CAP Plane Crash in Anchorage, Alaska

[Paul_AK]

Prayers for the family and responders.

http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/breaking-small-plane-crashed-into-building-in-downtown-some-roads-closed-down/37174972

http://www.adn.com/article/20151229/small-plane-crashes-downtown-anchorage

[umpirecali]

National Transportation Safety Board Alaska Office Chief Clint Johnson said the plane, which he believed was a Cessna 172 or 182, was registered to the Civil Air Patrol.

It likely had a single occupant at the time of the crash, Johnson said, and a flight plan hadn't been filed.

The flight appeared to have been unsanctioned.

"APD made contact with Civil Air Patrol management," Johnson said. "There were no sanctioned flights scheduled at this time."

interesting

[LTC Don]

http://www.ktva.com/just-in-small-plane-crashes-into-buildings-in-downtown-anchorage-598/


Really early in the morning, and no evidence of a Flight Release yet.  Perhaps an A&P maintenance flight?

Strange.

[Paul_AK]

11:30 A.M. UPDATE: Civil Air Patrol names pilot

The Civil Air Patrol has identified the pilot involved in today's deadly plane crash into a Downtown Anchorage office building as First Lt. Doug Demarest.

"The pilot was not authorized to fly the aircraft," the Civil Air Patrol said in a statement from the non-profit's national headquarters. The organization is the volunteer auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.

The Cessna 172S that struck the Brady building, which houses the state Attorney General's office among other offices, is owned by the Civil Air Patrol.

One person died in the crash. Police have not publicly identified the deceased. The Civil Air Patrol identified Demarest as the pilot of the plane.

Demarest joined the Civil Air Patrol in 2010.

[THRAWN]

11:30 A.M. UPDATE: Civil Air Patrol names pilot

The Civil Air Patrol has identified the pilot involved in today's deadly plane crash into a Downtown Anchorage office building as First Lt. Doug Demarest.

"The pilot was not authorized to fly the aircraft," the Civil Air Patrol said in a statement from the non-profit's national headquarters. The organization is the volunteer auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.

The Cessna 172S that struck the Brady building, which houses the state Attorney General's office among other offices, is owned by the Civil Air Patrol.

One person died in the crash. Police have not publicly identified the deceased. The Civil Air Patrol identified Demarest as the pilot of the plane.

Demarest joined the Civil Air Patrol in 2010.

That name is familiar to me for some reason...

Prayers and thoughts go out to the entire AK Wing family. This is starting to sound like there is more to the story  and none of it good.

That being said, let's keep the speculation to a minimum and off the board. Let the investigator teams from AK wing, NTSB, FAA, and the state of Alaska do their jobs. If you have information, contact them. Otherwise, keep your speculations to yourself and out of public view. If you are in need of chaplain assistance or CISD, reach out through your network.

[TheSkyHornet]

11:30 A.M. UPDATE: Civil Air Patrol names pilot

The Civil Air Patrol has identified the pilot involved in today's deadly plane crash into a Downtown Anchorage office building as First Lt. Doug Demarest.

"The pilot was not authorized to fly the aircraft," the Civil Air Patrol said in a statement from the non-profit's national headquarters. The organization is the volunteer auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.

The Cessna 172S that struck the Brady building, which houses the state Attorney General's office among other offices, is owned by the Civil Air Patrol.

One person died in the crash. Police have not publicly identified the deceased. The Civil Air Patrol identified Demarest as the pilot of the plane.

Demarest joined the Civil Air Patrol in 2010.

That name is familiar to me for some reason...

Prayers and thoughts go out to the entire AK Wing family. This is starting to sound like there is more to the story  and none of it good.

That being said, let's keep the speculation to a minimum and off the board. Let the investigator teams from AK wing, NTSB, FAA, and the state of Alaska do their jobs. If you have information, contact them. Otherwise, keep your speculations to yourself and out of public view. If you are in need of chaplain assistance or CISD, reach out through your network.

Fully agree with that last section. For now, have some respect for those that may have been lost and/or additionally injured, and let the investigative teams do their jobs and report when they have something to report.

Also, be weary of information as it comes in, especially from "news" agencies. It may or may not be accurate.

[Paul_AK]

If you are in need of chaplain assistance or CISD, reach out through your network.

Painful just how much this needs to be stressed. It can't be briefed or stressed enough. Not to be cliché, but it's up to us to watch out for each other. Far too often if someone won't seek help out they aren't going to on their own. Watch out for each other, if you see something, say something.

[Flying Pig]

Tough Deal.  As far as the information coming out, news agencies scramble to be the first out with a story and inaccuracies are now considered the cost of business.  Im personally the "survivor" of a news story that said I had crashed and was on fire at the airport..... when I was actually at the hangar waxing the helicopter that had supposedly burst into flames. 

[NIN]

Im personally the "survivor" of a news story that said I had crashed and was on fire at the airport..... when I was actually at the hangar waxing the helicopter that had supposedly burst into flames.

That is some skill there, dude.

[THRAWN]

Tough Deal.  As far as the information coming out, news agencies scramble to be the first out with a story and inaccuracies are now considered the cost of business.  Im personally the "survivor" of a news story that said I had crashed and was on fire at the airport..... when I was actually at the hangar waxing the helicopter that had supposedly burst into flames.

Hehe. You look good for a roasted pig. I've never found the fourth estate to be particularly interested in facts when a good story is involved.

[Fubar]

The more one directly deals with the media, the less faith you have of their ability to accurately report the information they were given.

[Chappie]

If you are in need of chaplain assistance or CISD, reach out through your network.

Painful just how much this needs to be stressed. It can't be briefed or stressed enough. Not to be cliché, but it's up to us to watch out for each other. Far too often if someone won't seek help out they aren't going to on their own. Watch out for each other, if you see something, say something.

Needless to say this has been a difficult day for our membership.  Within minutes of reading Paul's post...the PCR HC and AKWG HC was notified as to the tragic event.  Word was also passed along to the members of the Chaplain Corps. Throughout the day, we have been working of behalf of our membership to provide support, comfort and counsel.  Please feel free to contact anyone of us in the Chaplain Corps if you need our assistance....we are here to serve.

[NIN]

The more one directly deals with the media, the less faith you have of their ability to accurately report the information they were given.

About 4 months after 9-11, a young man flew a 172 into the side of a building in Tampa.  My wing got a call from the local affiliate wanting to do a story about teenagers and flying. (I think their editorial angle was "kids shouldn't be allowed to fly planes. Ever.")

I happened to work right next to one of the larger GA airports in the state. My wing administrator called me to see if I'd be willing to meet the news crew  for an interview. (I might have been the Wing DCP at the time, I don't rightly remember exactly).  I happened to have a uniform in the car, a fairly fresh haircut and lucky for me I'd actually shaved that morning.

When the piece was broadcast, they were trying hard to get me to reinforce their angle, but I'd been cautious about my responses to the interviewer's questions such that they didn't get any good "negative" sound bites to easily use.

But out of a 10 minute interview, they used something like 2 5-second long clips.  My 15 minutes of fame, reduced to 10 seconds of airtime.

Nowadays, its even more important to be cautious when talking about some of these things in open forums.  Reddit.com and other message boards are considered legitimate sources to quote by news media these days.  There have been several times following a skydiving accident when the discussion on the Dropzone.com forums gets referenced by media piece.   (NVM that in those cases the media reports of the accident is usually "parachute failed to open" when that was, in fact, not the case at all.)

[TheSkyHornet]

The more one directly deals with the media, the less faith you have of their ability to accurately report the information they were given.

About 4 months after 9-11, a young man flew a 172 into the side of a building in Tampa.  My wing got a call from the local affiliate wanting to do a story about teenagers and flying. (I think their editorial angle was "kids shouldn't be allowed to fly planes. Ever.")

I happened to work right next to one of the larger GA airports in the state. My wing administrator called me to see if I'd be willing to meet the news crew  for an interview. (I might have been the Wing DCP at the time, I don't rightly remember exactly).  I happened to have a uniform in the car, a fairly fresh haircut and lucky for me I'd actually shaved that morning.

When the piece was broadcast, they were trying hard to get me to reinforce their angle, but I'd been cautious about my responses to the interviewer's questions such that they didn't get any good "negative" sound bites to easily use.

But out of a 10 minute interview, they used something like 2 5-second long clips.  My 15 minutes of fame, reduced to 10 seconds of airtime.

Nowadays, its even more important to be cautious when talking about some of these things in open forums.  Reddit.com and other message boards are considered legitimate sources to quote by news media these days.  There have been several times following a skydiving accident when the discussion on the Dropzone.com forums gets referenced by media piece.   (NVM that in those cases the media reports of the accident is usually "parachute failed to open" when that was, in fact, not the case at all.)

In addition to this note, you can be sure there are people looking this up from somewhere right now, perhaps media or maybe just your average citizen curious for information, that are seeing this thread and are trying to interpret facts based on the suspicious and scuttlebutt we're posting.

[THRAWN]

The more one directly deals with the media, the less faith you have of their ability to accurately report the information they were given.

About 4 months after 9-11, a young man flew a 172 into the side of a building in Tampa.  My wing got a call from the local affiliate wanting to do a story about teenagers and flying. (I think their editorial angle was "kids shouldn't be allowed to fly planes. Ever.")

I happened to work right next to one of the larger GA airports in the state. My wing administrator called me to see if I'd be willing to meet the news crew  for an interview. (I might have been the Wing DCP at the time, I don't rightly remember exactly).  I happened to have a uniform in the car, a fairly fresh haircut and lucky for me I'd actually shaved that morning.

When the piece was broadcast, they were trying hard to get me to reinforce their angle, but I'd been cautious about my responses to the interviewer's questions such that they didn't get any good "negative" sound bites to easily use.

But out of a 10 minute interview, they used something like 2 5-second long clips.  My 15 minutes of fame, reduced to 10 seconds of airtime.

Nowadays, its even more important to be cautious when talking about some of these things in open forums.  Reddit.com and other message boards are considered legitimate sources to quote by news media these days.  There have been several times following a skydiving accident when the discussion on the Dropzone.com forums gets referenced by media piece.   (NVM that in those cases the media reports of the accident is usually "parachute failed to open" when that was, in fact, not the case at all.)

In addition to this note, you can be sure there are people looking this up from somewhere right now, perhaps media or maybe just your average citizen curious for information, that are seeing this thread and are trying to interpret facts based on the suspicious and scuttlebutt we're posting.

Which is why I said this"let's keep the speculation to a minimum and off the board. Let the investigator teams from AK wing, NTSB, FAA, and the state of Alaska do their jobs. If you have information, contact them. Otherwise, keep your speculations to yourself and out of public view." in an earlier post. Look, I do this for a living. Information will be released when it is releasable, and that's when the NTSB, CAP, FBI, state of AK, etc decide that it's okay to do so. It's a live federal investigation. If you don't have a role in it, stay out of it.

[TheSkyHornet]

The more one directly deals with the media, the less faith you have of their ability to accurately report the information they were given.

About 4 months after 9-11, a young man flew a 172 into the side of a building in Tampa.  My wing got a call from the local affiliate wanting to do a story about teenagers and flying. (I think their editorial angle was "kids shouldn't be allowed to fly planes. Ever.")

I happened to work right next to one of the larger GA airports in the state. My wing administrator called me to see if I'd be willing to meet the news crew  for an interview. (I might have been the Wing DCP at the time, I don't rightly remember exactly).  I happened to have a uniform in the car, a fairly fresh haircut and lucky for me I'd actually shaved that morning.

When the piece was broadcast, they were trying hard to get me to reinforce their angle, but I'd been cautious about my responses to the interviewer's questions such that they didn't get any good "negative" sound bites to easily use.

But out of a 10 minute interview, they used something like 2 5-second long clips.  My 15 minutes of fame, reduced to 10 seconds of airtime.

Nowadays, its even more important to be cautious when talking about some of these things in open forums.  Reddit.com and other message boards are considered legitimate sources to quote by news media these days.  There have been several times following a skydiving accident when the discussion on the Dropzone.com forums gets referenced by media piece.   (NVM that in those cases the media reports of the accident is usually "parachute failed to open" when that was, in fact, not the case at all.)

In addition to this note, you can be sure there are people looking this up from somewhere right now, perhaps media or maybe just your average citizen curious for information, that are seeing this thread and are trying to interpret facts based on the suspicious and scuttlebutt we're posting.

Which is why I said this"let's keep the speculation to a minimum and off the board. Let the investigator teams from AK wing, NTSB, FAA, and the state of Alaska do their jobs. If you have information, contact them. Otherwise, keep your speculations to yourself and out of public view." in an earlier post. Look, I do this for a living. Information will be released when it is releasable, and that's when the NTSB, CAP, FBI, state of AK, etc decide that it's okay to do so. It's a live federal investigation. If you don't have a role in it, stay out of it.

As someone who does this for a living, you nailed every key point.

Just carry on with your business and get back to work. Operations aren't disrupted nationwide. We still have our own lives to live. The CAP mission continues. Stay frosty.

[Johnny Yuma]

I've heard that pilot's name before, was he featured in the CAP magazine awhile back or something?

The building he flew into was occupied by his wife's employer, a heavy hitter National law firm. She was a staff attorney there.

[RiverAux]

The obvious question brought up by the way they worded this press release was:  Was he actually a CAP pilot that is generally authorized to fly CAP planes, but wasn't authorized to fly this plane at this particular time (no flight release) or was he not a CAP pilot at all?  I assume the former, but it is a bit confusing. 

[FW]

The pilot (allegedly) was a current CAP pilot, and a rated MP.  "Unauthorized flight", probably means no flight release.  It will be interesting to see the results of the investigation.

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

The pilot (allegedly) was a current CAP pilot, and a rated MP.  "Unauthorized flight", probably means no flight release.  It will be interesting to see the results of the investigation.

Or just no flight release in WMIRS. A FRO could have it sitting on paper as we still allow that.