Trevor Jacob, a California YouTube creator who intentionally crashed a plane in 2021 in an effort to get views has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of obstructing an investigation, authorities announced Thursday. Jacob faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
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The U.S. military on Thursday morning released dramatic video that it said showed a Russian fighter jet intercepting and then colliding with the American MQ-9 “Reaper” drone that crashed into the Black Sea on Tuesday. The U.S. has accused Russia of operating its warplane in an “unsafe and unprofessional” manner during the encounter near Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
On Wednesday, a senior Russian official said Moscow would try to recover the wreckage of the drone. U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the unmanned aerial vehicle had likely broken during the crash and whatever debris was left likely sank to a depth of thousands of feet in the Black Sea.
“That’s U.S. property,” Milley said Wednesday at a Pentagon news conference. “There’s probably not a lot to recover, frankly.”
An official told CBS News that the Russians had reached the site of the crash and would probably manage to collect some pieces of the debris, like metal chunks, but Milley said the U.S. had taken mitigating measures to prevent the loss of any sensitive intelligence.
“We are quite confident that whatever was of value is no longer of value,” he told reporters.
The video released Thursday by the Pentagon (above), captured by a camera on the MQ-9, first shows a fighter jet pass by at close range before making another pass during which it allegedly hit the drone’s propeller. The camera view is lost briefly after the apparent collision but it comes back to show what the Air Force said was damage to the propeller from the strike.
The Russian jet “dumped fuel upon and struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters,” the Air Force said in a statement accompanying the video.
The video released by the U.S. military’s European Command was “edited for length, however, the events are depicted in sequential order,” the statement said.
An image taken from video released on March 16, 2023 by the U.S. military shows what the Pentagon said is a Russian fighter jet approaching a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone over the Black Sea just before colliding with the drone, forcing it to be brought down, on March 14, 2023. The image was captured by a camera on board the MQ-9, the Pentagon said.
U.S. Military handout
Speaking to reporters this week, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder wouldn’t say whether the drone was armed, and he referred to the unmanned aircraft as a MQ-9, but not by its other name, the Reaper. The U.S. uses Reapers for surveillance and strikes and has operated the aircraft from Europe to the Middle East and Africa.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday, speaking alongside Milley, that he had spoken with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu after the incident over the Black Sea, but the American defense chief didn’t provide details of the conversation.
“The United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows, and it is incumbent upon Russia to operate its military aircraft in a safe and professional manner,” Austin told reporters.
A MQ-9 Reaper drone flies by during a training mission at Creech Air Force Base on November 17, 2015, in Indian Springs, Nevada.
Isaac Brekken/Getty
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Shoigu had told Austin that the collision was the result of “increased [U.S.] intelligence activities against the interests of the Russian Federation” and “non-compliance with the restricted flight zone” declared by Moscow amid its ongoing war in Ukraine. Ukraine’s southern coast is on the Black Sea, and Crimea, occupied by Russia since 2014 and claimed as its sovereign territory, sticks out into the body of water.
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The Russian ministry said it would react “proportionately” to any more U.S. “provocations” in the region, warning that “flights of American strategic unmanned aerial vehicles off the coast of Crimea are provocative in nature, which creates pre-conditions for an escalation of the situation in the Black Sea zone.”
“Russia is not interested in such a development of events, but it will continue to respond proportionately to all provocations,” the defense ministry said.
CBS News’ Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.
Winter Have, Fla. — Two small planes collided in midair over a central Florida lake Tuesday afternoon, killing the four people in them, authorities said.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Tuesday night that their bodies had been located. “It is no longer a search and rescue operation, but a recovery operation,” he said.
He said one of the planes involved was a Cherokee Piper 161 carrying Faith Irene Baker, 24, of Winter Haven, a pilot/flight instructor with Sunrise Aviation and Zachary Jean Mace, 19, of Winter Haven, a student at Polk State College. CBS Orlando affiliate WKMG-TV cited deputies as saying it was being operated on behalf of the college and was a fixed-wing aircraft.
Judd said the other plane was a Piper J-3 Cub with Randall Elbert Crawford, 67, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania and one other person on board. The J-3 is a float plane. Again citing deputies, WKMG said it was operated by Jack Brown’s Seaplane Base in Winter Haven.
“Deputies are working to confirm the identity of a fourth deceased person. … Once a positive identification has been made, and next of kin notification has been made, we will release the identity,” he said.
Debris is seen in Lake Hartridge in Winter Haven, Fla. after two small planes collided over it in mid-air on March 7, 2023. The planes crashed into the lake. All four people on them lost their lives, authorities said.
CBS Miami
“My heart goes out to the families and friends of those who were killed in today’s crash,” Judd added. “The NTSB and FAA will be investigating the cause and circumstances of the collision. Please keep the families in your prayers during this difficult and stressful time.”
“Our Polk State College family is devastated by this tragedy,” Polk State President Angela Garcia Falconetti said. “We extend our deepest condolences to their families, friends, and colleagues.”
The school said it will be offering support programs to its students on campus, by phone and virtually.
Deputies said earlier it wasn’t known where the planes had taken off from or what caused the crash. Lake Hartridge, in Winter Haven, where the planes went down, is immediately southeast of the Winter Haven Regional Airport. Winter Haven is about 40 miles southwest of Orlando.
Witnesses recalled the planes crashing into each other and then immediately falling into the water, Polk County Sheriff’s Office Chief of Staff Steve Lester said.
The wing of one plane was sticking out of the water, while the other aircraft had settled about 21 feet below the surface, officials said.
At least one person was killed when two small planes collided and crashed into a lake in Florida on Tuesday afternoon. It comes two days after a man was arrested over allegations he tried to stab a flight attendant on a United Airlines flight. Lilia Luciano reports.
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The pilot of a medical transport plane that crashed during a winter storm in Nevada, killing all five people on board, was following in the footsteps of his grandfather who flew bombers in World War II, his brother said.
A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the cause of the crash Friday night will take two to three weeks, NTSB spokesperson Peter Kundson said Monday.
The single-engine Pilatus PC12 apparently broke apart before hitting the ground about 40 miles (64 kilometer) southeast of Reno, the agency said.
All five people on board died from multiple blunt-force injuries in the crash near rural Stagecoach, including pilot Scott Walton, 46, of Allendale, Michigan, the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office said Monday.
The other four victims were from Reno — 69-year-old patient Mark Rand and his 66-year-old spouse Terri Rand, as well as two medical crew members, Edward Pricola, 32, and Ryan Watson, 27, the office said.
The plane was headed from Reno to Salt Lake City, the NTSB said. It wasn’t clear if weather played a role in the crash. Officials have not said what medical condition Mark Rand had.
Walton’s family has set up a GoFundMe site to raise money for his wife and three daughters.
One of his brothers, John Walton, a broadcaster in Washington D.C. and the voice of the NHL’s Washington Capitals on WTOP Radio, said on Twitter after calling Saturday’s game he was grateful for the support his family has received from the community.
“I had to do the game today with a broken heart,” John Walton wrote. “Please keep my brother Scott, his wife Lisa, and their three beautiful girls in your thoughts and prayers.”
I had to do the game today with a broken heart. Please keep my brother Scott, his wife Lisa, and their three beautiful girls in your thoughts and prayers. pic.twitter.com/AKtJztTryy
Michael Walton, another brother, told the Reno Gazette-Journal that his sibling had worked for years in marketing and was nearing age 40 when he decided he wanted to be a pilot. He said their grandfather flew B-24s in World War II.
Michael Walton said his brother loved flying to help people with life-threatening medical needs.
“This gave him the greatest opportunity to help others,” he said. “He had such pride in what he was doing.”
NTSB Vice Chair Bruce Landsberg said at a news briefing in Carson City on Sunday that investigators at the scene of the crash already had determined the aircraft “broke up in flight” based on the location of parts of the plane found up to three-quarters of a mile away.
The plane was built in 2002, he said.
NTSB personnel inspect the debris from a medical transport plane crash near Stagecoach, Nevada.
National Transportation Safety Board
The crash occurred amid a winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service in Reno for large swaths of Nevada, including parts of Lyon County. It was snowing steadily with winds around 20 mph (30 kph) and gusts up to 30 mph (50 kph).
Visibility was under 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) with a cloud ceiling about 2,000 feet (600 meters) above ground when the flight left Reno, the service said.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane was registered to Guardian Flight, based in South Jordan, Utah. Care Flight is a service of REMSA Health in Reno and Guardian Flight.
A medical transport flight that crashed in a mountainous area in northern Nevada, killing five all five people aboard the plane including a patient, apparently broke apart before hitting the ground, authorities said Sunday.
The National Transportation Safety Board has sent in a seven-member team of investigators to the site of Friday night’s crash near Stagecoach.
“How do we know if the airplane broke up in flight? We found parts of the airplane one-half to three-quarters of a mile away” from the crash scene, NTSB Vice Chair Bruce Landsberg said at a news briefing in Carson City.
Landsberg said in the afternoon briefing that a team spent all day looking for pieces of the downed plane. He added investigators would likely be on site for several days before the wreckage of the single-engine Pilatus PC-12 is moved so investigators can try to determine a possible crash cause. The plane was built in 2002.
“Right now, we just don’t know. This is like a three-dimensional puzzle,” Landsberg said. “It’s harder when you don’t have the pieces all in one place.”
NTSB personnel inspect the debris from a plane crash near Stagecoach, Nevada.
National Transportation Safety Board
The crash occurred amid a winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service in Reno for large swaths of Nevada, including parts of Lyon County. It was snowing steadily with winds around 20 mph (30 kph) and gusts up to 30 mph (50 kph).
Visibility was under two miles (3.2 kilometers) with a cloud ceiling about 2,000 feet (600 meters) above ground when the flight left Reno for Salt Lake City, Utah, and went down, according to the weather service.
Care Flight, which provides ambulance service by plane and helicopter, identified the downed aircraft and said the pilot, a flight nurse, a flight paramedic, a patient and a patient’s family member all died.
Robin Hays, a Stagecoach resident and a former flight nurse, said she heard the sputtering plane fly over her house before crashing behind her property.
“I knew the plane was in trouble,” Hays told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “I knew it was going to crash. I was just hoping it wasn’t going to crash into my house.”
Hays called 911 and went outside but could not see the wreckage because of the blowing snow.
NTSB personnel inspect the debris from a medical transport plane crash near Stagecoach, Nevada.
National Transportation Safety Board
Misty Gruenemay told the newspaper that the wind was howling and the snow blowing hard when she heard what sounded like a whiz and a thump behind her house in Stagecoach. The rural community is home to around 2,500 residents and located about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Reno.
Gruenemay said she wanted to help but conditions were terrible and she didn’t have a vehicle that could safely travel the unpaved roads buried in 6 inches of snow.
“It was snowing and visibility was horrible. I don’t even understand why that plane was allowed to take off,” Gruenemay said.
The Lyon County Sheriff’s office said authorities began receiving calls about the crash near Stagecoach, Nevada, around 9:15 p.m. and found the wreckage two hours later.
Care Flight officials said it was halting all flights and will work with each of its operations to determine when it will return to service.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane was registered to Guardian Flight, based in South Jordan, Utah. Care Flight is a service of REMSA Health in Reno and Guardian Flight.
More than half a million medical patients use air ambulance services each month in the U.S., according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ website.
Five people — including a patient and a pilot — were killed on Friday after a Care Flight plane crashed near Stagecoach, Nevada, about 45 miles east of Reno.
The incident happened around 9:15 p.m. local time when the Lyon County Dispatch Center received multiple calls of a possible aircraft crash in Stagecoach, according to a news release from the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. It was confirmed that the fixed wing aircraft was operated by Care Flight, which is a critical care transport service.
Around 11:15 p.m. after a search, the aircraft was found.
“We are heartbroken to report that we have now received confirmation from Central Lyon County Fire Department that none of the five people on board survived. The five people on board were a pilot, a flight nurse, a flight paramedic, a patient and a patient’s family member. We are in the process of notifying their family members,” read a media statement from Care Flight.
“As is Guardian and Care Flight’s safety process in these situations, we are in a passive stand down for all Guardian and Care Flight flights across the company. We will work with each of our operations to ascertain when they are able to return to service,” read the statement.
The Central Lyon Fire Department and the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department are working with the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of the crash, which is under investigation.
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Officials in Little Rock, Arkansas, are investigating the cause of a plane crash that killed all five people on board. Those killed all worked for the same consulting firm.
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The Hague, Netherlands — An international team of investigators said Wednesday it found “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the supply of heavy anti-aircraft weapons to Ukrainian separatists who shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014 with a Russian missile.
However, the Joint Investigation Team said they had insufficient evidence to launch any new prosecutions and suspended their long running probe into the shooting down that killed all 298 people on board the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Russia has always denied any involvement in the downing of the flight over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, and refused to cooperate with the international investigation.
Dutch prosecutors said in their summary of investigation findings that “there are strong indications that the Russian president decided on supplying” a Buk missile system to Ukrainian separatists. A Buk system was used to bring down MH17.
Dutch prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer said that without Russian cooperation, “the investigation has now reached its limit. All leads have been exhausted.”
The announcement comes nearly three months after a Dutch court convicted two Russians and a Ukrainian rebel for their roles in shooting down the plane. One Russian was acquitted by the court. None of the suspects appeared for the trial and it was unclear if the three who were found guilty of multiple murders will ever serve their sentences.
The convictions and the court’s finding that the surface-to-air Buk missile came from a Russian military base were seen as a clear indication that Moscow had a role in the tragedy. Russia has always denied involvement. The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the court in November of bowing to pressure from Dutch politicians, prosecutors and the news media.
But the November convictions held that Moscow was in overall control in 2014 over the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, the separatist area of eastern Ukraine where the missile was launched. The Buk missile system came from the Russian military’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, based in the city of Kursk.
The Joint Investigation Team is made up of experts from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine. Most of the victims were Dutch. It had continued to investigate the crew of the missile system that brought down the plane and those who ordered its deployment in Ukraine.
As well as the criminal trial that was held in the Netherlands, the Dutch and Ukrainian governments are suing Russia at the European Court of Human Rights over its alleged role in the downing of MH17.
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Connie Britton joins “CBS Mornings” to discuss her new series, “Dear Edward.” The show is about a 12-year-old boy who becomes the lone survivor of a plane crash. Britton stars as Dee Dee Cameron, a wealthy and privileged woman who loses her husband in the crash. Britton discusses the inspiration behind her character.
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A cellphone video taken by a passenger on the Yeti Airlines plane that crashed in Nepal appears to show the harrowing final moments of the flight.
Indian national Sonu Jaiswal, who was traveling with three friends, seemed happy and calm as he pointed his phone camera out the plane window and around the cabin. But after a sudden jolt, the camera shot goes unsteady. Within seconds, smoke obscures the view and there’s a sense of chaos as people scream and the screen fills with flames. It appears to confirm there was no indication of a warning before the crash.
Indian police have confirmed the identity of the passengers seen in the video, but the authenticity of the full video and everything it shows remained unclear on Monday.
The Yeti Airlines ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft was flying from India to Nepal when it went down suddenly on approach to a newly opened airport in the city of Pokhara. It is believed that all 72 people aboard the flight were killed.
Yeti Airlines confirmed that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders — the so-called black boxes — were found on Monday, a day after the plane went down, which could help determine a cause for the crash.
Emergency response team at the scene of the Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal, on January 16, 2023.
PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images
Dhirendra Pratap Singh, an inspector at the Bersar Police Station in India, the town in which the four Indian victims of the crash lived, told CBS News’ Arshad Zargar that he’d met with the four men’s families and confirmed their identities from the video.
It remained unclear however, how the video, which Singh said was shot by Jaiswal, got onto social media on Monday, where it spread quickly. There were reports that it was either livestreamed on Facebook, or found on a phone that somehow survived the crash.
Singh could not clarify that part of the story to CBS News, and said he couldn’t say whether the video had been altered in any way.
In the first part of the video, Jaiswal captured images of the plane making what seemed to be a routine descent, with recognizable buildings and roads of Pokhara below.
A witness who recorded video of the plane’s descent from the ground said it looked like a normal landing until the plane suddenly turned sharply to the left.
“I saw that, and I was shocked,” Diwas Bohora told The Associated Press. “I thought that today everything will be finished here after it crashes, I will also be dead.”
He said the ground shook violently and flames shot up from the scene of the crash not far from where he stood.
Jagannath Niraula said the boxes were found on Monday, a day after the ATR-72 aircraft crashed, killing at least 69 of the 72 people aboard. He said they will be handed over to investigators.
Pemba Sherpa, spokesperson for Yeti Airlines, also confirmed that both the flight data and the cockpit voice recorders have been found.
The recorders are commonly referred to as “black boxes” even though they’re not usually black.
Rescuers rappelled down to search through debris, which is scattered down a 984-foot gorge, for the three missing people. All are believed to be dead. A senior local official, Tek Bahadur KC, told Agence France-Presse, “We pray for a miracle. But, the hope of finding anyone alive is nil.”
Nepal began a national day of mourning Monday.
Nepalese rescue workers and civilians gather around the wreckage of a passenger plane that crashed in Pokhara, Nepal, on Jan. 15, 2023.
Krishna Mani Baral / AP
It remains unclear what caused the crash, the Himalayan country’s deadliest airplane accident in three decades. The weather was mild and wasn’t windy on the day of the crash.
A witness who recorded footage of the plane’s descent from his balcony said he saw the plane flying low before it suddenly veered to its left. “I saw that and I was shocked. … I thought that today everything will be finished here after it crashes, I will also be dead,” said Diwas Bohora. After it crashed, red flames erupted and the ground shook violently, like an earthquake, Bohora said. “I was scared. Seeing that scene, I was scared.”
Amit Singh, an experienced pilot and founder of India’s Flight Safety Foundation, said the video appears to show a stall, a situation in which a plane loses lift, especially likely at low airspeeds.
A pilot who routinely flies an ATR 72-500 plane from India to Nepal, said the region’s topography, with its mountain peaks and narrow valleys, raises the risk of accidents and sometimes requires pilots to fly by sight rather than relying on instruments. The pilot, who works for a private Indian airline and didn’t want to be named due to company policy, called ATR 72-500 an “unforgiving aircraft” if the pilot isn’t highly skilled and familiar with the region’s terrain and wind speeds.
Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m. before crashing.
Another witness said he saw the aircraft twist violently in the air after it began descending to land, watching from the terrace of his house. Finally, Gaurav Gurung said, the plane fell nose-first toward its left and crashed into the gorge.
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal on Jan. 16, 2023.
PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP via Getty Images
Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m. before crashing.
The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft, operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, was completing the 27-minute flight from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, 125 miles west. It was carrying 68 passengers, including 15 foreign nationals, as well as four crew members, Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. The foreigners included five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Pokhara Academy of Health and Science, Western Hospital, where the bodies were being kept. Relatives and friends of victims, many of whom were from Pokhara, consoled each other as they waited.
Bimala Bhenderi was waiting outside the post-mortem room Monday. She was planning to meet her friend, Tribhuban Paudel, on Tuesday when she heard that his flight had crashed. “I’m so sad, I can’t believe it still,” she said in tears.
Gyan Khadka, a police spokesperson in the district, said 31 bodies have been identified and will be handed over to family after officials finish post mortem reports. The bodies of foreigners and those that are unrecognizable will be sent to Kathmandu for further investigation.
A rescue team recovers the body of a victim from the site of the plane crash of a Yeti Airlines operated aircraft, in Pokhara, Nepal on Jan. 16, 2023.
STRINGER / REUTERS
On Sunday, Twitter was awash with images that showed plumes of smoke billowing from the crash site, nearly a mile from Pokhara International Airport. The aircraft’s fuselage was split into multiple parts that were scattered down the gorge.
Hours after dark, scores of onlookers remained crowded around the crash site near the airport in the resort town of Pokhara as rescue workers combed the wreckage on the edge of the cliff and in the ravine below.
Local resident Bishnu Tiwari, who rushed to the crash site near the Seti River to help search for bodies, said the rescue efforts were hampered by thick smoke and a raging fire.
“The flames were so hot that we couldn’t go near the wreckage. I heard a man crying for help, but because of the flames and smoke we couldn’t help him,” Tiwari said.
At Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, family members appeared distraught as they waited for information.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal rushed to the airport after the crash and set up a panel to investigate the accident.
“The incident was tragic. The full force of the Nepali army, police has been deployed for rescue,” he said.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it’s still trying to confirm the fate of two South Korean passengers and has sent staff to the scene. The Russian Ambassador to Nepal, Alexei Novikov, confirmed the death of four Russian citizens who were on board the plane.
Omar Gutiérrez, governor of Argentina’s Neuquen province, wrote on his official Twitter account that an Argentine passenger on the flight was Jannet Palavecino, from his province.
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal on Jan.16, 2023.
PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images
The Facebook page of Palavecino says she was manager of the Hotel Suizo in Neuquen city. She described herself as a lover of travel and adventure tourism.
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers told reporters Monday that “our hearts go out to all of the families of the crew and passengers” who died, adding that the government was providing consular support to the family of an Australian who was aboard the plane.
Pokhara is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular hiking trail in the Himalayas. The city’s new international airport began operations only two weeks ago.
The type of plane involved, the ATR 72, has been used by airlines around the world for short regional flights. Introduced in the late 1980s by a French and Italian partnership, the aircraft model has been involved in several deadly accidents over the years.
In Taiwan, two earlier accidents involving ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600 aircrafts happened just months apart.
In July 2014, a TransAsia ATR 72-500 flight crashed while trying to land on the scenic Penghu archipelago between Taiwan and China, killing 48 people onboard. An ATR 72-600 operated by the same Taiwanese airline crashed shortly after takeoff in Taipei in February 2015 after one of its engines failed and the second was shut down, apparently by mistake.
The 2015 crash, captured in dramatic footage that showed the plane striking a taxi as it hurtled out of control, killed 43, and prompted authorities to ground all Taiwanese-registered ATR 72s for some time. TransAsia ceased all flights in 2016 and later went out of business.
ATR identified the plane involved in Sunday’s crash as an ATR 72-500 in a tweet. According to plane tracking data from flightradar24.com, the aircraft was 15 years old and “equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data.” It was previously flown by India’s Kingfisher Airlines and Thailand’s Nok Air before Yeti took it over in 2019, according to records on Airfleets.net.
Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR 72-500 planes, company spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula said.
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, has a history of air crashes. Sunday’s crash is Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it plowed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.
According to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety database, there have been 42 fatal plane crashes in Nepal since 1946.
According to a 2019 safety report from Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, the country’s “hostile topography” and “diverse weather patterns” were the biggest dangers to flights in the country. The report said such accidents happened at airports that had short strips of runway for takeoff and landing and most were due to pilot error.
The report added that 37% of all air crashes in Nepal between 2009 and 2018 were due to pilot error, not counting helicopters and recreational flights.
The European Union has banned airlines from Nepal from flying into the 27-nation bloc since 2013, citing weak safety standards. In 2017, the International Civil Aviation Organization cited improvements in Nepal’s aviation sector, but the EU continues to demand administrative reforms.
Scores of rescue workers and onlookers crowded near a steep gorge outside a resort town in central Nepal where a regional passenger plane crashed Sunday, as rescuers combed the wreckage on the edge of the cliff and in the ravine below.
So far, 68 people have been confirmed dead after a regional passenger plane with 72 aboard crashed into a gorge while landing at a newly opened airport in the resort town of Pokhara, according to an announcement posted by the country’s Civil Aviation Authority to Twitter. It’s the country’s deadliest airplane accident in three decades.
In a statement, the agency said four people are still missing. Fifty-three of the passengers on board were Nepalese, five were Indian, four were Russian, two were Korean and one person from Australia, one from Argentina, one from Ireland and one from France, the agency said. There were four crew members.
It was not immediately clear what caused the accident.
Nepalese rescue workers and civilians gather around the wreckage of a passenger plane that crashed in Pokhara, Nepal, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. Authorities in Nepal said 68 people have been confirmed dead after a regional passenger plane with 72 aboard crashed into a gorge while landing at a newly opened airport in the resort town of Pokhara. It’s the country’s deadliest airplane accident in three decades.
Krishna Mani Baral / AP
A witness said he saw the aircraft spinning violently in the air after it began to attempt a landing, watching from the terrace of his house. Gaurav Gurung said the plane fell nose-first towards its left and then crashed into the gorge.
At the crash site near the Seti River, about 1.6 kilometers (nearly a mile) away from Pokhara International Airport, rescuers sprayed fire hoses and heaved ropes down to another smoldering part of the wreck below. Some bodies, burned beyond recognition, were carried by firefighters to hospitals, where grief-stricken relatives had assembled. At Kathmandu airport, family members appeared distraught as they were escorted in and at times exchanged heated words with officials as they waited for information.
“The plane caught fire after the crash. There was smoke everywhere,” Gurung said.
The aviation authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport from near Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m. before crashing.
The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft, operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, was flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, a 27-minute flight. No survivors have been found yet. The company announced Sunday it was suspending all regular flights on Monday.
Tek Bahadur K. C., a senior administrative officer in the Kaski district, said he expected rescue workers to find more bodies at the bottom of the gorge.
Images and videos shared on Twitter showed plumes of smoke billowing from the crash site as rescue workers, Nepali soldiers, and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage of the aircraft to find survivors. The aircraft’s fuselage was split into multiple parts that were scattered down the gorge.
Locals watch the wreckage of a passenger plane in Pokhara, Nepal, Sunday, Jan.15, 2023. A passenger plane with 72 people on board has crashed near Pokhara International Airport in Nepal, the daily newspaper Kathmandu Post reports. The plane was carrying 68 passengers and four crew members.
Yunish Gurung / AP
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who rushed to the airport after the crash, set up a panel to investigate the accident.
“The incident was tragic. The full force of the Nepali army, police has been deployed for rescue,” he said.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it’s still trying to confirm the fate of two South Korean passengers and has sent staff to the scene. The Russian Ambassador to Nepal, Alexei Novikov, confirmed the death of four Russian citizens who were on board the plane.
The type of plane involved, the ATR 72, has been used by several airlines around the world for short regional flights. Introduced in the late 1980s by a French and Italian partnership, the aircraft model has been involved in several deadly accidents over the years. In 2018, an ATR 72 operated by Iran’s Aseman Airlines crashed in a foggy, mountainous region, killing all 65 aboard.
In Taiwan, two earlier accidents involving ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600 aircraft happened just months apart.
In July 2014, a TransAsia ATR 72-500 flight crashed while trying to land on the scenic Penghu archipelago between Taiwan and China, killing 48 people onboard. An ATR 72-600 operated by the same Taiwanese airline crashed shortly after takeoff in Taipei in February 2015 after one of its engines failed and the second was shut down, apparently by mistake.
The 2015 crash, captured in dramatic footage that showed the plane striking a taxi as it hurtled out of control, killed 43, and prompted authorities to ground all Taiwanese-registered ATR 72s for some time. TransAsia ceased all flights in 2016 and later went out of business.
ATR identified the plane involved in Sunday’s crash as an ATR 72-500 in a tweet. According to plane tracking data from flightradar24.com, the aircraft was 15 years old and “equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data.” It was previously flown by India’s Kingfisher Airlines and Thailand’s Nok Air before Yeti took it over in 2019, according to records on Airfleets.net.
Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR72-500 planes, company spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula said.
Pokhara, located 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Kathmandu, is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular hiking trail in the Himalayas. The city’s new international airport began operations only two weeks ago. It was built with Chinese construction and financial support. The Chinese ambassador to Nepal, Chen Song, said in a tweet he was “very shocked” to learn of the accident.
“At this difficult time, our thoughts are with Nepali people. I would like to express my deep condolences to the victims, and sincere sympathies to the bereaved families,” he wrote.
Sunday’s crash is Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it plowed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.
Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, has a history of air crashes. According to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety database, there have been 42 fatal plane crashes in Nepal since 1946.
Last year, 22 people died when a plane crashed on a mountainside in Nepal. In 2016, a Tara Air Twin Otter flying from Pokhara to Kathmandu crashed after takeoff, killing all 23 people aboard.
In 2012, an Agni Air plane flying from Pokhara to Jomsom crashed, killing 15 people. Six people survived. In 2014, a Nepal Airlines plane flying from Pokhara to Jumla crashed, killing all 18 on board.
In 1992, all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it plowed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.
The European Union has banned airlines from Nepal from flying into the 27-nation bloc since 2013, citing weak safety standards. In 2017, the International Civil Aviation Organization cited improvements in Nepal’s aviation sector, but the EU continues to demand administrative reforms.
Two people suffered life-threatening injuries after a single-engine plane crashed into a storage unit in Kent, Washington, Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
The single-engine Challenger II, carrying two people, slammed into the storage building at about 1:30 p.m. Pacific time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. A photo from the scene showed the plane lodged in the roof of the structure.
The Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority reported that the two people aboard suffered life-threatening injuries. There was no word of injuries to anyone on the ground.
The details and circumstances of the crash were not immediately provided. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
Kent is located in the Seattle metropolitan area.
At the scene of where a single-engine plane crashed into a storage building in Kent, Washington. Jan. 7, 2022.
Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority
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A man was rescued after a small plane crashed into a creek in Edgewater, Marland, on Monday. Kayakers paddled to the crash site and pulled the pilot out.
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The FAA and NTSB are investigating what caused a small plane crash on a Southern California beach that killed the former mayor of Santa Monica. A single-engine Cessna en route to Malibu crashed on the beach and flipped upside down, killing Rex Minter.
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MIA Recoveries, Inc. has located a long-missing US Air Force C-46 aircraft lost during WWII with 13 souls aboard, bringing to a total of 279 MIA personnel now located.
Press Release –
Dec 7, 2022
PRESCOTT, Ariz., December 7, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– Clayton Kuhles of MIA Recoveries, Inc. announced a successful expedition and discovery of the location of US Air Force C-46A #42-96721, missing in action since 1945 when it was lost while on a mission during WWII.
“This brings closure to the families after 77 years,” said Clayton Kuhles, founder and president of the private, nonprofit MIA Recoveries, Inc.
After first hearing of MIA Recoveries, Bill Scherer, the son of passenger 1st Lt. William Scherer, contacted Clayton to ask if he would look for his father’s lost aircraft.
“After we found the crash site and positively identified it,” said Clayton, “Bill said that he wished his mother was still alive to hear this great news. She was heartbroken for decades after her husband disappeared.“
It Simply Disappeared
The plane was on a routine flight from China to its base in India. On board was a crew of four and nine passengers. The weather was very bad, with severe turbulence, violent updrafts and crosswinds, and moderate to severe icing along the entire route. At 1420Z, contact with the aircraft was lost and it was declared missing in flight. This aircraft was never heard from again.
According to the official Missing Air Crew Report, “It simply disappeared“. The plane’s nickname was Stork. Dead: 13
MIA Recoveries, Inc. has been searching for, locating, and recovering MIA American airmen since 2002. Clayton Kuhles and his team have reached 27 crashed aircraft missing for decades, thereby accounting for 279 personnel listed as MIA until then.
Finding Lost Aircraft Previously Listed as Unrecoverable
The U.S. lost hundreds of aircraft in the China-Burma-India theater of operations during WWII. The location of these aircraft and the MIA’s remains had previously been deemed “Unrecoverable” by the U.S. Dept. of Defense, due to extreme terrain and no precise known locations where these aircraft went down.
“The reason why these cases are unsolved is because they’re so remote and so difficult to get there that most people don’t want to make an attempt, much less go there,” says Clayton. “These people (families of the missing airmen) don’t have closure because no one wants to go there.” See the full interview on YouTube
More MIAs Can Be Brought Home
Clayton says that his MIA expeditions are mostly self-funded and he receives no funding assistance from the U.S. government. He would be able to bring home more American MIAs and bring closure to the families of even more veterans with funding support. A tax-deductible funding donation to MIA Recoveries, Inc. will help fund these ongoing MIA expeditions and bring closure to more families.
MIA Recoveries, Inc. is a tax-exempt public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Funding donations to MIA Recoveries, Inc. are tax-deductible.
A small plane crashed into power lines in Maryland, leaving two people dangling about 100 feet in the air, officials said. The crash knocked out power to thousands of people in the area.
A single-engine Mooney M20J crashed into wires near Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, Maryland, around 5:40 p.m. local time Sunday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane appeared to be intact as it was caught in a web of power lines about 100 feet in the air. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer and the FAA said there were two people aboard the plane.
As of roughly 7:50 p.m., Piringer said the people aboard the plane were uninured. Earlier he said that they remained in a “very precarious situation,” as the wires were still energized.
Update – Gaithersburg, Maryland, @MontgomeryCoMD small plane into powerlines & tower plow, suspended about 100 feet in the air, two persons on board uninjured at this time, @mcfrs on scene, Widespread power outages, some roads closed in area, https://t.co/VRLGfpyFaApic.twitter.com/3iCMW0v94j
The crash led to “widespread power outages” and road closures nearby, officials said.
Pepco confirmed that the crash affected approximately 85,000 customers and said they are working with authorities to assess the damage.
“We have confirmed that a private plane came into contact with Pepco’s transmission lines in Montgomery County, resulting in an outage to approximately 85,000 customers,” the utility company tweeted. “We are assessing damage and working closely with Montgomery County fire and emergency services.”
The crash will be investigated by the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board, with the NTSB leading the investigation and providing additional updates, the FAA said in a statement.
A LATAM Airlines plane taking off from Lima’s international airport struck a firetruck on the runway and caught fire Friday. Authorities said the plane’s passengers and crew were all safe, but two firefighters in the truck were killed.
Lima Airport Partners, the company that operates Jorge Chávez International Airport, said in a tweet that operations at the facility had been suspended. There were 102 passengers and six crew members aboard the Airbus A320neo.
“Our teams are providing the necessary care to all passengers, who are in good condition,” the company said.
A view of LATAM Airlines Flight 2213 after it collided with a firetruck at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru, on Nov. 18, 2022. Two firefighters were killed in the collision.
ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP/Getty Images
Luis Ponce La Jara, general commander of the fire department, said two firefighters were killed and one was injured when the truck they were in was struck by the plane. Both the plane and the firetruck were in motion when they collided.
President Pedro Castillo expressed his condolences to the families of the firefighters in a tweet.
Flight LA2213 was taking off from Lima’s main airport en route to the Peruvian city of Juliaca.
Videos on social media showed smoke coming from a large plane on the runway.
LATAM Airlines said it lamented the death of the firefighters and would provide flexibility to reprogram flights to affected passengers at no extra cost. But it said it did not know why the firetruck was on the runway.
“No emergency was reported on the flight It was a flight that was in optimal conditions to take off, it had authorization to take off and it encountered a truck on the runway and we don’t know what the truck was doing there,” said Manuel van Oordt, general manager of LATAM Airlines Peru. “We have to investigate and establish why it was there.”
The Prosecutor’s Office in Callao, where the airport is located, said an investigation into the cause of the accident had been opened.
According to the fire department, the incident was registered at 3:25 p.m. and four rescue units were mobilized.
Aviation authorities said operations at Jorge Chávez International Airport were suspended until 1 p.m. local time Saturday. Flights would be direct to other airports in the meantime.
