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Aviation News (General) / Omaha airport takes significant damage from EF 2 tornado

« Last post by KB4TEZ on Today at 06:30:28 AM »

close to my old stomping grounds. wow.

https://www.foxweather.com/extreme-weather/omaha-eppley-airfield-airport-tornado-damage

The twister swirled into the sprawling air field and while it missed the passenger terminal, it took a direct strike on several general aviation buildings on the east side of the airport, officials said.
OMAHA, Neb. — Several buildings at Omaha’s airport facility suffered significant damage as a tornado roared across the airfield Friday, but luckily no one was injured.

As Tornado Warnings blared across eastern Nebraska during Friday's tornado outbreak, officials at Omaha’s Eppley Field instructed passengers in the terminal to take shelter in their designated storm shelters.

Airport weather observers sighted a funnel cloud just before 5 p.m. CDT and closed down airport operations a few minutes later. The twister swirled into the sprawling air field and while it missed the passenger terminal, it took a direct strike on several general aviation buildings on the east side of the airport, officials said. The tornado's funnel was visible to airport weather observers for a full 35 minutes.

Aviation Audio Clips / Small plane crashes into El Cajon neighborhood pilot injured

« Last post by KB4TEZ on Today at 05:50:24 AM »

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/small-plane-crashes-in-el-cajon-fire-officials-urge-people-to-avoid-the-area/3500838/

A small plane crashed into an El Cajon neighborhood just feet away from homes on Sunday evening, according to Heartland Fire & Rescue.

The crash was reported in the neighborhood of Lily Avenue and Clarke Drive in El Cajon around 6:27 p.m., Heartland Fire & Rescue posted on X, formerly known as twitter. The plane appeared to crash on a sidewalk, very near a power line and close to homes. Before crashing, the plane was headed for Gillespie Field, about 2 1/2 miles away, Nevin said. The plane is a single-engine, Bellanca Super Viking.

"The pilot was transported to the hospital with moderate injuries and no further concerns," Nevin said. No one else was hurt in the incident and no homes were struck, he added.

The downed power lanes did affect some homes and were the biggest concern. But SDG&E has responded and secured the downed power lines so they are no longer a hazard, Nevin told NBC 7.

At one point more than 1,000 people were without power near El Cajon, according to SDG&E's website.

The El Cajon Police Department is coordinating with the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate the cause of the crash.

Witness accounts
Sean McGurrell is a pilot who was flying a similar aircraft on Sunday when he heard the distress call to the control tower.

"All of the sudden we hear from a certain aircraft, they have more of a distressed sound, they are a little bit more nervous in their tone, and they say they have a drop in oil pressure, and a rise in oil temperature. Now, if you’re a pilot or anybody who works within mechanics you know that high oil temps, low oil pressure is a recipe for disaster and within your training you’re taught that when you have that, you land as soon as possible and landing as soon as possible doesn’t exactly mean on a runway, it means exactly what this person did today, it means landing on a road," McGurrell said.

“He was reporting to the tower that he had an engine failure and that he had that loss of oil pressure, and he was saying that he wasn’t going to be able to make the runway," McGurrell said.

“From the time I heard his calls, to the time he was on the ground, was probably under two minutes, so to figure all of those and sort those challenges in under two minutes and be able to walk out alive is not only a little bit rare, but it’s probably a testament that that person was probably a very very good pilot," McGurrell said.

“You need oil in your plane for three main purposes: It cleans and cools, and lubricates the engine, when you don’t have that oil — in essence the lifeline of an engine — it’s the blood that is circulating, that is causing it to run properly, when you don’t have, that you’ll see time and time after again, someone having an engine failure just like this," McGurrell said.

Listener Forum / KBOI down?

« Last post by britan on April 28, 2024, 08:18:35 PM »

System up status indicated but nofeed since April 23

Listener Forum / Surveillance over Reston, VA?

« Last post by Chucko on April 28, 2024, 02:57:35 PM »

On the morning of 22 Apr, from 9am to 11am, I watched a small, fixed-wing, single engine turboprop orbit over Reston VA at an estimated altitude of between 3,000 and 8,000 ft. None of the live tracking web sites (FlightAware, ADSBexchange, etc.) showed any such airplane. A call to Consolidated Potomac TRACON resulted in "we cannot divulge any information about any such flights." Surely, this aircraft- clearly within the TRACON- was being tracked/controlled. Its precision flight path, repeated orbits passing precisely over the same spot in the sky overhead exactly every 300 seconds, leads me to believe it was being navigated by a computer-controlled system. I assume it was piloted, even if operating on auto-pilot, even if it was not squawking any ADS-B or other transponder signal, and even if it was flying VFR.

I believe it was a training mission for DHS, for potential future support of events like the Super Bowl, Boston Marathon, or in support of first-responder support for natural disasters such as Hurricanes/Tornados/Wildfires. But DHS won't respond to my inquiries even though their web site touts their aerial surveillance capabilities.

I don't think this was an active police action given no news reports later that day. I don't think it was illegal or any kind of a secret operation. I'm just very curious to know what it was. I've seen similar flights overhead 3 or 4 times over the past several years.

Is it possible that any contact with ATC would be recorded by LiveATC receivers that could be used to identify the aircraft or its owner? If so, given the flight path I described, which frequencies should I monitor?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Aviation Audio Clips / DAL520 Returns to KJFK with Escape Slide Problem

« Last post by RonR on April 28, 2024, 01:14:43 PM »

DAL520 had just departed from KJFK on April 26 and was enroute to KLAX when the flight crew reported an "right wing slide latch open" indication. They stopped their climb at FL190 and ultimately decided to return to KJFK. They landed safely a short time later on runway 22L.

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL520/history/20240426/1125Z/KJFK/KJFK

Feed Setup Pictures / ZTL Atlanta center feed site photos

« Last post by Flightsystems on April 28, 2024, 09:29:37 AM »

Here are some photos my ZTL feed from north Georgia. Right now this is providing sectors 18,25,38 and 49 from Atlanta center. Antennas are General Dynamics UVU-200, Kreco 225-400 Discone, Rami AT-197/GR discone all antennas mounted on Rohn 45 with LMR-600 feedline.

Aviation Audio Clips / UAL108 Returns to KIAD due to Fuel Leak

« Last post by RonR on April 26, 2024, 01:47:41 PM »

On April 22, UAL108, a B767, was cruising at FL330 enroute to EDDM and was just east of Long Island NY when the flight crew decided to turn around and return to KIAD because of a fuel leak. They declared an emergency and were given vectors to dump fuel over the ocean before making their way back to KIAD. The flight landed safely on KIAD's runway 1R about 80 minutes later and taxied off the runway and came to a stop where they were met by emergency vehicles to inspect the aircraft.

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL108/history/20240422/2125Z/KIAD/KIAD

Aviation Audio Clips / Flat Tire Landing at PBI causes delays

« Last post by KB4TEZ on April 26, 2024, 01:44:40 PM »

The Pilatus was actually without radio comms to the tower prior to this happening. (comm via cell phone)
then landed, flat tire and disabled on the runway.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an advisory for Palm Beach International Airport because of a disabled aircraft.

Plane was disabled in the worst of places, right at the intersection of Runway 10L/32R, took some time but they finally got it moved.
No one injured, delays have ended.

Feed Outage/Status Reports / Re: SFO and other feeds down due to internet outage.

« Last post by diskus on April 26, 2024, 08:23:26 AM »

Thanks Ken!

Aviation Audio Clips / American Airline go around at DFW

« Last post by KB4TEZ on April 26, 2024, 08:10:16 AM »

American Airlines Boeing 737 performs a go around after approaching DFW with a gear issue.
Landed safely, and eventually taxied to the gate with an escort.

Pretty busy this morning as well there