"Jet skids off runway, hits building near N.J. airport; 11 hurt, 2 missing"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, February 2, 2005

Private Jet Carrying 12 Crashes at New Jersey Airport 
Bloomberg


A corporate jet carrying 12 passengers skidded off a runway at the
Teterboro, New Jersey, airport, crossed a highway and crashed into a
clothing warehouse. At least 14 people were injured. 

The plane, a Challenger 600, was trying to take off from Teterboro Airport
for Chicago's Midway Airport this morning and failed to get off the ground,
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Les Dorr said in an interview.
Earlier, New Jersey State Police had said two people were missing. 

Eyewitnesses said they heard an explosion before the crash and the plane hit
one car as it slid across U.S. Route 46 into the building. Firefighters were
on the scene trying to put out flames. 

``I did see the plane come across, hit the fence, hit the car, and went into
the building,'' Earl McNair of Hackensack, New Jersey, said in an interview.
He works at the President Container factory near the crash site. ``It didn't
get off the ground at all.'' 

Twelve victims, including the plane's co-pilot, five passengers, two people
in cars and three bystanders, were taken to Hackensack University Medical
Center, Joseph Feldman, a doctor at the hospital, said during a televised
press conference. 

The hospital admitted three victims, including someone in a car, who is in
critical condition and the plane's co-pilot, who is in serious condition,
Feldman said. People had the smell of jet fuel on them, though no one
suffered burns, he said. 

``They had a fair amount on them where you can smell it, but none of them
were suffering side effects from the fuel,'' Feldman said. 

More Injuries 

Two victims of the crash were admitted to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New
Jersey, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away, hospital spokeswoman Katherine
Kakogiannis said. The hospital treated the flight attendant on the plane for
minor injuries, Kakogiannis said, without providing more details. The woman,
22, has been stabilized, she said. 

A 35-year-old male driver of a car involved in the crash was admitted to the
hospital, saturated in fuel, and had to be decontaminated, Kakogiannis said.
She wouldn't release the patients' names. 

The FAA Web site said the plane is registered to a company called 448
Alliance LLC, and gives an address in Dallas. Directory assistance doesn't
have a listing for a company with that name, though does show a DDH Aviation
at the same address, the Associated Press reported. No one answered the
phone there, AP said. 

Challenger 600 

``All of the pilot's communications were clear; we have no idea why the
crash happened,'' Dorr said. 

The National Transportation Safety Board will begin investigating the crash
later today. 

Teterboro Airport, owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,
is about 10 miles northwest of midtown Manhattan. It is used by private and
business aircraft and doesn't accept scheduled carrier operations. 

Rebecca Trexler, an FAA spokeswoman, said the plane was a Canadair
Challenger twin-engine jet. Canadair is a brand of Montreal-based
Bombardier. 

In December 2003, the same make of plane aborted a takeoff at the Teterboro
airport because it was above the maximum weight, an NTSB report found. 

``The FAA will be looking for any safety issues that we might have to
address,'' Dorr said. ``We check our databases to see what the accident
history of the aircraft type is.'' 

The plane crashed into a sign-making room, full of printing equipment, at
the Strawberry's warehouse, which was filled with stored signs such as ``50
percent off,'' Vice President of Distribution David Daniels said. 

The building was evacuated and one person was slightly injured, said
Daniels, 51, of Little Ferry, New Jersey. 

``I just heard the whole building feel like it was shaking for four or five
seconds, then everything came to a complete stop,'' he said in an interview
today.


   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php

*****************************************