Piper Saratoga down near Pine Mountain Lake?
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trafficinsight
Well-Known Member
confirmed, some friends at SQL apparently know the guy
vikingair
Well-Known Member
Tis true.
Even though Pine Mtn is just on the edge of the foothills theres plenty of unforgiving terrain and I'm not sure but I don't think its lighted at night. Having flown the entire length of the valley the past few nights the wx has been unpredictable...going from clear and 100 to low clouds, fog and 1/2 vis in minutes. The article speculated that he may have clipped a tree after a go around. Its not a particularily difficult airport if your familiar but there isn't a lot of room for error.
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_14444721?nclick_check=1
Even though Pine Mtn is just on the edge of the foothills theres plenty of unforgiving terrain and I'm not sure but I don't think its lighted at night. Having flown the entire length of the valley the past few nights the wx has been unpredictable...going from clear and 100 to low clouds, fog and 1/2 vis in minutes. The article speculated that he may have clipped a tree after a go around. Its not a particularily difficult airport if your familiar but there isn't a lot of room for error. http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_14444721?nclick_check=1
fholbert
Mod's - Please don't edit my posts!
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/2010022299232/News/Local-News/PML-plane-crash-details-emerge
Federal authorities continue their investigation into the cause of a fiery Groveland-area plane crash Friday night that killed a Bay Area attorney and his fiancée, while new details emerged about the crash and the victims. Authorities over the weekend identified the pilot as Albert Halluin, 70, of Palo Alto, a bio-technology patent lawyer, and his passenger as Judy Perchonock Alberts, 60.
The couple had reportedly set out from San Carlos Airport to visit Halluin’s cabin near Yosemite for the weekend, which they often did.
They were due to be married in May, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Wilson said, based on radio contact with the pilot before the crash, it appears Halluin missed the approach to Pine Mountain Lake the first time around and hit a treetop during his second attempt, causing a fuel leak. The fuel ignited, causing the flames, reported eyewitnesses.
The single-engine Piper Saratoga crashed about 7:20 p.m. on the 13300 block of Clements Road, which is off Ferretti Road. The crash occurred in a fenced area near a house, but no one on the ground was injured.
The aircraft was destroyed by the crash impact and resulting fire.
The Dieters family was watching television at their home on Hemlock Street when they heard the roar of engines, looked out their windows, and saw bright light coming straight at their house.
Mike Dieters yelled at his children, Lacey, 9, and Michael, 13, to get on the floor. His wife, Erin, and son, Michael, held onto each other.
“Getting to the floor wasn’t an option,” she said. “We couldn’t move.”
Mike Dieters said it felt like a big-rig was coming through the house.
“The whole house illuminated. Then the engines got even louder, the lights got even brighter, and the whole house was shaking.
“At the last second, it felt like the plane turned, parallel to the house. I believe he was able to turn it at the last minute. Our fence was broken, and it looks like one wing was straight up, and the other straight down.”
Erin Dieters said she could see people in the plane, though not their faces, and she believes the pilot could see her family.
“They were so close,” she said, with a catch in her voice. “I believe he looked at us, and put everything he had into turning that plane. The pilot’s last act on earth was to save our lives.”
Mike Dieters said the plane hit a fence and a tree about 50 feet away, then continued another 100 feet or so onto the neighbor’s property, where it exploded into flames. He said a fireball came back toward their house, though it didn’t quite get that far.
Barbara Hessler, in whose backyard the plane crashed, recalled hearing a loud boom that shook her house.
“At first, I thought a truck had hit the house. When I finally got outside, I saw a ball of flame and there was fire in the grass and in all of the trees on the back of the property.”
She said the plane landed about 100 feet from her house, but some of the debris damaged a barn and a fence on the property.
Neighbor Juanita Wells, of the 13200 block of Clements Road, said her husband found papers from the plane in their yard and gave them to a sheriff’s deputy.
“That’s how far the debris went,” she said.
“Everything shook so severely that I thought it hit my house,” she said. “That’s how much of an impact it made.”
Mike Cunningham, another next door neighbor of Hessler’s, said he was letting his dog out a side-door when the crash happened right in front of him.
“It was so bloody fast,” he said. “I heard the engine revving really loud, then the crash, all in a second or two. My dog ran, and I instinctively ducked in a doorway because my initial impression was that it was a bomb.”
He said that reaction came from being a Vietnam veteran.
He was the fourth or fifth person on scene and one of several people who called 911.
It was foggy at the time of the crash, said Tuolumne County Airports Manager Jim Thomas, who lives in Groveland. It’s unclear whether that was a factor in the accident.
“It’s a real tragedy,” Thomas said. “I’m certainly glad nobody was injured on the ground. I don’t know why the pilot was flying after dark when the weather was bad. I choose not to fly in bad weather at night.”
FAA investigators and a National Transportation Safety Board investigator were at the scene Saturday. Others responding to the crash included the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office, Groveland Community Services District Fire Department and Cal Fire.
The on-scene portion of the crash investigation was finished Saturday, said Eliott Simpson, aviation accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The airplane was to be removed Sunday from the accident site and taken to an NTSB facility in Sacramento, he said. A preliminary accident report is expected to be available in about 10 days, authorities said.
Federal authorities continue their investigation into the cause of a fiery Groveland-area plane crash Friday night that killed a Bay Area attorney and his fiancée, while new details emerged about the crash and the victims. Authorities over the weekend identified the pilot as Albert Halluin, 70, of Palo Alto, a bio-technology patent lawyer, and his passenger as Judy Perchonock Alberts, 60.
The couple had reportedly set out from San Carlos Airport to visit Halluin’s cabin near Yosemite for the weekend, which they often did.
They were due to be married in May, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Wilson said, based on radio contact with the pilot before the crash, it appears Halluin missed the approach to Pine Mountain Lake the first time around and hit a treetop during his second attempt, causing a fuel leak. The fuel ignited, causing the flames, reported eyewitnesses.
The single-engine Piper Saratoga crashed about 7:20 p.m. on the 13300 block of Clements Road, which is off Ferretti Road. The crash occurred in a fenced area near a house, but no one on the ground was injured.
The aircraft was destroyed by the crash impact and resulting fire.
The Dieters family was watching television at their home on Hemlock Street when they heard the roar of engines, looked out their windows, and saw bright light coming straight at their house.
Mike Dieters yelled at his children, Lacey, 9, and Michael, 13, to get on the floor. His wife, Erin, and son, Michael, held onto each other.
“Getting to the floor wasn’t an option,” she said. “We couldn’t move.”
Mike Dieters said it felt like a big-rig was coming through the house.
“The whole house illuminated. Then the engines got even louder, the lights got even brighter, and the whole house was shaking.
“At the last second, it felt like the plane turned, parallel to the house. I believe he was able to turn it at the last minute. Our fence was broken, and it looks like one wing was straight up, and the other straight down.”
Erin Dieters said she could see people in the plane, though not their faces, and she believes the pilot could see her family.
“They were so close,” she said, with a catch in her voice. “I believe he looked at us, and put everything he had into turning that plane. The pilot’s last act on earth was to save our lives.”
Mike Dieters said the plane hit a fence and a tree about 50 feet away, then continued another 100 feet or so onto the neighbor’s property, where it exploded into flames. He said a fireball came back toward their house, though it didn’t quite get that far.
Barbara Hessler, in whose backyard the plane crashed, recalled hearing a loud boom that shook her house.
“At first, I thought a truck had hit the house. When I finally got outside, I saw a ball of flame and there was fire in the grass and in all of the trees on the back of the property.”
She said the plane landed about 100 feet from her house, but some of the debris damaged a barn and a fence on the property.
Neighbor Juanita Wells, of the 13200 block of Clements Road, said her husband found papers from the plane in their yard and gave them to a sheriff’s deputy.
“That’s how far the debris went,” she said.
“Everything shook so severely that I thought it hit my house,” she said. “That’s how much of an impact it made.”
Mike Cunningham, another next door neighbor of Hessler’s, said he was letting his dog out a side-door when the crash happened right in front of him.
“It was so bloody fast,” he said. “I heard the engine revving really loud, then the crash, all in a second or two. My dog ran, and I instinctively ducked in a doorway because my initial impression was that it was a bomb.”
He said that reaction came from being a Vietnam veteran.
He was the fourth or fifth person on scene and one of several people who called 911.
It was foggy at the time of the crash, said Tuolumne County Airports Manager Jim Thomas, who lives in Groveland. It’s unclear whether that was a factor in the accident.
“It’s a real tragedy,” Thomas said. “I’m certainly glad nobody was injured on the ground. I don’t know why the pilot was flying after dark when the weather was bad. I choose not to fly in bad weather at night.”
FAA investigators and a National Transportation Safety Board investigator were at the scene Saturday. Others responding to the crash included the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office, Groveland Community Services District Fire Department and Cal Fire.
The on-scene portion of the crash investigation was finished Saturday, said Eliott Simpson, aviation accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The airplane was to be removed Sunday from the accident site and taken to an NTSB facility in Sacramento, he said. A preliminary accident report is expected to be available in about 10 days, authorities said.