'Aircraft Incident'?

[Lancer]

Let the speculation begin...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/11/18/florida.missing.plane/index.html

(CNN) -- An "aircraft incident" involving a civilian plane took place near the Avon Park Bombing Range Air Field, according to a statement Thursday from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

The Highlands County Sheriff's Office said earlier Thursday that deputies were assisting in the search for a military plane that was reported missing about 10 p.m. ET.

However, MacDill said it was not a military plane. "The small, fixed-wing civilian aircraft was providing support to a Special Operations Command training exercise," the statement said. "There was no armament on the aircraft or military personnel."

Military officials and local authorities were conducting search and recovery efforts in the area, the base said.

The Avon Park air field is about 90 miles south-southeast of Tampa.

[HGjunkie]

Avon Park is pretty big. Lot of swampy areas also.

[a2capt]

Hey, a whole airliner can disappear in the Everglades just west of MIA, and it's not even that deep.

[Lancer]

Umm...more to the point "The small, fixed-wing civilian aircraft was providing support to a Special Operations Command training exercise"

CAP Aircraft, perhaps? Maybe? Kinda?

How many other civilian groups that work with the military fly fixed-wing aircraft? Hmmm?

[RiverAux]

But if it was CAP I'm not sure why they wouldn't just say so. 

Given who the training was with, I might suspect a certain "company" of being involved.

[Persona non grata]

AC was a  Cessna M337B

[EMT-83]

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=82714

[lordmonar]

Umm...more to the point "The small, fixed-wing civilian aircraft was providing support to a Special Operations Command training exercise"

CAP Aircraft, perhaps? Maybe? Kinda?

How many other civilian groups that work with the military fly fixed-wing aircraft? Hmmm?

You have no idea!

[caphornbuckle]

Could this aircraft be part of a new organization that is being formed by a previous CAP commander in the Florida area?

[a2capt]

...and there was retribution involved?

[EMT-83]

Three people were killed in a plane crash. How about a little respect?

[A.Member]

Follow up - Preliminary report says it lost wing prior to impact:

NTSB: Plane lost wing before fatal Avon Park crash


The question now becomes why did the wing separate?

[bosshawk]

The NTSB initial report says that it was a C337B(a former AF O-2) which belonged to Patriot Technologies Group, under contract to an unnamed Militiary organization.  The aircraft had been home-based in Fresno, CA.  I happen to know the CEO of the company and had actually been in negotiations to fly that very airplane.  "Nuff said.

[A.Member]

The aircraft had been home-based in Fresno, CA.  I happen to know the CEO of the company and had actually been in negotiations to fly that very airplane.  "Nuff said.

  I'm not sure what that has to do with this incident.

[DakRadz]

The aircraft had been home-based in Fresno, CA.  I happen to know the CEO of the company and had actually been in negotiations to fly that very airplane.  "Nuff said.

  I'm not sure what that has to do with this incident.

As in, we could have been reading about the loss of one of our one?

Think about it- if the plane lost a wing, more than likely it could have happened to anyone- including bosshawk.