Hiker Brings 'Closure' for Fossett Widow

$50M Hornet disintegrates into smoldering debris in Fresno field

(NEWSER) - Two service members were killed yesterday when a fighter jet crashed into a field in central California during a training exercise. The F/A-18F Super Hornet went down a half mile from the Naval Air Station outside of Fresno. Witnesses said the $50 million aircraft disintegrated into "smoldering debris," reports AP . It was the second Hornet accident in just over a week in the state. The engine of a F/A-18C Hornet burst into flames on an aircraft carrier last week off San Diego. Several people were injured, but no one was killed in that accident. More»

'They just stopped flying'

(USER SUBMITTED) - The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday released photos from the site of the crash that killed former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and four others, as investigators spoke with two of the four survivors. According to the chair of the NTSB, they did not report hearing weird noises, nor did they feel the plane tilt backward or forward, notes the Anchorage Daily News . "They were flying along, and then they just stopped flying." More»

Pilot reported huge fireball

(NEWSER) - Nine people are missing after a Coast Guard plane collided with a military helicopter last night off the coast of southern California. A pilot flying in the area reported seeing a huge fireball. Seven people were traveling aboard the plane, and two were in the chopper. A search-and-rescue mission is underway near the island of San Clemente, AP reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The National Transportation Board's view of the events that caused last weekend's crash over the Hudson River doesn't jibe with the FAA's, the Wall Street Journal reports. The NTSB chronology released yesterday suggests that errors from air traffic controllers—one of whom was one the phone to his girlfriend at the time of the crash—are partly to blame, while the FAA insists it has no reason to believe controller missteps played a role. More»

Plane didn't malfunction, NTSB investigators conclude

(NEWSER) - Investigators have determined that the crash that killed Steve Fossett was most likely caused by sudden turbulence, the BBC reports. An NTSB probe concluded that there was no malfunction with the adventurer's plane, and that an "inadvertent encounter with downdrafts" caused him to lose control of his aircraft in the September 2007 crash. More»