Plane crashes in Florida after incident over Huntsville

Posted by Anne Ruisi -- The Birmingham News January 11, 2009 9:42 PM

A small plane whose pilot was incapacitated over Alabama earlier this evening crashed in the Florida panhandle at 9:15 tonight, according to Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta.


The pilot, whose name was not released, reported hitting turbulance in the vicinity of Huntsville at about 7:30 p.m., Bergen said. Then, he reported the windshield of the eight-passenger Piper Malibu he was flying broke out.
The pilot, who was the only person on board, became incapacitated and lost contact with aviation officials, Bergen said.


The plane flew, likely on autopilot, until it crashed near Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Milton, Fla., Bergen said.


The pilot's status is unknown.


The flight originated in Anderson, Ind., and was headed to Destin, Fla.


Plane crashes in Florida after incident over Huntsville - Breaking News from The Birmingham News - al.com

 

wonder if he was incapacitated from the impact of the turbulence (hit his head or the like...) or if he was flying high...will be interesting to see what comes of this...RIP

 

(CNN) -- Rescue workers have not found the pilot of a six-seater plane that crashed Sunday night in the Florida Panhandle, authorities said.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration are expected to begin an investigation Monday.

The pilot was alone in the corporate aircraft when he took off and his plane does not have an ejection feature, said Steve Darlington, the manager of Anderson Municipal Airport in Anderson, Indiana, where the plane took off.

Sunday night, the pilot contacted air traffic controllers and told them the plane's windshield had imploded and that he was bleeding profusely, said Sgt. Scott Haines of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office.

That call came in when the Piper PA-46 was about 35 miles southwest of Birmingham, Alabama. Controllers tried to tell the pilot to divert the flight to Pell City, Alabama, but he did not respond. The plane appeared to have been put on autopilot around 2,000 feet, Haines said.

Darlington described the pilot as "accomplished" and said he owns "a couple of airplanes" and flies regularly. He said the description of an imploding windshield suggests the plane depressurized which could occur if something caused a crack in the windshield.

Military jets were sent to intercept the plane. They fired flares and noticed that the wreckage. The plane had gone down at about 9:15 CT near Blackwater River in East Milton, Florida. The aircraft was lying upside down, its door open and the cockpit empty, said Haines.

A deputy on the scene said that the windshield was broken, he added.

The plane was headed to Destin, Florida, authorities said.

Helicopters, planes, boats, and dogs and rescue crews were involved in searching the area and will head back out Monday.

Pilot missing after plane goes down in Florida - CNN.com

 

Don't know how they got 8-passenger in the first story. It was a Meridian btw, and I have flown this aircraft. Hopefully there will be some answers shortly on what happened.

 

From the link above...

(CNN) -- A pilot who made a distress call to air traffic controllers before his plane crashed in Florida was spotted alive Monday and checked into a hotel under a false name, authorities said.

"All indications now are that he made some type of false emergency call [and] abandoned the plane by parachute," said Sgt. Scott Haines of the Santa Rosa County, Florida, Sheriff's Office.

Haines said the pilot -- who has not been publicly identified -- checked into a hotel in the Harpersville, Alabama, area under a false name. Haines did not know the whereabouts of the pilot.

Earlier Monday, federal investigators said they believed the pilot may have parachuted out of the Piper PA-36 aircraft before it crashed at 9:15 p.m. CT Sunday in a swampy area of Blackwater River in East Milton, Florida.

Looks like a lame attempt at faking his own death.

 

Lame? Maybe he read a few to many books on DB Cooper or something. His mistake was not making sure the plane went down over water.

 

Maybe he lost money in the Maddoff scandal and was trying to collect on life insurance through a spouse? Bizarre. The old saying "truth is stranger than fiction" is definitely appropriate.

 

The Herald Bulletin - UPDATE: Pilot missing in plane crash found alive

Those theories aren't off too much by my guess. The reports from what they found on YouTube confirmed his sky-diving experience, and I know personally that he was an aerobatic pilot at one point in time. I'm also betting he miscalculated on where the plane was going to "crash." I'm thinking it was probably intended to go into the gulf rather than the swamp. This is like an Aviation based CSI show now!!!!

 

I sure David Caruso stays away from this...we dont want it to get lame

 

Another Darwin Award Candidate washes out.

Swift move Ex-Lax.