Andrew Joseph Stack, 53, appears to have flown his Piper Cherokee plane into an IRS (tax authority) building in Austin, Texas intentionally, say authorities in the city, after setting his house on fire 18 February. Two people died in the crash into a building where 200 people work, and two others were injured. Firefighters had contained most of a fire started by the crash but were working during the night to put it out completely. Stack’s web site appears to reflect a long-held grudge against the US government and the IRS in particular.
The Brazilian air force announced last night 4 June that the debris it had recovered from the sea near the presumed crash site of the Air France Airbus A330 was not in fact from the stricken jet. Referring to a wooden pallet, General Ramon Borges Cardoso, the air force spokesman, said it did not come from the cargo hold of the plane, as reported yesterday. Fuel slicks seen from the air were reportedly also not kerosene from the plane but oil from a ship. BBC, Le Monde/AFP (Fre)
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – Air France officials have confirmed that six Swiss nationals are among the passengers of the missing flight from Brazil to France. Most of the 228 persons on board were French and Brazilian with 61 and 58 passengers respectively.
Debris has been found off the coast of Senegal although it has not been confirmed it belongs to AF447. The missing plane sent an automatic message to Air France signalling an electrical circuit malfunction and loss of pressure about four hours into the flight.
An airplane carrying children from California to a ski vacation in Butte, Montana, crashed Sunday as it neared the airport, apparently killing all 17 aboard. Reuters
A Continental Airlines connecting flight operated by Colgan Air, flying from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo, New York, crashed into a house five miles short of the runway, killing one person on the ground and all 48 aboard the plane. The cause of the crash is not yet known but several witnesses said they saw flames before the crash, reports Reuters.
DNA tests have confirmed that the bones found near the site of an airplane crash in a remote part of the US state of Nevada are those of adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared in September 2007. BBC
