Airport Already Under Fire After Three Other Tragic Crashes
This Year
One woman is dead and
another injured after the crash of a Cessna Cardinal Friday night
while on approach to land at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. The
crash is the fourth to occur at or near the embattled airport this
year, and the first to claim a life.
The Cardinal, N30491, crashed into a US Postal Service
warehouse approximately 1/4 mile east of the airport. Pilot
Karen Hunter, who also owned the airplane, was killed in the crash.
Passenger Sharon Osborne suffered head injuries and was taken to a
local hospital. Osborne was listed in critical condition following
surgery.
According to FAA spokeswoman Arlene Murray, the pilot diverted
to Teterboro after reporting engine problems while en route to
nearby Caldwell, NJ.
"It was like it ran out of gas," said witness Javier Nieves to
the NY Times. "The plane was too low over here."
One person who has sought to restrict air traffic into
Teterboro, the fourth-largest airport in the New York region,
called Friday's crash inevitable.
"Tragically, this is the fatality we knew was going to happen at
some point," said State Representative Steve R. Rothman, whose
district includes Teterboro's home of South Hackensack.
E-I-C Note: Of course, the myopic, aviation-hating Congressman
neglects to mention that the aircraft was vectored to TEB from an
approach to another airport due to engine trouble and that
TEB had nothing to do with the accident outside of being
closer to the aircraft when it became the subject of
this emergency.
The aviation-bashing Rothman has been a vocal critic of the
airport for several years, calling for an immediate 25% reduction
in all flights into Teterboro following incidents earlier this
year. He also proposed a ban on all Stage Two jet traffic --
so-called noisier planes built 20-years ago or longer -- some seven
years ago.
As was reported by ANN in June, a
Stage Two ban was again proposed earlier this year by the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey, the organization that
oversees the airport. The PA also banned overnight freight flights
-- mostly Federal Reserve Bank runs, hauling cancelled checks and
cash letters -- and proposed raising landing fees to ward off some
of Teterboro's traffic and further alienate the aviation
industry.
Teterboro Airport has been a popular and necessary reliever for
the NY area for many years, easing the demands from general
aviation, corporate, and small-package freight traffic on the
area's larger commercial airports such as JFK International and
LaGuardia.
The airport has come under increased scrutiny following a series
of nonfatal accidents earlier this year, including the dramatic
February crash of a Bombardier Challenger. The corporate jet was
attempting takeoff when it overran the end of the runway, crashed
through a fence and impacted several cars as it crossed a highway,
before colliding with a building.
A Hawker 800 overran the runway (this time on landing) in March,
followed by the crash landing of a Swearingen SA-226T Merlin at the
end of May. The Merlin had experienced engine trouble on
takeoff.
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