FAA Issued Safety Directive on Montana Plane

Windshield was iced over, and he was flying in circles

(AP) - Coast Guard crews saw no signs today that the pilot of a small plane survived when it went down in the Gulf of Mexico about three hours after two F-15 fighter jets tried to make contact with him. The plane landed right-side up on the ocean surface and had been floating right after the crash, said the Coast Guard chief. Planes reportedly did not see a life raft deploy or anything to indicate the pilot—the lone person aboard—was alive. The military pilots reported that the plane's windshield had been iced over. More»

(NEWSER) - A former inspector says he warned the Federal Aviation Administration a full year before February’s crash near Buffalo that Colgan Air might have trouble flying the model of plane involved in the disaster, the New York Times writes. Christopher Monteleon reported that Colgan’s pilots flew fatigued, exceeded manufacturer speed recommendations, didn’t report broken equipment, and “botched” landing attempts. For his trouble, Monteleon says he was suspended and given a desk job. More»

(AP) - Speculation over what caused the crash of a single-engine plane into a Montana cemetery shifted today to possible ice on the wings after it became less likely that overloading was to blame. While descending yesterday in preparation for landing at the Bert Mooney Airport in Butte, Mont., the turboprop plane passed through a layer of air that was conducive to icing because the temperatures were below freezing, a weather forecasting service said. More»

All passengers died when turboprop plane crashed in Butte

(AP) - The plane that crashed yesterday in Montana, killing all 14 aboard, gave no indication to air traffic controllers that the aircraft was experiencing difficulty when the pilot asked to divert to an airport in Butte, a federal safety official said today. There was "no indication of any trouble when the diversion was requested to air traffic control,” National Transportation Safety Board chairman Mark Rosenker said. More»

Some worry short timetable endangers other aircraft, privacy

(NEWSER) - Thousands of small drones could take wing across the US following a Federal Aviation Administration decision next month. Police departments have been snapping up the unmanned aircraft, whose cameras could be used for everything from missing-person searches to catching drug dealers. Now law enforcement is waiting on the FAA to lay out rules for using the drones—guidelines that must be set by May 14 under a February law signed by President Obama. More»