Carrier Lost Two Falcon 20s, Same Day, Suffered 3 Fatalities

St. Louis police were watching two Grand Aire pilots Tuesday evening about 6:30, pending an FBI investigation into their backgrounds and their flight. Their 'crime' was that they sent their Falcon 20 cargo jet to Davey Jones' locker, at the bottom of the Mississippi River, after having had bad weather problems that kept them out of Lambert Field. The flight had originated at Del Rio (TX). Cargo was not disclosed. They were picked up from the floating twinjet about a quarter hour after the water landing, one man inside, the other atop the plane, waving to Fire Department rescuers.

Saleem Iqbal, 34, and Mohammed Saleh, 44 were identified by the FBI as the two pilots, although we couldn't find out which of the gentlemen was in stable condition, and which was critical. The FBI considers the McKinley Bridge a likely terrorist target, and since the unfortunate pilots crashed near there, well... you just can't be too safe, these days -- even if the weather is so bad they couldn't reach the airport, much less a bridge.

St Louis Mayor Francis Slay, without alluding to the possible national origins of the pilots, said merely, "Because the country is on an orange alert and because Mississippi River bridges have been listed as possible terrorism targets, we are handling this matter with extreme caution." Security at the bridges has, according to a local report, been beefed up since the bad weather on Tuesday.

Separately, in Toledo...

About five hours earlier, another Falcon 20, also operated by Grand Aire, went down into a nature preserve on final approach near Toledo Express Airport in Ohio. It had taken off from Traverse City (MI); the cargo is again unspecified.

**   Report created 4/9/2003   Record 3  **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 179GA        Make/Model: FA20      Description: FALCON 20, MYSTÈRE 20 (T-11, T
  Date: 04/08/2003     Time: 2351
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Serious     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
  City: ST. LOUIS   State: MO   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  GRAND AIR EXPRESS, GAX179, DASSAULT FA20 ACFT, ON SECOND ATTEMPT TO LAND, REPORTED AND EMERGENCY, LOST BOTH ENGINES AND CRASHED INTO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, TWO PILOTS WERE RESCUED FROM THE RIVER, ST. LOUIS, MO
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:  2     Fat:   0     Ser:   2     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: SPECI KSTL 082337Z 34010KT 7SM -RA OVC010 02/01 A3029 RMK CIG 007V013
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Business      Phase: Landing      Operation: Air Taxi (On Demand)
  Departed: DEL RIO, TX                 Dep Date:    Dep. Time:
  Destination: ST. LOUIS, MO            Flt Plan: IFR          Wx Briefing: N
  Last Radio Cont: 2 MI N OF GATEWAY ARCH, ST. LOUIS
  Last Clearance: LOW ALTITUDE ALERT, MAINTAIN 2100 UNTIL INTERCEPTING GLIDESLOP
  FAA FSDO: ST. LOUIS, MO  (CE03)                 Entry date: 04/09/2003
--
**   Report created 4/9/2003   Record 4   **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 183GA        Make/Model: FA20      Description: FALCON 20, MYSTÈRE 20 (T-11, T
  Date: 04/08/2003     Time: 1935
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
  City: TOLEDO   State: OH   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  GRAND AIR INC, FA20 ACFT, ON APPROACH TO ILS RUNWAY 7, DROPPED OFF RADAR ON FINAL, CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, 3 PERSONS ON BOARD SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES, ACFT WAS DESTROYED, 2 W TOLEDO, OH
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   3
                 # Crew:  2     Fat:   2     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: TOL METAR 1752Z 03009KT 1SM BR 0VC003 00/M01 Z3025 RMK SFC VIS 13/4
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Training      Phase: Approach      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: TRAVERSE CITY, MI           Dep Date: 04/08/2003   Dep. Time: 1935
  Destination: TOLEDO, OH               Flt Plan: IFR          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: UNK
  Last Clearance: CONTACT TOLEDO TOWER
  FAA FSDO: CLEVELAND, OH  (GL25)                 Entry date: 04/09/2003

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