Tudamorf
12-19-2006, 05:43 PM
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/19/BAG2NN2CTL7.DTL<b>Drained sewage tank reveals three men in plane</b>
(12-19) 13:22 PST GILROY -- The three men who died when their small plane crashed at a wastewater treatment plant Monday have been identified as a San Jose flight instructor and two students, all Japanese nationals, authorities said.
The twin-engine plane, a Beechcraft Travel Air, had departed the Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose at 1 p.m. and crashed into a tank of raw sewage at the South County Regional Wastewater Authority treatment plant about three hours later.
FAA officials learned of the wreck when a pilot reported to Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center that he had witnessed a plane go down around Gilroy. The center notified local authorities, who began searching and found the plane around 5 p.m., "broken up and submerged in a pool of sewage" at the plant.
On Monday, rescue workers could not enter the tank, which is about 20 feet deep, because it was filled with raw sewage, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.
Workers at the wastewater authority -- which serves Gilroy and Morgan Hill -- pumped most of the sludge out of the tank this morning, he said. Once they cleared the tank, workers saw three bodies in the aircraft.Of all the places to make an emergency landing...
(12-19) 13:22 PST GILROY -- The three men who died when their small plane crashed at a wastewater treatment plant Monday have been identified as a San Jose flight instructor and two students, all Japanese nationals, authorities said.
The twin-engine plane, a Beechcraft Travel Air, had departed the Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose at 1 p.m. and crashed into a tank of raw sewage at the South County Regional Wastewater Authority treatment plant about three hours later.
FAA officials learned of the wreck when a pilot reported to Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center that he had witnessed a plane go down around Gilroy. The center notified local authorities, who began searching and found the plane around 5 p.m., "broken up and submerged in a pool of sewage" at the plant.
On Monday, rescue workers could not enter the tank, which is about 20 feet deep, because it was filled with raw sewage, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.
Workers at the wastewater authority -- which serves Gilroy and Morgan Hill -- pumped most of the sludge out of the tank this morning, he said. Once they cleared the tank, workers saw three bodies in the aircraft.Of all the places to make an emergency landing...