Two planes crash in black day for aviation
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
The aviation world has been rocked by the crashes of two aircraft within the space of just four hours this morning, claiming an estimated 19 lives. CNN reported that at a single-engine Pilatus PC-12 aircraft crashed in Montana, USA, killing at least 17 people, including a party of school children on a skiing holiday. The accident happened at about 11am Sunday local time (2am Monday Singapore time) as it was coming in to land at Bert Mooney Airport in Butte. Approximately four hours later, a FedEx plane veered off the runway while attempting to land Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. The pilot and co-pilot have been confirmed dead.
CNN footage showed the plane, reportedly an MD-11, bouncing twice while trying to land, before veering left on to the grass and catching fire. The flight was en route from Guangzhou.
Investigations are underway into the causes of the two crashes. US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson, Mike Fergus, was reported saying that Montana pilot did not declare an emergency aboard the plane before the crash. Meanwhile airport officials reportedly believe that strong winds at Narita may have played a role in the FedEx crash.
Comments are closed.