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New Surveillance Vid Shows Fiery Parking Lot Plane Crash

It happened in August, but new surveillance video shows exactly what happened when a small plane crashed into the parking lot of Phoenix-area business. After hitting the concrete, the plane explodes into a ball of fire and eventually skids into the side of the office building. The pilot didn’t survive the awful incident:

Video from Fox News Channel offers another look:

KSAZ reports:

The National Transportation Safety Board has not released a reason why the pilot crashed shortly after takeoff, but witnesses reported that the plane didn’t travel very high or very fast before turning around.

It happened in the blink of an eye. The plane crashed nose first into a parking lot. The front of the plane snapped off and pieces scattered. Then the wreckage exploded into a massive fireball. Flames and smoke filled the security camera’s screen.

Inside the building, the walls shook from the force of the explosion. People nearby at the time described the tremor from the crash like an earthquake.

The 67-year-old pilot, James R. Freeman III, had a pilot’s license, communicated with the tower, but didn’t stand a chance at survival when his small plane crashed last summer.

In the NTSB’s report, it states that the pilot may have been attempting to close the door that wasn’t quite shut. We’ve heard that before as well with these small plane crashes.

Comments (28)

  • Pixelguy
    Posted on February 12, 2011 at 1:15am

    Anyone else find the TV ad for the ambulance-chasing accident attorney preceding the clip from the Phoenix TV station about this plane crash tasteless?

    Report Post »  
  • Constitutional
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 1:56pm

    The olive garden restaurant appears to have sponsored the plane crash. At least thats the message I got from the video.

    Report Post » Constitutional  
  • ksagpilot
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 12:28pm

    Fly Low and Slow and keep your nose up in the turns, looks like he was in a stall induced spin. Hopefully the impact killed him instead of the fire. Fire is the one thing we old timer pilots fear most.

    Report Post » ksagpilot  
  • reckless
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 12:04pm

    As the air heats up due to global wrming, it expands thereby making it effectively “thinner”. Since the air is thinner, it cannot support a small aircraft because the aircraft is so small that it actually slips between the molecules of the atmosphere which are further apart due to the heat expansion. That is why I always fly in huge aircraft that are too big to slip between the molecules and fall from the sky this way.
    This terrible accident clearly shows one more example of the results of man-made global warming.

    Sincerely,
    Al Gore

    Report Post »  
  • sjohn70037
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 11:40am

    WTF does this have to do with anything? The Blaze sensationalists strike again. Go back to sleep now and let the folks bring us real news. Morons.

    Report Post » sjohn70037  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 11:15am

    Must suck when you see it coming like that. I’d rather hit the side of a mountain in the middle of a snow storm. It would be over before you had time to think.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
  • baloonhead
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 11:08am

    Pilot lost control because he tried closing an open door in flight, (which is not a big deal). He simply could have landed and shut the door. Students pilots are trained on such emergencies before earning their pilot certificate. Explanation here from NTSB.

    http://www.velozia.com/ntsb-preliminary-report-confirms-open-door-issue-in-arizona-plane-crash

    Report Post »  
  • threedoor
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 11:04am

    Seriously, trying to close the door? Have you ever tried to open the door of a plane while flying? Its almost impossible as the force of the air pushing back on the door at 80-120mph is far more than your arm can produce. That sounds like some speculative reporter trying to fill in a minimum word count for their story. Sad.

    Report Post » threedoor  
  • J_Ind_Boston
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:56am

    Hey, I’m all for free market and capatalism, but please, a 60 second ad for a 14 second video. Blaze, have some concern for your subscribers time.

    Report Post »  
    • the_ancient
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 10:52am

      ummm, The video ad is not from The Blaze, but from Fox News. The Video is on Fox’s server and served from there, it is just embedded in to this page.
      The Blaze would have no control over the length, or content of the embedded video

      Report Post » the_ancient  
  • Taquoshi
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:24am

    May God have mercy on the pilot’s family and friends.

    Report Post » Taquoshi  
    • SLARTIBARTFAST
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:39am

      Amen. I decided to not watch this before the commercial was over. Seeing someone die is what Hollywood is about, but not us.

      Report Post » SLARTIBARTFAST  
  • BadgerBenson
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:21am

    Dear Blaze, You’re quickly becoming a Blaze. I love this site! But how many stories about fires, explosions and car crashes can I take in one week? What is this, did Scott tell everyone it’s Pyro and Demolition Week at the office?

    Report Post » BadgerBenson  
  • ironcowboy
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:10am

    As a licensed pilot and a retired Air Force fly boy, it appears in the very brief shot that this pilot has simply stalled his aircraft, based on the angel of the aircraft and it’s direction of flight. Pilots will sometimes get distracted by something and inadvertently slow the aircraft down to below flight speed. It’s like how you drift out of your lane on a highway if you look in the back seat for a couple of seconds. The same thing can happen to a pilot, but instead of scraping the guard rail, they can literally fall out of the sky. This is most likely to happen right after take off, because the aircraft is low and slow, and there is insufficient recovery altitude. This is a tragic loss, because it was preventable.

    Report Post » ironcowboy  
    • brntout
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:47am

      That would be a check six reference perhaps?

      Report Post »  
  • Tomr
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:09am

    Good thing that was not Air Force One.

    Report Post »  
    • FlatFoot
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 1:45pm

      Hmmmmm

      Report Post » FlatFoot  
    • Seawolf
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 2:37pm

      Don’t be a jackwagon and make the rest of us look bad.

      Report Post » Seawolf  
    • Enuff Zenuff
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 2:53pm

      .
      Air Force One disappeared from the radar screens over the Midwest, so the Secret Service scrambled to look for it. After seeing a huge column of smoke over one farmer’s field, and determining that it was the wreckage they sought, they converged on the farmer who was out plowing. Rushing up to his tractor, the lead agent asked if he’d seen any survivors. He replied that he’d already buried all the bodies with his plow.

      “You mean the president’s dead?!?” asked the agent.

      The farmer replied, “Well, he kept saying he wasn’t, but you know what a liar he is!”

      Report Post » Enuff Zenuff  
  • Ironmaan
    Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:01am

    Those small planes seem to drop out of the sky kind of regularly.
    http://guerillatics.com

    Report Post »  
    • GeauxAlready
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:11am

      .
      It’s man made global warming. Don’t you know we pump enough crap in the air to bring down planes. Really it’s true. Al Gore said so…………

      Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
    • chazman
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:25am

      Yeah, definitely stalled it. Gotta keep the throttle shoved to the wall, man! Watch yer angle of attack when ascending and descending! Fly the plane, don’t let it fly you! An obvious case of not paying attention! Man, what an awful way to go out …

      Report Post »  
    • the_ancient
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 8:38am

      You would be surprised how many small planes are in there air at any given time, did you know there are about 10X more airports that service private or non-commercial planes than there are commercial airports?

      There are alot of those small planes out there, most air traffic is not airline traffic but private planes

      Report Post » the_ancient  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 9:06am

      God Above be with the surviving family of the piolet in the time of grief and loss.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 9:29am

      Good explanation, but speculative. I don‘t understand why the guy didn’t wait until he was flying in a straight line, THEN close the door. We may never know. May God be with his family.
      Maybe they can start installing fire retardent canisters inside fuel tanks that rupture when fuel tanks rupture and spread the retardent throughout the fuel. Maybe make pilots wear a light-weight flame suit, like dragster drivers wear.

      Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
    • BSdetector
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 1:13pm

      @Anonymous T. Irrelevant: Those would be good OPTIONS for pilots and equipment, but more regulation = bad.

      Report Post » BSdetector  
    • Decade of Greed
      Posted on February 10, 2011 at 4:16pm

      Or…was it a practice run for the next 911?

      Report Post »  

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