# Has Anyone Here Ever Seen An Airplane Crash? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 4, 2010, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985 "2010-10-04T07:57:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/41 "2010-10-06T01:04:02Z")
**DMark** , you should read the [Ask The Pilot](http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/index.html) column on Salon. The author is a commercial jet pilot, and his discussions of flying, accidents, safety and general issues related to aircraft control really give a good sense of how safe the whole thing is. I’m not just talking here about statistics regarding number of accidents, but about the sort of things that are often most frightening to flyers, like heavy turbulence. [For example](http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/2010/07/20/turbulence/index.html): > [@](#): > > To the anxious flier, those bumps and jots often feel like plummets of hundreds or even thousands of feet. > > They’re not. I kept a close watch on the altimeter. Fewer than 50 feet either way is what I saw. Ten or 20 feet, most of the time. Any change in heading (the direction our nose was pointed) was virtually undetectable. > > Point being: It feels worse than it is. The plane isn’t falling from the sky. Even in the roughest air a jet stays pretty much on an even keel. > > \ > > If I’ve learned anything in answering e-mails from the flying public, it’s to never underestimate people’s fear of turbulence. It is far and away the No. 1 worry of nervous, and even not-so-nervous, fliers. > > That’s a little surprising to me because pilots generally see turbulence as a comfort and convenience issue, not a safety issue per se. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/42 "2010-10-06T03:36:34Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > > [@Diver](#): > > > > He decided to make a 180 back to the field. (I was told later that was exactly the wrong thing to do.) > > Oh yeah, that’s the equivalent of lighting a match to check for a suspected gas leak. > > The three most useless things for a pilot: > > 1. Fuel back at the airport. > > 2. Altitude above you. > > 3. Runway behind you. 1. 1 minute ago ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/43 "2010-10-06T04:01:44Z")
I’ve seen two crashes, both at MCAS El Toro. [F/A-18 Hornet](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFSSJSFtd2k&feature=related). Pilot survived with severe injuries. [F-86 Sabre](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOFb8xtd4UM). Pilot suffered fatal injuries. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/44 "2010-10-06T04:10:15Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > I"ve seen two. Both at EAA Airventure in Oshkosh. The last one was a couple of years ago. Two Mustangs collided during a formation landing. Video [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD0NoABhg7M&feature=related) > > Several years before that, I saw a Corsair hit another plane while landing. THe other plane was taxiing across the runway. My plane was parked in the row next to the Mustang crash. Fortunately I was on the other side of the field. Unfortunately I was leaving that night and it was a mess. They launched planes at the very last moment of the day and the launches were a bit hurried. I’m not sure why they kept it closed for so long. The crashed planes were removed long before they re-opened and there were still 2 other runways open. This year I saw Jack Roush crash his personal jet. He is one lucky bastard. I’ve always wondered if I would take the controls away from another pilot if need be. Been there done that so the answer is yes. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/45 "2010-10-06T04:39:24Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I missed the crash itself – and more interestingly, misinterpreted what I did see – but I saw the wreckage of [Air Florida Flight 90](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90) within minutes of the plane crashing into the 14th Street Bridge. > > I was idly looking out the window of an office building, waiting for one of my parents to finish work, and saw a lot of commotion and some wreckage on the bridge. I thought it was a bus crash, though, not an airplane crash. > > Although the important thing is the lives lost. that was also an epically bad day to commute: > > [QUOTE=Wikipedia] > As the response of emergency crews to the scene was frustrated by the traffic on surface streets, a half hour after the plane crashed, the Washington Metro suffered its first fatal subway crash which meant that Washington’s nearest airport, one of its main bridges in or out of the city, and one of its busiest subway lines were all closed simultaneously, paralyzing the Washington, D.C. area. It took us 6 hours and 5 minutes to get home. Incidentally, my father and I missed that fatal Metro train by a few moments because my farecard did not have enough money. While we were adding money to the card, the train pulled out, and we had a looong wait for the next one. I saved that farecard for years but cannot say where it is now. [/QUOTE] I was on 14th Street a few blocks north, at the time, walking home because the the whole city was in process of shutting down due to the storm. Never heard or saw a thing, and didn’t know until I got home and saw the news. I’ve also gone by two different buildings within seconds of their collapse. Both were under construction at the time, and both had fatalities. And both times I was on a city bus passing by, and saw rising clouds of dust, and people in hard hats running away. Once was in downtown DC, and one I think was a school in Takoma Park or Silver Spring. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/46 "2010-10-06T14:18:45Z")
> [@Diver](#): > > I saw one from the cockpit. > I worked for a company that made auotpilots for general aviation. I went up in a company plane with a company pilot to do some testing on an omni coupler. > > The pilot took off on an empty gas tank. On takeoff the engine died. He switched tanks and tried to restart the engine but it wouldn’t. He tipped the nose down and saw houses and trees. He decided to make a 180 back to the field. (I was told later that was exactly the wrong thing to do.) > > We didn’t make it and went in on the left wing and nose and cartwheeled. > The pilots back was broken but I walked away with only a cracked sternum I got when my chest hit the steering yoke - we had seat belts in those days but no chest belts. > > The FAA took the pilots license away. **I developed a completely illogical fear of flying that took me a while to overcome**. I don’t think I would call that completely illogical.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/47 "2010-10-06T14:30:23Z")
I witnessed [this crash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_625) of a 727 on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Pilot came in too hot and with the wrong flap setting on a short runway. He tried to power back up, but there wasn’t enough room. He hit an antenna and then clipped the chain link fence at the end of the runway, heeled over to the left and plowed into a gas station. The plane caught fire and 37 people died. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/48 "2010-10-06T17:58:47Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > This year I saw Jack Roush crash his personal jet. He is one lucky bastard. What did you see happen? From his quotes, it sounds like he blames the airport for trying to land him with a plane in his path or something and he was trying to dodge it. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/49 "2010-10-06T19:15:01Z")
Spring, 2002 IIRC. I was out running at lunch adjacent to the NASA Ames Research center. There was a trail behind my office that wound into the Wetlands. As I was running back I saw a small gray plane flying really, really low over my head. They used to fly all sorts of aircraft around there, but this was really noticeably low. At first I thought it was going to hit Highway 101. It disappeared instead over at Ames, then I saw a rather large billow of smoke. When I got closer to the office a bunch of people were standing and pointing at it. You could only see the smoke though; there were a bunch of trees and stuff blocking the view on the ground. Of course there was no way to get over there from where I was, calling Ames was comically fruitless, there was nothing in the paper, and to this day I’ve never found anything about it online. None of that surprises me. But I am surprised that there was nothing on the TV news, live, as it happened. There’s no way we were the only ones to see it. There were other offices near ours, (but not many - it’s pretty isolated over there by the wetlands), but what about cars on Hwy 101, people playing that golf course by Shoreline, let alone people that lived nearby, people in the air landing at SFO, SJC, etc. Plus there had to be a couple of traffic copters around. Best guess is it was a training exercise or something. Or maybe swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/50 "2010-10-06T20:22:21Z")
Is it possible you saw a drone crash? I could see that not getting into the news if there were no casualties and no pilot. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/51 "2010-10-06T21:06:19Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Is it possible you saw a drone crash? I could see that not getting into the news if there were no casualties and no pilot. I guess. How big are they? This was about the size of a small personal plane, like a little Cessna with a propellar maybe, but certainly military-looking. The cloud of smoke was about what you’d see if a dump truck blew up. I wish I knew more about planes… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/52 "2010-10-06T21:58:35Z")
They’re all over the place in size. Some are as small as balsa wood dime-store gliders, and some the size of commercial jets. The biggest consistent difference with conventional planes is the lack of a cockpit or windows for a pilot to look through. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/53 "2010-10-06T22:24:11Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > They’re all over the place in size. Some are as small as balsa wood dime-store gliders, and some the size of commercial jets. The biggest consistent difference with conventional planes is the lack of a cockpit or windows for a pilot to look through. OK, then it could’ve been, if some have propellers. I heard it before I saw it, and I do remember hearing / seeing a propeller. But I don’t remember if I saw a cockpit. There’s all sorts of weird aircraft coming out of there - don’t know why I never thought of drone before, but it’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/54 "2010-10-06T23:25:26Z")
I saw two helicopters get shot down when I was in Vietnam. They were both almost on the ground when it happened and all the crewmen, far as I know, made it out. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/55 "2010-10-07T00:17:39Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > I saw two helicopters get shot down when I was in Vietnam. They were both almost on the ground when it happened and all the crewmen, far as I know, made it out. Oh hell, I forgot about seeing a chopper go down in 'Nam. It wasn’t hostile fire, however. The pilot flew too close to the guy wires on a radio tower; I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye and turned, ducking down in case it was something hostile, and watched the chopper rotate into the paddy. Everyone aboard died. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/56 "2010-10-07T00:40:15Z")
When I was about 11 I got to the site of a Piper Cub crash into a big bush in the front yard of a house in a dense residential area. Total burn out. I saw my first dead people then. Managed a small general municipal aviation airport for 10 years as “additional duty” with other unrelated duties and saw two nonfatal crashes of experimental a/c and had to handle post-crash paperwork for 3. The EAA had a fly-in _cum_ airshow every fall and I cringed thru them all. One of the skydivers in one of their shows died in a different show at a different airport when his chute failed to open. While I was overseeing some obstructive timber logging one day a medium-sized commercial jet came within a few hundred feet of altitude from landing on our 4,500-foot runway because the pilot thought s/he was at an airport 7 miles further away with the same runway alignment. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/57 "2010-10-07T06:04:02Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > > [@Magiver](#): > > > > This year I saw Jack Roush crash his personal jet. He is one lucky bastard. > > What did you see happen? From his quotes, it sounds like he blames the airport for trying to land him with a plane in his path or something and he was trying to dodge it. I didn’t see the approach but everybody who did (including senior airline pilots) said said he was low and slow. What I saw was a plane pull up and arc over immediately. He must have been able to pull up before impact because he dug in a wing and spun it 170 degrees. Since the accident was to the right of the runway on a standard left bank approach I don’t see how he could have made the runway which was a tighter turn. There may have been a plane positioned to take off on 18L (normally a taxiway) but it would not affect his landing. I talked to a lot of people and nobody mentioned another plane in his path. If there was he would have just initiated a go-around which happens routinely at Oshkosh because of mixing aircraft of vastly different landing speeds. It’s not rocket science to see you are overtaking another airplane. As a post note, I use to stand near where he hit to watch planes land but decided it was a bad idea after seeing the dig marks of a french trainer jet that did the same thing years ago. I’ll be standing over here thank you. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/58 "2010-10-07T13:03:26Z")
I don’t think I can ever forget about Macho Grande. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/59 "2010-10-07T20:57:20Z")
I was on the ground watching in the air as the Challenger shuttle blew up, if that counts. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985/60 "2010-10-07T23:26:09Z")
[Here’s the Wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanair_Flight_5022) about the crash that occurred while I was in the Madrid airport. I still get a sick feeling when I think how close I was to all those fatalities. And here’s a discrepancy I just realized. In my mind, I remember seeing black smoke rising from the airport . . . but all the photos depict grayish-white smoke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-here-ever-seen-an-airplane-crash/555985.md?page=4)