Bonanza lands on I-75 in Macon, GA

[notawannabee]

This just happened ....I cannot find it on the news / web yet.

[surreal1221]

spectacular. . . must of been a GIA / DCA / MAPD graduate

No damage that you know of?

[notawannabee]

I dont believe so. I know there are no injuries and the plane landed on the asphalt. It is a husband and wife flying from somewhere in FL to LZU. FAA is investigating.

[BEvaristo]

Plane down on Interstate 75 in Bibb County

The Associated Press
Published on: 09/29/06 Bibb County Sheriff's spokesman David Davis said a small plane lost power over Interstate 75 in Macon but the pilot managed to bring it down hitting only the guard-rail so that nobody was hurt.

The single-engine Beechcraft plane ended up in the median around 12:30 Friday afternoon.

A man and his wife were the only people on board, Davis said. The couple from Brooksville, Fla., were traveling from there to Lawrenceville, Ga.

Chad Stuart, who lives less than a mile from the site of the crash, said he heard a plane fly over his house at what sounded like low altitude.

"I heard a buzzing, and I thought I heard something hit," Stuart said. "Then I heard a siren, and I said, 'That plane crashed.' "

[saxman66]

Wow, I just sent my student to Macon yesterday.

[MarkE]

Lot's of emergency landings in the last two weeks. Maybe the media IS right. GA is unsafe!!!

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by MarkE

Lot's of emergency landings in the last two weeks. Maybe the media IS right. GA is unsafe!!!

On the "GA is unsafe" thought (and I know you were kidding... but it got me wondering)... anyone know the number of average GA operations per day in the US vs. the number of commercial operations? Could be a useful stat to know when encountering the GA haters.

[themctm]

Just saw the footage of the wreckage on the Chattanooga news, looks like the pilot took it into the median, maybe a collapsed nose-prop blades were bent a full 90 degrees backwards. Looked like a new Bonanza at that. At least no one hurt.

[Mahesh]

Originally Posted by ChinookDriver

Could be a useful stat to know when encountering the GA haters.

Yeah. People are so quick to talk about how small planes ae unsafe. And those same people can't even drive a frigging car in light rain without getting in a wreck.

[TheShortOne]

no no guys, the proper line to use is "Yes, GA is incredibly unsafe, they crash all the time - I bet you still have one smoking in your backyard right?" of course adding a heavy dose of

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by ChinookDriver

On the "GA is unsafe" thought (and I know you were kidding... but it got me wondering)... anyone know the number of average GA operations per day in the US vs. the number of commercial operations? Could be a useful stat to know when encountering the GA haters.

I think it's been proven time and again that GA has a much higher rate of incidents/accidents based on a per flight-hour basis (the most "fair" way to compare IMO).

I must be one of those "GA haters" too.....

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

I think it's been proven time and again that GA has a much higher rate of incidents/accidents based on a per flight-hour basis (the most "fair" way to compare IMO).

I must be one of those "GA haters" too.....

I didn't know that.

Some quick Googling came up with this:

Fatalities per million trips Odds of being killed on a single trip:
Airliner (Part 121) 52.6 million to 1
Automobile 7.6 million to 1
Commuter Airline (Part 135 scheduled) 581,395 to 1
Commuter Plane (Part 135 - Air taxi on demand) 163,934 to 1
General Aviation (Part 91) 73,187 to 1

... which is a fatality rate, not accident rate, but still.

Plus, according to the NTSB last year's accident rates per 100,000 hours:

Part 121 Scheduled: 0.121
Part 135 Scheduled: 2.00
GA: 6.83

Yowser. Starting to become a GA hater myself!