium pump, and sits on a rotating base. Check out more homemade air conditioners here.

Here’s the overall view of the unit. You can see the insulated polystyrene box containing icewater and the aquarium pump, along with the fan and attached copper tubing.

Pete did a much neater job of attaching the copper tubing to the front of the fan than I did. Using copper tubing on both the front and back of the fan is a great idea, the more copper tubing, the more heat exchange possible.

Here is a view of the unit from above, allowing us to see the copper coils on both the front and back.

Here we can see the entire system on its rotating base, allowing directional cooling (most) anywhere in the room.

This picture shows Pete’s innovation, the Internal Cooler Coil (ICC) ready to be installed. The water first runs through this coil, through the ice water, and then out to the fan. Pete and I are wondering if this actually increases performance at all, but it sure looks cool.

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Racing Airplanes

 

The Formula One racing class is without question the most successful class in the 86-year history of airplane racing. It has seen more races, more pilots and more airplanes than all other racing classes combined in a half-century lifetime, and has experienced but one important change in its rules in all that time. Moreover, it is the only formal air racing class to be exported from the U. S. to Europe, and the only class to be recognized by the International Aeronautics Federation (FAI), the world governing body for competitive aviation.

As a specified class it had its inception in the concerns of many wiser heads in the air racing community in the latter years of the "golden age" of American air racing prior to World War II. The excessive costs that were diminishing competition and an unacceptable accident rate were threatening to strangle the sport.

But the dreams of a practical, safe racing class of small planes powered by inexpensive and reliable engines wouldn't go away ... but alas, they remained nothing more thin dreams until the autumn of 1939 when, on September 24th, the New York Times reported that the National Aeronautics Association Technical Committee had an interest in midget racers. It was not until the immediate post-war years however, that any serious planning for the development of the class was accomplished.

 

In October 1946 the Professional Race Pilots Association completed work on specifications for the 190 cubic inch engine displacement class, and that organization formally accepted the specifications on December 3rd. Fifteen days later the NAA Contest Board approved the PRPA specifications and the new class was born.

On January 12, 1947 the new class was given a significant boost when the Goodyear Aircraft, Corporation announced sponsorship of three annual trophy races in the new class with $25,000 purses, with the first to be held at Cleveland the following September.

By midsummer a number of the new breed of aircraft were under construction and the first one flew on July 4th. Twenty-one of these new midget racers were formally entered in that first Goodyear trophy race, fifteen actually appeared at Cleveland and twelve completed qualifying tests and time trials. That first race meet was a notable success with eight exciting and accident free races over a three day period.... setting the tone for the years to follow.

The specifications which established among their rigid compliance requirements a maximum engine size of 190 cubic inch displacement worked well for a number of years. The Continental four cylinder air cooled engine of 188 cubic inches displacement was the one dominant engine of the day with a reputation for reliability in the American small plane market. It was rated at 85 horsepower, was economical and was readily available ... and thus became the standard powerplant of this racing class.

However with the passage of years, the Continental C-85 engine went out of production and with their ever-limiting availability by the mid-'60's, it became necessary to amend the specifications for the class and permit use of the newer and slightly larger piston displacement engines of 200 cubic inches. This was done on January 1, 1968, and the 190 Cubic Inch Class officially became the Formula One Class. It is interesting to note that this has been the only significant change to the specifications for the class in its 50 year history.

Performance increases which had been steady but un-dramatic now accelerated significantly, though not solely as a result of the slightly larger engines and the new and improved aircraft designs and materials for their construction. New race courses were generally larger and uniformly of six pylon configuration which made turns at the pylons less stressful on both pilot and plane...and less hazardous.

A six-pylon race course was nothing new. One of such configuration had been first used at Istres, France successfully in 1923. At that first Goodyear meet in Cleveland in 1947, the NAA Contest Board originally approved a three pylon course with unusually sharp 60' turns at all three pylons. But at the insistence of PRPA president, veteran racer Art Chester, who adamantly sought safer course layouts, it was redesigned, but only to a four pylon layout. Ironically, a six pylon course was not to be used until May 1949 at Newhall, California as a result of the tragic deaths of Chester and another pilot on a four pylon course at San Diego two weeks earlier.

Formula One racing became something of an all-American spectator sport. Races were held in both large and small venues from coast to coast and interest among aviation enthusiasts was high. But it remained uniquely an American sport until the first of the European races under Formula One rules was flown by the British at Jurby, Isle of Man in 1970, and to date the Europeans (primarily the British and the French) have flown 126 race meets in 5 countries; and in 1976 the French held the first truly international event of significance, the 1976 International Grand Prix at Le Castellet, France with planes and pilots from three nations participating. Subsequently, British crews and planes competed in U. S. races in 1983 and 1987.

Although raceplane performance improved remarkably over the sport's first 21 years, it was not totally unexpected given the more favourable factors that emerged with the passage of time. The average speed of the ten fastest qualifiers rose 30% between the first race meet and the last meet with the 190 cubic inch engines twenty years later. In the next twenty years, that figure had risen to 57% with the amended specifications, improved aircraft designs which took advantage of improved technology, and larger and better configured race courses. And even more dramatic increases in performance have been recorded in the past few years. At the latest meet in 1996, the top qualifying speed was over 100 miles per hour faster than that of the top qualifier at that inaugural race in 1947 ... and with an engine with but 5% greater displacement.

In the fifty year lifespan of this racing class, over 200 aircraft have raced in 782 U. S. races in 177 race meets (through the 1996 racing season) from coast to coast and in Mexico and Canada, and the number of existing and under-construction planes is at an all-time high. The current group of Formula One racing pilots is more experienced than ever before with most of them flying regularly in other segments of the aviation world.. . as airline pilots, corporate pilots, charter pilots,. FAA check pilots, military pilots, agriculture pilots and instructors. Four aging veterans in their mid-'70's, one of whom is commencing his 50th year of racing in this class. . a remarkable achievement not likely to be equalled.

New and technologically advanced planes are now racing and new ones are appearing with each new racing season to challenge the leaders in this one-of-a-kind sport; a sport that gives promise of a bright future as it wings optimistically into its sixth decade.

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Agricultural simulator

Bored of shooters? Killed enough dragons? Perhaps you’re looking for something fresh. Something more rural, with classy overtones of nostalgia. Perhaps you’re keen to get away from war and blood and and death and that. What you need, my friend, is a tractor and a field to plough, and an incessant banjo twanging away in the background. The banjo is especially important. Enter Agricultural Simulator: Historical Farming, a glossy look at “the golden age of mechanized farming.” It claims to be “the ultimate agricultural driving, workflow and business simulation.” If you don’t like the idea of words like “workflow” appearing in your out-of-work entertainment, hold off judgement until you’ve seen the first screenshots showing a those classic tractors lingering in empty garages, unused and alone. And before you ask, YES. There is a playable demo. It wouldn’t be a proper farming simulator without animal husbandry, of course. The official Agricultural Simulator site has word of some of the extra tasks you can take on as king farmer. It’s in German, so you can thank Google translate for the skewed expressions. “Build on another leg, and you are operating a livestock: cows, horses, sheep, chickens, geese, including game, you can keep on your farm and maintain.” says the site. “If all goes well, you will be able to obtain offspring in some species,” it adds. Move over, Call of Duty, there’s a new horse in town. There’s even a co-op mode that’ll let you and a friend tend to your yard together. Agricultural Simulator: Historical Farming is out on May 18.






The sequel of the successful Agricultural Simulator 2011 enters the next round.
An idyllic grange surrounded by invitingly untouched mountain panoramas and unworked fields are awaiting all agriculture fans in the Agricultural Simulator 2012. At their very own farm hobby-farmers undertake the daily tasks of an agriculturist: The producing of food, sustainable resources and the delivery of energy materials. Fields have to be worked and farm animals fostered. To work smaller fields and alpine pastures only machines with less performance are available at the beginning, but the vehicle fleet will constantly be supplemented by more powerful agricultural implements.
Future agriculturists have to invest tactical and clever - the consumption of money by the running costs and seeds must not be underestimated. To realize profit it takes financial and tactical skill.
Numerous models of Fendt, Challenger, Massey Ferguson and Valtra, which vehicles are reproduced in facsimile, are on hand. All machines and tractors can be driven and navigated by the player.
Features:

• Vast gaming world with mountains and valleys
• Exciting career mode with trading feature
• Market place for animals, seeds and machines
• Countless economical circuits: growing of crops, breeding, bio gas
• Agricultural technology of Fendt, Massey Ferguson, Challenger and Valtra
• Realistic physics
• Highly sophisticated co-workers AI
• Day and night cycle as well as varying weather conditions
• Multiplayer via network or internet

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