Mystery plane crashes

[MACKBOLAN05]

I live in northern VA and during the winter of 1991 or 1992, can't remember exactly, I witnessed a large airplane that was on fire that was heading south, and another incident in 1995 where a plane actually crashed into a mountain near the shenandoah valley and was visibly burning. Neither of these were printed in any newspaper or shown on the news stations, did anyone hear about these or were they government aircraft that couldn't be reported? just curious if anyone was monitoring back then.

 

[firescannerbob]

How sure are you of the dates? I found this: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20001212X19328&ntsbno=NYC99FA163&akey=1 and this: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20001212X19617&ntsbno=NYC99FA214&akey=1

 

[MACKBOLAN05]

Yep, I'm pretty sure about the years these crashes happened, after 1996 I moved to a different part of the country and then returned around summer of 2000. What is interesting about the 1995 crash is that I sat on my back porch and watched the recovery effort on the mountain which ended around 2 am after the fire finally died out, when a large helicopter took the plane debris away in a large net and headed west.

 

[N_Jay]

Was it a Black Chinook? :lol:

 

[n3bxv]

Was it a Black Chinook? :lol:

You beat me to it!!!

 

[MACKBOLAN05]

sorry for the assumption, Not sure exactly what type of helicopter, large with rotors at both ends, bear in mind that it was at night and I could see the outline against the sky. This crash was in an area that was hard to reach with vehicles, I did see plenty of flashlights as first responders walked in, through my binoculars. I really wish that I had a scanner back then....

 

[MACKBOLAN05]

Resource

What resources are available to look up airplane accidents? I have tried searching some sites but nothing came up, I have to assume that it was not made public for a reason.

 

[n3bxv]

You can go here http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/ and do a search by date and state... This is the official database for civil accidents and doesn't include military accidents..
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/database.htm contains both military and civil accidents, but isn't totally comprehensive..
Also - http://aviation-safety.net/database/

 

[bobbybeachbum]

This would be a great topic for the RR Tavern. Here's one of my favorite mystery crashes: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Andes/9522/toppage1.htm

 

[AngelFire91]

What city or town was this in? I have resources outside of the net I can check but I need to know a better idea of the location or a little more exact date.

 

[N_Jay]

sorry for the assumption, Not sure exactly what type of helicopter, . . . ....

Sorry for the confusion, I was making reference to the general term "Black Helicopters" :twisted:

 

[racin06]

I live in northern VA and during the winter of 1991 or 1992, can't remember exactly, I witnessed a large airplane that was on fire that was heading south, and another incident in 1995 where a plane actually crashed into a mountain near the shenandoah valley and was visibly burning. Neither of these were printed in any newspaper or shown on the news stations, did anyone hear about these or were they government aircraft that couldn't be reported? just curious if anyone was monitoring back then.

I'm curious as to what type of aircraft you witnessed that crashed?

 

[Astrak]

WTF is yo problem

WTF is your problem

 

[BoxAlarm187]

WTF is your problem

Care to expand on this thoughtful comment?

 

[MACKBOLAN05]

I did not see the airplane crash, it was pointed out to me by two sheriff deputies that had been called by our neighbor. I believe that the jurisdiction was shenandoah county or loudoun county, virginia, because the deputies said their dispatcher would notify the other counties to send fire and rescue. My neighbor said that it was fairly large, maybe 737 size, and judging from the size of the blaze, their was a lot of fuel onboard. This probably was military, I was just curious if anyone had monitored milair around then. I am pretty sure this happened in 1995, but for research reasons, you could check the years before or after.
The 1991 thing apparently was a meteorite, as I have found an article in a central va newspaper archive, we saw it from a distance so it does make sense.

thanks for the links, I have been looking through the crash databases, very cool.

 

[freqhopping]

The only large plane crash that I've ever known of in the area of Loudoun County was a 727 that crashed into Paris Mountain in 1974.

 

[bluesman905]

I did not see the airplane crash, it was pointed out to me by two sheriff deputies

Just out of interest, did you ever follow up with the Deputies?

 

[MACKBOLAN05]

I have talked to my old neighbor and have confirmed that this crash happened in 1995. We called the county police to follow up, Warren county virginia, and they told us that they had alerted the other counties to send fire and rescue. Our assumption was that it would be the big story in our local newspapers the next day. The crash site is the mountain range near rt. 50 on the side facing west. So if you head east on rt. 50 towards D.C. it would be on your right.

 

[colheli]

sorry for the assumption, Not sure exactly what type of helicopter, large with rotors at both ends, bear in mind that it was at night and I could see the outline against the sky. This crash was in an area that was hard to reach with vehicles, I did see plenty of flashlights as first responders walked in, through my binoculars. I really wish that I had a scanner back then....

Did it look like one of these, perhaps?

www.colheli.com

 

[radio10-8]

Mystery plane crash explained in Tucson Arizona on Mt Lemmon.

F-86 Crash on the Butterfly Trail: The mid air collision occurred on the 8th of July, 1957 at 5:45 pm. Both aircraft were with the 15th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Davis Monthan Air Force Base and were part of an 11 plane formation headed back from Kirtland, NM. Two F86Ds smacked into each other, this collision resulted in both pilots ejecting from each plane. The pilots landed in very remote area and weren't rescued until the following day. This is the crash site of 1st Lt. Van Vliet, F-86D, serial number 52-3605. What was unusual was that the 2nd F-86 stabilized itself after the pilot, Lt. Onate, bailed out, and actually flew into New Mexico unmanned! Problem was, everyone was so focused on watching the pilots chutes, no one watched the planes. A week later, the Air Force received a call from an angry rancher wanting to know when they were coming to clean up the wreckage.

http://www.virtualtucsonmagazine.com/main/mountains/f86_airplane_crash.html