Jet's broken window leads to emergency landing

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — An American Airlines jetliner made an emergency landing after a pane from a cabin window shattered during a flight and the shards of glass disabled an engine.

There was no pressure loss in the cabin and none of the 132 people aboard the Fort Myers, Fla.-bound flight was harmed Sunday, American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said.

The outside pane of the triple-pane window broke about 20 minutes after the 7:35 p.m. takeoff from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The MD-80's two engines are mounted at the tail rather than on the wings, and Smith said the broken window "was unfortunately near the engine." Smith said the glass shards sucked into the engine would have created "a disconcerting noise" for passengers.

He said the plane could fly safely on the remaining engine, but the plane returned to DFW rather than continue on to Florida.

Asked about the cause of the break, he said, "We don't really know. Just repeated pressurization can put stress on the window without breaking. That is fairly unusual."

The passengers departed on another flight about an hour after landing, he said. The pilot lowered the oxygen masks, but only as a precaution, and he did not instruct the passengers to put them on, Smith said.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ic-MGLIkmZt8iJbKCT9RgqEm-MHQD9123MA00


Panama says engine failure behind helicopter crash

PANAMA CITY, June 2 (Reuters) - A helicopter crash in Panama City that killed Chile's federal police chief and ten others could have been caused by a problem with one of its engines, Panama said on Monday.

Panama's Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement that preliminary investigations showed one of the two motors on the helicopter was not working when it crashed last Thursday.

Five Panamanians and six Chileans were killed when the decades-old helicopter slammed into a store and exploded.

Only one person in the helicopter -- a Panamanian -- survived.

Chilean Police chief Gen. Jose Alejandro Bernales was one of four senior Chilean security personnel traveling in the helicopter when it crashed and broke in half.

The Chileans were in Panama for an anti-terrorism conference.


NTSB releases preliminary plane crash report

The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report detailing the moments leading up to a fatal plane crash off of Main Street last month.

The pilot, Kelly Lynch, 40, was killed in the May 23 crash.

According to the NTSB, the Beechcraft 1900C - carrying more than 2 tons of mail to Great Falls and Havre - crashed into a construction warehouse on Jerrie Lane at 1:23 a.m., about two minutes after taking off from Billings Logan International Airport.

The report states that shortly after the plane took off, Lynch was advised by air traffic control to slightly alter the flight path and "then resume his own navigation." The pilot responded, but radar showed the plane started a slow right turn, the NTSB said. "About 45 seconds after the last radio contact, the departure controller advised the pilot that he had lost radar contact," the report states. "There was no response from the pilot to that transmission."

The report says that about 10 seconds after that message, the controller reported seeing an explosion northeast of the airport.

The wreckage from the plane was taken to Gallatin Field in Belgrade for further investigation. The investigation may not be completed for up to eight months.

Mail from the plane was scattered across much of the crash site and was reported to be found as far away as Skyview High School. Mail recovered from the crash was taken to the Postal Service building on South 27th Street to be dried. Any mail with a readable address will be sent to either the recipient or the sender.

The plane belonged to Lynch's employer, Utah-based Alpine Aviation.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/06/02/news/local/16-ntsb.txt


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