REFLECTOR: Dragonfly down in Las Vegas

Chuck Jensen cjensen at dts9000.com
Sat Oct 31 09:19:17 CDT 2009


"It's unbelievable," Ojeda said about the limited injuries. "It's an experimental aircraft. Usually these things end up in a ball of fire."

...in contrast to certified planes which never catch fires and rarely ever suffer as much as a paint scratch.  Sheesch.

Chuck Jensen



-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On
Behalf Of Brett Ferrell
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 9:44 AM
To: reflector
Subject: REFLECTOR: Dragonfly down in Las Vegas


Sounds like the pilot and all on the ground are fine, but the usual fuss is about to begin...


http://www.lvrj.com/news/Plane-crashes-in-front-of-Texas-Station-67800702.html

"

Candace Porter was driving north on Rancho Drive today when she felt something heavy land on the sunroof of her Chevy Tahoe.

Confused, she pulled into the parking lot of Texas Station to check what had happened. When she stepped out of the car, scraps of metal fell at her feet.
	
		

Most Popular Stories
# NORM: Wynn to scalpers: Oh no you don't
# RADIO CLAIMS: Reid jabs generate backlash
# Las Vegas officer wounds suspect
# Police shoot man at traffic stop
# Police shoot man at traffic stop
# No foul play suspected in death of man found near Nellis
# Man killed, woman injured in shooting near Sahara and Nellis
# Woman accused of murder admits lying to authorities
# READY TO REVOLT: Oath Keepers pledges to prevent dictatorship in United States
# READY TO DEFEND: Oath Keepers speak out at inaugural conference
# NORM: Couple tie knot, see U2, meet Bono




The "something heavy" was part of an experimental aircraft in the process of making an emergency forced landing, authorities said.

The aircraft, traveling southeast, clipped the supports for a utility pole before skidding across six lanes of traffic on Rancho and coming to rest on the southbound side of the road, said Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Joe Ojeda.

No other vehicles were damaged in the incident, and no one on the ground was injured. What Porter felt on her car were fragments from the plane after it hit the pole, Ojeda said.

A 75-year-old man who witnesses identified as the pilot suffered minor injuries and was transported to University Medical Center's trauma center, police said.

The passenger, identified as a 37-year-old man, was treated at the scene and released.

"It's unbelievable," Ojeda said about the limited injuries. "It's an experimental aircraft. Usually these things end up in a ball of fire."

Porter said that if the aircraft had been a few feet lower, it might have hit her car directly.

"I feel very lucky. It's the day before Halloween - is there a full moon out?" said Porter about an hour after the crash. "The guy up above was looking out for me."

The plane was forced to land in front of Texas Station when it experienced engine failure after taking off from North Las Vegas Airport for a local flight, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said in an e-mail.

The landing closed Rancho Drive between Lake Mead Boulevard and Vegas Drive. The plane, a home-built, single-engine, experimental Dragon Fly Mark II, suffered substantial damage, Gregor said.

Registry records identified the builder as Kenneth Ray Hallbauer of Redlands, Calif., and the registered owner as Tang Yun Chieh of Las Vegas. It couldn't immediately be determined if either man was on board. Witnesses at the scene identified both men in the plane as being of Asian descent.

Jim House was driving his 1967 Datsun Fairlady roadster south on Rancho when he first saw the plane coming in low from the southeast.

House, who said he was in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War, said it sounded like a mortar round whizzing by his head.

"It was just, bam," he said. "It was so quick. It came in right in front and hit hard."

The plane crashed about 20 feet in front of House's car, he said, coming to rest under an Ed Bernstein advertisement for accident victims.

House was grateful no one on the ground qualified as an accident victim.

"We were all pretty lucky," he said. "This could have been a lot worse."

A deadly 2008 crash of a home-built plane into a North Las Vegas home, which killed an older couple and the pilot, inspired both state and federal officials to act to make the skies over North Las Vegas safer for pilots and residents.

The first change came from the FAA in December when it revised its rules for experimental and home-built aircraft using North Las Vegas Airport.

At the time of the Aug. 22, 2008, crash, the Velocity 173 RG plane was allowed to use the airport. It had an initial five hours of flight time and could take off and land from the airport to complete the remaining flight hours over unpopulated areas needed for FAA certification.

The new FAA rules ban homemade planes from the airport until they've completed that second phase of flight time, which is either 25 or 40 hours depending on the plane's engine.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky at reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Review-Journal reporters Antonio Planas, Keith Rogers, Henry Brean and Lynnette Curtis contributed to this report.
"
_______________________________________________
To change your email address, visit http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/listinfo/reflector

Visit the gallery!  www.tvbf.org/gallery
user:pw = tvbf:jamaicangoose
Check new archives: www.tvbf.org/pipermail
Check old archives: http://www.tvbf.org/archives/velocity/maillist.html


More information about the Reflector mailing list