Small plane crashes into raw sewage tank

IJ Reilly · Dec 21, 2006

Another entry into the Yikes Files...

A small airplane apparently took a nose-dive into a tank of raw sewage near Gilroy on Monday afternoon.

Gilroy police Sgt. Kurt Svardal said authorities have no idea where the plane was from or where it was going. The aircraft came pretty much straight down into a holding tank filled with raw sewage at a sewage treatment facility, he said, adding that it was too dangerous for a dive team to go into the water and check for bodies or the tail number of the plane, which would indicate who owned it and where it was from.

The tank is about 20 feet deep and will have to be drained before police can determine if anyone is inside. Svardal said police assume at least one person, the pilot, is inside the downed plane. There may be passengers as well.

Police received reports of a possible crash around 4 p.m. and spent an hour and a half checking the area. Workers at the sewage treatment plant noticed damage to a railing around the tank and notified police, who determined that the plane had gone into the tank.

The tank is a couple hundred feet in diameter, Svardal said, which means the plane probably came in at a very steep angle. It is nowhere near any kind of airfield or landing strip, he said.

Svardal said Gilroy police had no reports of overdue or missing planes in the area. He said the Federal Aviation Administration is trying to determine where the plane came from and who was at the controls.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/19/BAG8JN26UK1.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea

jsw · Dec 21, 2006

That's a pretty crappy way to die.

I guess perhaps the pilot knew he was in trouble and thought that there was a chance the tank might make the crash survivable. I'm sorry it didn't work out for him.

Queso · Dec 21, 2006

jsw said:
That's a pretty crappy way to die.

Totally tasteless but

all the same.

BTW, there's an update on the site. Three dead. One flight instructor and two students.

brad.c · Dec 21, 2006

...adding that it was too dangerous for a dive team to go into the water and check for bodies...

My sympathies go to the victims, but luckily the divers were spared.

That would be worse than Lake Ontario.

Irish Dave · Dec 21, 2006

That sounds like a crap story to me

Dave

EGT · Dec 21, 2006

Goodness, very strange circumstances.

Sympathies to the family members involved.

emw · Dec 21, 2006

I'm guessing by the look of the plane that they didn't have to endure the sewage for long. Still, of all the ways to go...

IJ Reilly · Dec 21, 2006

jsw said:
That's a pretty crappy way to die.

I guess perhaps the pilot knew he was in trouble and thought that there was a chance the tank might make the crash survivable. I'm sorry it didn't work out for him.

Sewer you going to make another bad joke about this?

Now that we know it was a twin engine aircraft, the most likely scenario is an engine-out situation. Twins are a real handful with the loss of an engine.

emw · Dec 21, 2006

IJ Reilly said:
Sewer you going to make another bad joke about this?

Be careful, he's flush with ideas.

skoker · Dec 21, 2006

Uck! RIP to the victims.

IJ Reilly · Dec 21, 2006

emw said:
Be careful, he's flush with ideas.

Yes, I know -- he's one of our more effluent members.

SkyBell · Dec 21, 2006

That's pretty sad. It sucks that things like this have to happen.

xsedrinam · Dec 21, 2006

What a way to go.

Abstract · Dec 21, 2006

I'd rather hit the ground directly, thank you very much.

You never hear of planes crashing into strip joints or into a holding tank of the Colonel's Secret Recipe, do you.

Counterfit · Dec 21, 2006

skoker said:
Uck! RIP to the victims.

Rest in Poo?

MrSmith · Dec 21, 2006

Did they die on impact or suffocate or ingest the sewage?

Whichever, they were in deep s**t.

xsedrinam · Dec 21, 2006

Counterfit said:
Rest in Poo?

One Flew Over the Poo Poo's Mess

EricNau · Dec 21, 2006

The tank is about 20 feet x 200 feet and after a plane literally dove in the only sign of the crash was a bent railing? I would expect there to be sewage everywhere (not to mention a huge hole in the bottom).

MrSmith · Dec 21, 2006

EricNau said:
The tank is about 20 feet x 200 feet and after a plane literally dove in the only sign of the crash was a bent railing? I would expect there to be sewage everywhere (not to mention a huge hole in the bottom).

You might have something there, Mr Closet Conspiracist. The plane came in at a steep angle - not a shallow glide when it could well have skimmed off the surface like, well, a stone over s**t - and so would have sliced through the mess like a hot knife through butter.

The plot thickens...

(All metaphors are in the public domain)

Irish Dave · Dec 21, 2006

I suppose if you couldn't swim ...... you could go through the motions !!

Counterfit · Dec 21, 2006

xsedrinam said:
One Flew Over the Poo Poo's Mess

Well, not quite.

Damn, that's a BAD one.

redAPPLE · Dec 22, 2006

i read the article and it stated, the passengers went to the states to learn how to fly...

uh... why? can't people learn to fly in their own country?

bigandy · Dec 22, 2006

EricNau said:
not to mention a huge hole in the bottom

redAPPLE said:
i read the article and it stated, the passengers went to the states to learn how to fly...

uh... why? can't people learn to fly in their own country?

maybe there aren't any similar tanks where they live....

Lord Blackadder · Dec 22, 2006

That is one of the more bizarre stories I've heard lately...

Wierd that the sewage plant employees didn't hear anything. I wonder if both engines had stalled by the time the plane was in its final dive? I'm guessing no based on the bent prop in the photo.

bcavanau · Dec 22, 2006

bigandy said:
maybe there aren't any similar tanks where they live....

lol, I was fine reading this thread up to this....then I started laughing....almost sprayed my drink all over my laptop

Small plane crashes into raw sewage tank

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