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TBM700 plane crashes on NJ highway; 5 dead
A small plane has crashed on the busy Interstate 287 in Harding, located in northern New Jersey. State Police Trooper Christopher Kay says there is a report of three possible deaths in the crash. Shona Sternberg of Hillsborough tells The Star-Ledger of Newark that she was about three cars behind where the plane went down and saw an explosion when the aircraft hit. She says it looked like the right wing was breaking off before the plane went down. (www.huffingtonpost.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I witnessed this flight go down because of hearing the craft above getting into trouble. I heard the plane from my location far overhead hidden by cloud cover sounding relatively normal but getting louder. There was a loud metallic
This is the FA that we all know and love. Thanks for re-posting this squawk!
I witnessed this flight go down because of hearing the craft above getting into trouble. I heard the plane from my location far overhead hidden by cloud cover sounding relatively normal but getting louder. There was a loud metallic "slap" sound, something like hitting a raingutter downspout with one's open palm, and then the craft instantly sounded as if it was rolling horizontal at high speed, with a pronounced prop unbalance sound. my location was over 1 mile from the actual crash site, but because of the loud sound, the crafts path was easily tracked south by me even though it was still hidden in the relatively high clouds. when the plane dropped from the clouds after aprox 10-15 seconds, it appeared to be inverted, and was discharging a thin trail of white smoke from the front ahead of the cockpit.There was a pronounced "pop", and the prop became silent as the plane spun directly toward the ground, and the rudder section appeared to separate just as it dissapear from my view. We immediatly drove to the site, (i work for a towing contractor which works for the state pd) and the wreckage was distributed across the highway from south to north. the tail section pieces were located aprox 1/6 mile south of the powerplant which ended up in the center of the northbound lanes after cutting a diagnal path across the roadway thru trees in the center divider. The first main wing that witnesses saw break off aparently first contacted trees and then a 40 foot tall sound barrier wall on an entrance ramp to rt287s as it's spin flattened once the tail came apart. The remaining craft crossed the active roadway and appeard to have struck a relatively new dodge pick up with its wing, although the driver and occupants of that vehicle were unsure as to what happened. The reason I assert this contact is because the damage to the truck appeared to have been caused by something traveling across it's front section, first breaking its passenger side headlamp, then breaking it's grille, next, flattening it's drivers side tire. The entire truck was covered with jet fuel, the scrape mark across the front was in a narrow top to bottom right to left pattern, and the grille rim and tire were filled with a honeycomb material that was soaked with fuel. Interesting to note is the tire(which we changed) was not punctured, but was off its bead. There were various landing gear hydraulics, a fuel pressure indicator, aircraft manual, as well as personal items and other remains, located on the roadway prior to the final impact area and fire site which was concentrated in the center median aprox 50-60 ft across at that point. Other witnesses and I filled out reports by forms handed out by the state pd, no idea what the disposition of them was. This thing was in serious trouble for a fair stretch of horizontal flight,and for a moment, I thought it was a copter in trouble because of the very loud and odd rotating engine and prop sound. Very sad.
I think another one of these aircraft went down on Florida turnpike not too long ago!
Makes me wonder if other aircraft in the area were experiencing icing conditions. I hope the FAA accident investigation team will give us a very detailed report on what possibly happened to cause this unfortunate incident. My prayers for the families involved. May God watch over them.
May they rest in peace and my condolences to the families. Not good, especially so close to Christmas.