Rick Hendrick's plane went down?

[KLin]

They just made an announcement after the subway 500. they lost the plane on radar apparently.


EDIT: News Article

 

[MartyMcFly3]

maybe it has 1337 stealthness...

 

[Batti]

That's a subscriber link. What's the article say?

 

[Kalvin00]

A Hendrick Motorsports plane carrying two pilots and eight other passengers crashed into Bull Mountain, about 10 miles west of Martinsville, Va., site of Sunday's Subway 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race, the FAA confirmed.

FAA spokeswoman Arlene Murray said a Beech 200 owned by Hendrick left Concord (N.C.) Regional Airport and crashed about 12:30 p.m. Eastern Sunday, near Martinsville Speedway.

There was no news as yet on injuries or fatalities, Murray said. HMS had four teams competing in Sunday's race with drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers.

In 20 years of competition, Hendrick Motorsports has garnered five NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Nextel Cup) championships, three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series titles and one NASCAR Busch Series crown, making it one of stock-car racing's premier organizations.

Rick Hendrick is just the second team owner in NASCAR's modern era to earn more than 100 Cup Series victories.

More than 400 employees call Hendrick Motorsports home, and day-to-day activities include management of HendrickMotorsports.com, the 15,000-square-foot museum and team store, marketing, public relations, sponsor services, licensing, show cars, merchandising, and much more.

Thoughts and prayers with all those involved

Edit: From Jayski.com

out of Charlotte, NC is reporting live that John Hendrick, Ricky Hendrick and engine builder Randy Dorton were on the airplane.

Oh my

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00

A Hendrick Motorsports plane carrying two pilots and eight other passengers crashed into Bull Mountain, about 10 miles west of Martinsville, Va., site of Sunday's Subway 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race, the FAA confirmed.

FAA spokeswoman Arlene Murray said a Beech 200 owned by Hendrick left Concord (N.C.) Regional Airport and crashed about 12:30 p.m. Eastern Sunday, near Martinsville Speedway.

There was no news as yet on injuries or fatalities, Murray said. HMS had four teams competing in Sunday's race with drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers.

In 20 years of competition, Hendrick Motorsports has garnered five NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Nextel Cup) championships, three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series titles and one NASCAR Busch Series crown, making it one of stock-car racing's premier organizations.

Rick Hendrick is just the second team owner in NASCAR's modern era to earn more than 100 Cup Series victories.

More than 400 employees call Hendrick Motorsports home, and day-to-day activities include management of HendrickMotorsports.com, the 15,000-square-foot museum and team store, marketing, public relations, sponsor services, licensing, show cars, merchandising, and much more.

Thoughts and prayers with all those involved

Edit: From Jayski.com

out of Charlotte, NC is reporting live that John Hendrick, Ricky Hendrick and engine builder Randy Dorton were on the airplane.

Oh my

that's basically what the article I posted said. It went straight to the article the first time I clicked on it.

 

[Kalvin00]

Confirmed plane went down, no survivors..

 

[kyparrish]

Radio traffic indicates a plane crash occurred around 11:45am this morning in the Stuart, Patrick Springs, Bull Mountain area. Sketchy information at this hour indicates the plane was headed to the Blue Ridge Airport in Spencer and with six occupants including the pilot. Helicopters are now flying over the area trying to find the downed aircraft. We have just learned one of the racing team helicopters has now joined in the search.
Update 1 - 2:51pm: A helicopter has located the signal of the emergency locating transmitter of the downed aircraft, but due to extreme fog, they are unable to see the plane.
Update 2 - 2:52pm: State Police have determined the coordinates and are dispatching four-wheelers to the scene.
Update 3 - 2:53pm: A break in the fog has allowed the helicopter crew to get a visual on the crash scene. They report "there does not appear to be any survivors."
Update 4 - 3:30pm: Unconfirmed... the plane is alleged to be owned by Hendrick Motorsports and was headed to Martinsville for today's race.
Update 5 - 3:40pm: Fire and rescue have been advised to seal the entire area off to all media.
Update 6 - 5:13pm: The FFA and the NTSB has confirmed the downed plane was owned by Hendrick Motorsports and took off from Concord, NC. Officials have confirmed everyone onboard was killed, but no names have been released.(Martinsville Daily)
FROM NBC 6 NBC 6 News TV out of Charlotte, NC reported live at 5:20pm/et that John Hendrick, Ricky Hendrick and chief engine builder Randy Dorton were on the airplane.
From NBC 6 Site: A Hendrick Motorsports plane headed to the Subway 500 in Martinsville, Virginia, has crashed in the Bull Mountain area of Virginia, state police there confirm. ?The plane was en route to Martinsville and lost it on radar and that?s all the information we have,? said one NASCAR official. ?We?ve been in contact with Rick Hendrick?we just don?t have a lot of details at the moment?we are going to say a prayer for everyone in the Hendick organization." Several high-placed sources inside NASCAR confirm these passengers on the plane: Tony Stewart?s helicopter pilot (who was not piloting the plane), two people who were piloting the plane, John Hendrick (Rick Hendrick?s brother), Ricky Hendrick, Randy Dorton and his two daughters. The FAA and NTSB are investigating. Bull Mountain lies to the west of Martinsville in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.(NBC6.com)(10-24-2004)

 

[NFS4]

No survivors:

http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3106236

 

[boyRacer]

Wow that sucks...

Jeff Gordon just took 2nd spot in the chase...

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: NFS4's link
A spokesman for a funeral home where the bodies were being taken said the dead included four relatives of team owner Rick Hendrick, including his son and brother.

According to a published report, Rick Hendrick's son Ricky, brother John, and John's twin daughters Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick died in the crash along with Dick Tracey, pilot, Liz Morrison, pilot, Joe Jackson, Jeff Turner, the VP and General Manager of Hendrick Motorsports, Randy Dorton and Scott Latham.

 

[faenix]

Oh my god..

 

[TechnoKid]

this is truely a sad moment in racing sports.

 

[toekramp]

so sad

 

[Bassyhead]

 

[Chaotic42]

I don't know who those people are, but my prayers are with their families.

 

[Syringer]

Not a Nascar fan, but this is horrible news.

 

[dudeman007]

RIP

 

[Rage187]

Rick Hendrick owned a bunch of car dealerships in Charleston. Thats the only reason I know the name.

RIP

thats sad

 

[z0mb13]

wow that sucks

private jets tend to fall down more than commercial jets, no?

 

[FreshPrince]

Originally posted by: z0mb13
wow that sucks

private jets tend to fall down more than commercial jets, no?

there should be more regulation in the private/personal jet sector....

Look at all the deaths involved in these small planes...something's got to change. I hope they make it harder to to own/operate these small jets. Because it's obvious that the standards just aren't the same as larger commercial planes.

 

[ElMono]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince

Originally posted by: z0mb13
wow that sucks

private jets tend to fall down more than commercial jets, no?

there should be more regulation in the private/personal jet sector....

Look at all the deaths involved in these small planes...something's got to change. I hope they make it harder to to own/operate these small jets. Because it's obvious that the standards just aren't the same as larger commercial planes.

As far as I know, it wasn't totally the pilots' fault. The area around Martinsville was foggy for the race and Rusty Wallace, a licensed pilot, even told reporter after the race that of all the airports used during the NASCAR season, Martinsville is the hardest on pilots. There is no radar at Martinsville and pilots have to rely on sight. He hopes the FAA forces the Martinsville airport to do something to prevent a tragedy like this happening again.

I'm a big NASCAR fan and this is truly a sad day in the NASCAR community. It's even a worse year for Rick Hendrick, who also lost his father and his aunt earlier this year, adding to the loss of his brother, son, and nieces. But Hendrick Motorsports will continue on with racing and winning as they have always done and hopefully one of the Hendrick cars can pull off a win at Atlanta next week for those ten people who died.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: FreshPrince

Originally posted by: z0mb13
wow that sucks

private jets tend to fall down more than commercial jets, no?

there should be more regulation in the private/personal jet sector....

Look at all the deaths involved in these small planes...something's got to change. I hope they make it harder to to own/operate these small jets. Because it's obvious that the standards just aren't the same as larger commercial planes.

Of course the standards aren't the same. You know who is to blame? The FAA. If they'd FOLLOW the recommendations from the NTSB then this wouldn't have happened. I bet my life that this plane didn't have terrain avoidance radar, or didn't have the NTSB recommended model. On another note, I am surprised that the general manager, president, and the chief engine builder were flying together. Hendrick has 400 employees, and after 1991(long article in the WSJ about this) most companies made a rule that top executives or "key" men/women would NOT fly together.

See, my father died in a very similar crash in 1991. He was on a private jet from a Southeast Grocery Chain. He was one of the 6 executives that died that day. They lost the Chairman, my father(VP of store operations), COO, Produce Manger, President of another sector, and someone else.

From that 1991 crash:

THE ACFT WAS FOUND WHERE IT HAD COLLIDED WITH THE TOP OF MT LAVENDAR. ELEVATION OF THE CRASH SITE WAS APRX 1580' MSL. THE ACFT WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH A GROUND PROXIMITY WARNING SYS. (FOR DETAILS SEE: SUMMARY REPORT)

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

THE CAPTAIN'S DECISION TO INITIATE VISUAL FLIGHT INTO AN AREA OF KNOWN MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN AND LOW CEILINGS AND THE FAILURE OF THE FLIGHTCREW TO MAINTAIN AWARENESS OF THEIR PROXIMITY TO THE TERRAIN



It was not equipped with terrain avoidance radar. It was a foggy day in the Appalachian Mountains. Same exact deal as the Hendrick crash.

Shortly after they released the cause of the crash -- the NTSB recommended and pushed HARD for the FAA to require jets that carried more than SIX passenger to be required to have Terrain Avoidance Radar. You know what the FAA said? Nope, we think that current system is fine.

"1990: The NTSB urged ground proximity warning systems for commuter airlines, which would alert planes that they were getting too close to the ground and were not in the proper landing configuration. It became a requirement and was taken off the list in 1992"


Here's something I found on google, and is a copy of the report I have on my father's crash:

10. RECOMMENDATIONS
As a result of its investigation of this accident, the National Transportation
Safety Board makes the following recommendations to the Federal Aviation
Administration:
In conjunction with professional aviation associations and manufacturers
of turbine-powered aircraft, inform corporations that are operating such
aircraft under 14 CFR Part 91 of the circumstances of this accident, and
encourage them to examine their flight operations to verify that policies
and procedures are established and followed to prevent such accideats
and to encourage first officers to play an active role in cockpit decisionmaking.
(Class II, Priority Action) (A-92-54)
13.Require all turbojet-powered airplanes that have six or more passenger
seats to be equipped with a ground pmximity warning system. (Class lI,
Priority Acton) (A-92-55)

Now, I have no proof that the Hendrick Jet didn't have the ground/terrain avoidance system. They very well could have, however, if they didn't... then doesn't this give you pause? Will we continue to make the same fscking mistakes that cost lives -- simply because the FAA is afraid to piss off manufacturers of these jets, and the companies that buy them?

Finally, I am not sure if this aircraft would have been, or if it was required to have the system. It very well may have had it, because the FAA and NTSB did recommend and require that 10 passenger or higher turbine jets should have it. However -- although 10 people died in the crash not all 10 were passengers.

"it carries nine occupants in the standard layout or up to 15 in a high-density configuration." That's a report of the capacity of the Beech 200 that the Hendrick's members were on. It is probable that they had the executive seating of 6, or the standard layout of 9. They might have had the 15, and if they did then Ground Proximity/Terrain Avoidance would have been required.

Edit:

NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said investigators at the site Monday would try to determine whether the Hendrick plane had a ground proximity warning system, a radar device that alerts pilots when they fly too close to mountains or other terrain.

Such a system might have prevented the crash, aviation consultant Bart Crotty said. Commercial airlines have them, but they aren't required on private planes.

A commuter plane that crashed as it approached a northeastern Missouri airport Oct. 19, killing 13 of the 15 people aboard, lacked an updated version of the warning system, investigators said.