Four Survive Crash In Jamaica
ANN RealTime Update,
0011 EST, 09.24.06: The general media reports on this
accident are fairly bizarre and are probably the result of
misinterpretations made by non-aviation trained media people trying
to report things for which they do not have the proper
background/knowledge. We'll update the cause for this deployment as
soon as documented facts become available. Regardless, a pilot and
his passengers found some mode of peril for which they thought the
chute deployment was necessary... which sure beats the usual
alternative. -- ANN E-I-C Jim Campbell
A Cirrus SR20 went down in the hills east of Kingston, Jamaica
on Friday. The four occupants escaped serious
injury thanks to the aircraft's installed Cirrus Airframe
Parachute System.
The aircraft, registered to a Delaware leasing corporation,
reportedly went down about 20 minutes after takeoff from the Norman
Manley International Airport in Kingston on its way to the
Dominican Republic.
Of the four occupants, all were citizens of the Dominican
Republic except 79-year-old American Ellison Gauding.
Details are sketchy at this point, but one of the two pilots
aboard, 32-year-old Omar Valdes, told the Jamaica Observer the
aircraft started leaking fuel from the right wing claiming, "...we
get unbalanced and just went down to crash."
Valdes was unhurt,
walking two miles from the crash site before meeting up with rescue
personnel. He credits his and his passengers' survival to the
parachute system.
Local residents were on the scene before rescue personnel and
helped the passengers from the aircraft.
Farmer Vivian Davis said, "That's my farm over there and I heard
a plane and I heard like the engine stopped and then five seconds
after I heard a loud sound, which was the parachute and I saw the
plane coming down. From where I was standing I could see everything
and I just took off running and run up there and make sure everyone
was all right."
Another resident who helped with the recovery told a similar
tale of hearing an explosion, most likely the parachute rocket, and
looking up to see the aircraft descending under the parachute's
canopy.
The four occupants were taken to a local hospital by a Jamaican
Defence Force Air wing. They were looked over and treated for minor
injuries.
So far, Jamaican officials have not announced a formal
investigation to determine the incident's cause, but the Observer
reports the pilots were briefly questioned by Jamaican Defence
Forces.