RitcheyRch
10-02-2006, 05:38 AM
The mood couldn't have been more relaxed aboard an executive jet
Carrying three Incline residents as it began its descent towards Reno-Tahoe
International Airport Monday afternoon.
Mike Chipman was dozing while his wife, Evy, read a book. Steve
DiZio was also reading and occasionally looked-up to check the flight's
progress on a GPS read-out.
Then, they heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the
cockpit. The cabin depressurized and the plane veered to the right before going
into a steep dive.
"The pilot had just put on the seat belt sign, and a few minutes
Afterwards there was this explosion ...a really loud bang or crash from the
cockpit," recalled DiZio, a retired high-tech start-up manager.
Traveling from the Carlsbad Airport in San Diego, the Hawker 800XP
jet struck a glider in a mid-air collision at 16,000 feet over the Pine
Nut Mountains southeast of Carson City.
The accident, which took place at about 3:10 p.m., destroyed the
jet's nose cone and the glider whose pilot, Japanese citizen and 30-year glider
veteran, Akihiro Hirao, parachuted safely back to earth.
The pilot quickly brought the jet back under control as the three
Startled passengers secured their oxygen masks.
After deducing that the damage to the starboard wing, part of which
had caved-in and was leaking fuel vapor, was too extensive to have been
caused by a bird, and that they would all be dead if they had struck another
Conventional airplane, passenger Mike Chipman, a part owner of the Arizona
Diamond Backs, surmised the truth.
"I knew there were gliders all over the place ...the only thing I could
figure when we realized it wasn't a bird was that it was a glider,"
he said.
DiZio and the Chipmans said they did not panic after the crash.
"Things go through your mind, but it was sort of like a dream,"
DiZio said."There was nothing we could do. We just sort of went calm."
"I did some deep breathing and said a few prayers," Evy Chipman
said.
"Though I was aware of the damage to the wing, there wasn't much I could
do," said Mike Chipman. "The pilots clearly had it under control,
but it certainly had my attention."
Though the passengers didn't know it at the time, the starboard
engine had failed. Moreover, part of the glider had ripped its way through the
plane's nose and into the instrument dash, causing it to burst into the
pilot's face and lap.
Despite a gash to her chin, pilot Annette Saunders remained in
control throughout the remainder of the flight, even after a two-foot piece
of the nose structure had bent its way in front of the cockpit window.
After passing the Carson City Airport, the pilot swung the plane
around to bring it in for an emergency landing. As they leveled-out, the
co-pilot turned and yelled over the noise that they had lost control of their
landing gear and would skid to a halt on the aircraft's belly.
Though passengers assumed the emergency position, they said the
landing could not possibly have been better.
"The landing was as smooth as you could imagine, not even a bump,"
DiZio said. "We stayed on the runway right up to the end, so she (the
pilot) must have had that just perfectly lined-up even with the crosswinds."
Upon landing, pilot Saunders was taken to the Washoe Medical Center
with minor injuries.
Glider pilot Hirao was found unharmed by Washoe Tribal Police later
that evening.
According to Lyons County Sheriff's Department Captain Jeff Page,
the tribal police spotted a Japanese man, asked him if he was a glider pilot,
and told him that a lot of friends were looking for him.
They drove him back to the Minden-Tahoe Airport, where he had taken off earlier that afternoon,
where he was greeted by friends, examined and quickly released with only
scrapes and bruises.
"To be quite honest, I don't think anybody was expecting the outcome
that we had," Page said. "In my 20 years in law enforcement, I've never seen
a mid-collision where anybody survived. Here, everyone made it."
Carrying three Incline residents as it began its descent towards Reno-Tahoe
International Airport Monday afternoon.
Mike Chipman was dozing while his wife, Evy, read a book. Steve
DiZio was also reading and occasionally looked-up to check the flight's
progress on a GPS read-out.
Then, they heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the
cockpit. The cabin depressurized and the plane veered to the right before going
into a steep dive.
"The pilot had just put on the seat belt sign, and a few minutes
Afterwards there was this explosion ...a really loud bang or crash from the
cockpit," recalled DiZio, a retired high-tech start-up manager.
Traveling from the Carlsbad Airport in San Diego, the Hawker 800XP
jet struck a glider in a mid-air collision at 16,000 feet over the Pine
Nut Mountains southeast of Carson City.
The accident, which took place at about 3:10 p.m., destroyed the
jet's nose cone and the glider whose pilot, Japanese citizen and 30-year glider
veteran, Akihiro Hirao, parachuted safely back to earth.
The pilot quickly brought the jet back under control as the three
Startled passengers secured their oxygen masks.
After deducing that the damage to the starboard wing, part of which
had caved-in and was leaking fuel vapor, was too extensive to have been
caused by a bird, and that they would all be dead if they had struck another
Conventional airplane, passenger Mike Chipman, a part owner of the Arizona
Diamond Backs, surmised the truth.
"I knew there were gliders all over the place ...the only thing I could
figure when we realized it wasn't a bird was that it was a glider,"
he said.
DiZio and the Chipmans said they did not panic after the crash.
"Things go through your mind, but it was sort of like a dream,"
DiZio said."There was nothing we could do. We just sort of went calm."
"I did some deep breathing and said a few prayers," Evy Chipman
said.
"Though I was aware of the damage to the wing, there wasn't much I could
do," said Mike Chipman. "The pilots clearly had it under control,
but it certainly had my attention."
Though the passengers didn't know it at the time, the starboard
engine had failed. Moreover, part of the glider had ripped its way through the
plane's nose and into the instrument dash, causing it to burst into the
pilot's face and lap.
Despite a gash to her chin, pilot Annette Saunders remained in
control throughout the remainder of the flight, even after a two-foot piece
of the nose structure had bent its way in front of the cockpit window.
After passing the Carson City Airport, the pilot swung the plane
around to bring it in for an emergency landing. As they leveled-out, the
co-pilot turned and yelled over the noise that they had lost control of their
landing gear and would skid to a halt on the aircraft's belly.
Though passengers assumed the emergency position, they said the
landing could not possibly have been better.
"The landing was as smooth as you could imagine, not even a bump,"
DiZio said. "We stayed on the runway right up to the end, so she (the
pilot) must have had that just perfectly lined-up even with the crosswinds."
Upon landing, pilot Saunders was taken to the Washoe Medical Center
with minor injuries.
Glider pilot Hirao was found unharmed by Washoe Tribal Police later
that evening.
According to Lyons County Sheriff's Department Captain Jeff Page,
the tribal police spotted a Japanese man, asked him if he was a glider pilot,
and told him that a lot of friends were looking for him.
They drove him back to the Minden-Tahoe Airport, where he had taken off earlier that afternoon,
where he was greeted by friends, examined and quickly released with only
scrapes and bruises.
"To be quite honest, I don't think anybody was expecting the outcome
that we had," Page said. "In my 20 years in law enforcement, I've never seen
a mid-collision where anybody survived. Here, everyone made it."