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Jun 1, 2009 | 33
Airline officials say that an electrical storm may have been to blame for the disappearance of Paris-bound Air France Flight 447 between Natal, Brazil, and Africa last night. The flight, which was carrying 228 people, last had contact with air traffic controllers at about 10:33 P.M. local time. The plane sent an automatic message about 15 minutes later noting that there was a "fault in an electronic circuit," reports the London Times.
"The most likely thing is that the plane was hit by lightning," Air France's director of communications, Francois Brouse said, the Times reports. "The plane was in a stormy area with strong turbulence," he said. Search crews have been dispatched to look for wreckage by air and water, but the plane remains missing. "It's certainly no longer in the air now," said Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, the airline's CEO. "It would have run out of fuel."
Aug 13, 2008 | 3
It seems the pilot of a Titan Tornado (their site was down as of late this afternoon) ultralight aircraft—a single-seat, homebuilt hot-rod capable of hitting 90 mph—had some trouble on Tuesday morning when cruising over San Bernardino County’s Mojave Valley, which straddles the California-Arizona border. According to the Associated Press, the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing on the westbound lanes of the Interstate 40 connector road to Interstate 95.
The so-called experimental aircraft made a successful touchdown, but that’s when things evidently went wrong. Problem solved, the pilot apparently decided to take off again from the freeway. Thinking the coast was clear, the pilot, Gene Allen Sheets, 65, revved up the Tornado’s Rotax two-stroke engine, trundled down the eastbound roadway and rose up to about three feet off the ground, say witnesses, who spoke to the Federal Aviation Administration.
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