Piper N36402 departed Reid-Hillview Airport for Las Vegas as it was getting dark. The pilot had his wife and three children on board. Though the weather was challenging, the aircraft was turbocharged, which would have allowed the pilot to climb above at least some of the clouds.
The plane’s flight path, speed, and altitude changes
The SkyLife Bell 407 air ambulance helicopter departed from Porterville Airport at 6:52. It crashed minutes later, halfway into its 50 mile flight to San Joaquin Hospital in Bakersfield. The four aboard 
will killed, including the patient being transported.
The flying conditions at Porterville were acceptable. Though it was dark, the weather was 3300
overcast
A few days ago, most were saying it’s too early to tell what brought down the Russian Airbus that crashed on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 aboard. Now, there’s talk of the aircraft being downed by a bomb.
Why a bomb? The best explanation comes an article written by former NTSB investigator
NTSB preliminary reports do not draw conclusions as the cause of a crash. But the NTSB’s preliminary report of the Turbine Otter crash that killed 9 near Ketchikan on June 25 suggests a weather-related “CFIT” crash, exactly as described here.
First, the report indicates that the flight was conducted under Visual Flight Rules. That means
We don’t know much yet about the plane crash in Alaska that killed the pilot and 8 tourists from the MS Westerdam. But the crash looks eerily similar to the Alaskan crash that killed Senator Ted Stevens and three others in 2010.
Like the plane that was involved in the Westerdam crash, the plane
Following up on my recent posts on the incident, I had the opportunity to discuss the crash of AirAsia QZ8501 with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN. In the interview, I share my thoughts on the potential cause of the incident and what that might mean as far as compensation for families.
Let’s get it out of the way: there is little in common between the apparent loss of AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 and the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370.
But Flight 8501’s disappearance does have at least some resemblance to the 2007 loss of Adam Air
Flight 547. Both Indonesian airliners disappeared shortly
Airport fire trucks must get to a burning plane within three minutes if they are going to save any lives. That’s the maximum response time allowed by the National Fire Protection Association, the organization that sets the standard for airport firefighters, including those working at U.S. Air Force bases.
The survivable atmosphere inside an aircraft
Asiana now says the autopilot confused the crew of Asiana Flight 214, and blames Boeing for the crash of Flight 214. ABC Channel 7 asked me to comment.
https://abc7news.com/business/asiana-points-finger-at-boeing-for-sfo-crash/22454/
Someone changed the course of Flight MH370 and turned off the aircraft’s transponder. Turning off an aircraft’s transponder makes it more difficult for the plane to be tracked by radar. A hijacker with even minimal flight training would have known that.
But there is one wrinkle. The transponder was reportedly turned off when air