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Max
02-27-2011, 04:33 AM
KINGSTON, N.Y. – A vintage military jet, now privately owned and flown in air shows, crashed into ice on the Hudson River on Saturday as it came in for a landing at an airport in Kingston, authorities said. The pilot was missing and feared dead.

A search for the pilot, identified as Michael Faraldi, 38, of Germantown, was suspended late in the evening, state police said.

Divers searching the river for signs of Faraldi discovered that the front section of the plane, including the cockpit, had struck the river bed in about 5 feet of water, police said. The search was expected to resume Sunday.

The accident happened at about 1:30 p.m. near the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, which spans the river midway between Albany and New York City.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker said the aircraft was partially submerged after the crash. Only one person was known to be aboard the plane when it went down.

Faraldi was piloting the plane from Nashville, Tenn., to an airport in Ghent, N.Y., state police said.

The jet, a British-made BAC 167 Strikemaster, was headed to Kingston-Ulster Airport from an airfield Johnstown, Pa., when it went down, Baker said. The aircraft made a low pass over the airstrip before hitting the river.

There was no immediate word on whether the pilot reported any problems before the crash.

The jet was a type of training and light attack aircraft first made in the late 1960s and used by various air defense forces in the Middle East, Africa, South America and elsewhere. In recent years, it was owned by Dragon Aviation, a company that flies fighter jets in air shows all over the country.

A snarling green dragon adorned the jet's nose.

"This has got to be a bad dream," said the company's president, Andy Anderson, as he traveled to the crash scene Saturday afternoon. He said the pilot, who he declined to name, was "a good, good friend."

beowulf
02-27-2011, 10:04 AM
must be this one..................funny enough it came up in a thread a week ago on a model making forum i frequent

http://i52.tinypic.com/whmomv.jpg

AntZ
02-27-2011, 10:35 AM
Date: 26-FEB-2011

Time: 13:30

Type: Silhouette image of generic JPRO model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different

BAC 167 Strikemaster

Operator: Dragon Aviation

Registration: N167SM

C/n / msn: EEP/JP/165

Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1

Other fatalities: 0

Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)

Location: Hudson River, Kingston New York - United States of America

Phase: En route

Nature: Private

Departure airport: KJST

Destination airport: K20N

Narrative:

BAC 167 Strikemaster ex-military jet used for airshows, aircraft was arriving from Johnstown PA - it did a very low pass over the runway, before crashing into the frozen Hudson River on approach to Kingston-Ulster Airport.
The accident happened at about 1:30 p.m. Saturday near the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the aircraft was partially submerged after the crash and the pilot was unaccounted for.

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=94037


http://www.warbirddepot.com/aircraft_jets_bac167-dragon.asp


http://www.jerrythejet.com/main.htm

AntZ
02-27-2011, 10:37 AM
must be this one..................funny enough it came up in a thread a week ago on a model making forum i frequent

http://i52.tinypic.com/whmomv.jpg

I couldn't nail down the exact plane, there are more then one and the pain scheme is always changing except for the dragon nose art.

beowulf
02-27-2011, 11:16 AM
i think it is the one,...............the andy anderson name pops up too often

http://www.warbirddepot.com/aircraft_jets_bac167-rice.asp

AntZ
02-27-2011, 11:37 AM
i think it is the one,...............the andy anderson name pops up too often

http://www.warbirddepot.com/aircraft_jets_bac167-rice.asp

Yeah, that's the same link I posted. Andy Anderson is the owner.



"This has got to be a bad dream," said the company's president, Andy Anderson, as he traveled to the crash scene Saturday afternoon. He said the pilot, who he declined to name, was "a good, good friend."