Date: September 13, 2010 Time: 10:30
Location: Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela
Operator: Conviasa Airline Flight: 2350
AC Type: ATR 42-320
Reg: YV-1010 cn: 371
Aboard: 51 Fatalities: 15 Ground: 0
Route: Porlamar - Puerto Ordaz
Details: While en route, the passenger plane crashed and burned in a storage yard of a steel foundry, six miles SE of Puerto Ordaz Airport, after the pilot reported having problems controlling the aircraft.
Nine killed in New Zealand tourist spot plane crash
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Nine people, including four foreigners, were killed when a skydiving plane crashed and burst into flames at a popular New Zealand tourist spot Saturday, officials said.
The plane went down near the airstrip at Fox Glacier, a central attraction in the UNESCO-designated World Heritage area on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island.
"All nine people on board were killed," a police spokesman told AFP.
He listed the dead as the pilot, four New Zealand males and tourists from Ireland, England, Australia and Germany without detailing their ages or gender.
Initial details of the tragedy were unclear because of the remoteness of the area but the police spokesman said he understood the plane burst into flames after it crashed.
New Zealand Transport Minister Stephen Joyce said the Skydive New Zealand crash was the country's first aviation accident of this magnitude since an Air Adventures chartered Piper Navajo Chieftain crashed on landing near Christchurch in 2003, killing eight people.
"Details remain sketchy and it is too soon to speculate on exactly what has led to this accident," he said, adding that the crash was being investigated.
An Australian official said an 18-year-old man from the southeastern state of Victoria was among those who died when the Fletcher FU24 turbine powered plane crashed.
"The skydiving aircraft crashed while trying to take off, killing the pilot, four skydiving instructors and three other foreign tourists," a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
Skydive New Zealand, the only skydiving company in the area, made no immediate comment on the tragedy.
Police said the ill-fated aircraft was a Fletcher fixed-wing, the type operated by Skydive New Zealand which has been involved in the skydiving and aviation industry for more than 25 years.