Plane catches fire shortly after taking off from Gallatin airport, USA

A small plane caught on fire shortly after taking off from a Gallatin airport Friday afternoon.

 

It happened at the Sumner County Regional Airport on Airport Road just after 2 p.m.

 

According to officials, the pilot returned to the airport after he detected smoke.

 

“I was at the end of the runway, maybe 100 feet off the ground, and I saw a little bit of smoke so I said, ‘I’m going back.’ And I saw fire and 10 seconds later I couldn’t even see because there was so much smoke,” pilot Gregory Harms said.

 

Harms and his two grandchildren, ages 10 and 13, were on board the 1963 fixed-wing plane at the time. They were all able to escape and the children were taken to a local hospital as a precaution.

 

“This is probably going to traumatize them. I don’t like that,” Harms said.

 

The fire has since been extinguished and the plane is considered a complete loss.

 

Authorities remain on the scene examining the plane and scene.

 

The investigation is ongoing.

Courtesy of wkrn.com

http://tinyurl.com/hcrfalt

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Plane carrying 17 skydivers crashes in Northern California vineyard

A small plane carrying 17 skydivers clipped a pickup then landed upside-down in a vineyard, officials said Thursday, but the worst injuries were minor cuts and scrapes.

 

The single-engine plane experienced trouble shortly after taking off from the Parachute Center skydiving school north of Lodi, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said in a statement.

 

The pilot tried returning the Cessna 208 to the airport, Gregor said.

 

The plane crashed less than a mile from the airport on the opposite side of Highway 99, a major route in California, said Lt. Dan Schmierer of the Woodbridge Rural Fire District. Nobody on the ground was hurt.

 

Schmierer said he expected the worst when he heard about the crash. Pulling up to the scene, however, the pilot and his passengers were all standing around in a group.

 

“I think some of them were in shock,” Schmierer said. “They were all happy to be walking away from the crash.”

 

Schmierer credited the pilot, who also sustained minor injuries, for apparently flying the plane under power lines and away from a house about 75 feet from the crash scene.

 

One skydiver praised the pilot for the way the crash landing was handled, and that everybody survived, Schmierer said.

 

The Parachute Center’s website claims to be “one of the largest and oldest drop zones in the United States,” in operation since 1964. It says that experienced skydivers can jump from 13,000 feet.

 

A person answering the phone at the Parachute Center declined to comment on the crash. Authorities are investigating what happened.

Courtesy of pressdemocrat.com

http://tinyurl.com/jlql4qe

Deadly RHD rabbit virus shuts UK competition shows

A new strain of a deadly rabbit virus has forced the closure of county show competitions across England.

 

Events in Devon, Cornwall and Cheshire have all banned bunnies following outbreaks of the mutation of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease, known as RHD-2.

 

There is currently no licensed vaccine in the UK for the new strain.

 

“The fear factor is we don’t know how it’s spreading,” said Neill Gardner, chairman of the British Rabbit Council (BRC).

‘Just drop dead’

Since March, the BRC has received reports of RHD-2 across Cheshire, Devon, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Leeds and Moray.

 

With the former strain “there was usually a visible sign, like bloody discharge from the nostrils”, Mr Gardner said.

 

“Now they just drop dead”.

 

A vaccine for the new strain is expected to be licensed in the UK in the next month, Mr Gardener added.

Courtesy of BBC News

http://tinyurl.com/gwqpl74

MAGNITUDE 3.0 SOUTHERN ONTARIO, CANADA

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=506554

Subject To Change

Depth: 17 km

Distances: 142 km NW of Ottawa, Canada / pop: 812,129 / local time: 17:29:56.5 2016-05-14
4 km NW of Petawawa, Canada / pop: 11,256 / local time: 17:29:56.5 2016-05-14

MAGNITUDE 2.2 FRANCE

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=506549

Subject To Change

Depth: 2 km

Distances: 261 km SW of Paris, France / pop: 2,138,551 / local time: 22:56:46.7 2016-05-14
59 km N of Poitiers, France / pop: 85,960 / local time: 22:56:46.7 2016-05-14
8 km N of Loudun, France / pop: 8,510 / local time: 22:56:46.7 2016-05-14

 

MAGNITUDE 5.6 SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=506548

Subject To Change

Depth: 10 km

Distances: 540 km W of Tangerang, Indonesia / pop: 1,372,124 / local time: 03:52:11.7 2016-05-15
347 km S of Bengkulu, Indonesia / pop: 309,712 / local time: 03:52:11.7 2016-05-15

MAGNITUDE 4.9 NORTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us10005hfe#general

Subject To Change

Depth: 10 km

Distances: 738.0 km (458.6 mi) ESE of Clipperton Island, France
960.0 km (596.5 mi) SSW of Acapulco de Juarez, Mexico
972.0 km (604.0 mi) SSW of Coyuca de Benitez, Mexico
974.0 km (605.2 mi) SSW of San Marcos, Mexico
1255.0 km (779.8 mi) SSW of Mexico City, Mexico

MAGNITUDE 2.8 KANSAS

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=506542

Subject To Change

Depth: 5 km

Distances: 481 km N of Dallas, United States / pop: 1,197,816 / local time: 14:04:36.7 2016-05-14
177 km N of Oklahoma City, United States / pop: 579,999 / local time: 14:04:36.7 2016-05-14
29 km SE of Anthony, United States / pop: 2,269 / local time: 14:04:36.7 2016-05-14
11 km W of Caldwell, United States / pop: 1,068 / local time: 14:04:36.7 2016-05-14

MAGNITUDE 5.8 NORTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=506534

Subject To Change

Depth: 10 km

Distances: 1253 km S of Mexico City, Mexico / pop: 12,294,193 / local time: 13:21:06.7 2016-05-14
1493 km SW of Guatemala City, Guatemala / pop: 994,938 / local time: 12:21:06.7 2016-05-14
1587 km W of San Salvador, El Salvador / pop: 525,990 / local time: 12:21:06.7 2016-05-14

MAGNITUDE 3.0 PORTUGAL

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=506522

Subject To Change

Depth: 19 km

Distances: 48 km SW of Lisbon, Portugal / pop: 517,802 / local time: 16:56:54.4 2016-05-14
32 km S of Cascais, Portugal / pop: 36,436 / local time: 16:56:54.4 2016-05-14