"Four small planes in wreck at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Four small planes in wreck at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport
Business jet starts chain reaction at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport
By Ken Kaye
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel 


It happened like a chain-reaction car accident on the highway: bam, bam,
bam.

An out-of-control business jet caromed off three other aircraft, including
two other corporate jets and a chartered prop plane while on the ground at
Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport on Friday, authorities said.

No one was hurt. But when the dust cleared, the three jets were a tangled
mess with wings over wings and the nose of one plane angled into the
fuselage of another.

Because fuel leaked on the ground, the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department
sprayed foam on the tarmac to dampen the risk of fire. The incident took
place on the apron of World Jet, an aviation service company, at the
northwest corner of the airport, officials said.

The trouble started at 2:45 p.m., when the wing of a Rockwell International
Sabreliner 265 clipped the propeller of a Bimini Island Air Cessna 208
Caravan, which had been taxiing for takeoff, authorities said.

"Then the Sabreliner lost control," Kathleen Bergen, Federal Aviation
Administration spokeswoman, said.

In short order, the Sabreliner ran into another parked Sabreliner and a
Hawker Siddeley corporate jet that was being towed, officials said.

It was not immediately known if the Cessna had any passengers on board, but
officials said it remained grounded after the incident. Officials of Bimini
Island Air, a charter firm based at Executive Airport, could not be reached
for comment despite several calls to their offices.

The first Sabreliner, with two pilots on board, was taxiing to a different
part of the airport for maintenance, officials said. According to federal
records, that plane was manufactured in 1977 and is registered to Qualint, a
firm in Wesley Chapel, near Tampa. No phone listing could be found for it.
The names of the pilots were not released.

"The plane that was being towed also was being re-positioned for maintenance
work," Ted Lawson, Executive Airport spokesman, said.

The FAA is investigating the incident. Although it isn't unusual for two
planes to grind wings and tails against each other while on the ground, it
is rare for a plane to run into three other aircraft, authorities said.

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