EL CAJON, Calif. -- Two light planes were destroyed and a third damaged Wednesday when the driver of a pickup truck blacked out and crashed through a fence at Gillespie Field, authorities said.
No one was hurt in the accident reported about 4:15 p.m. at the general aviation airport, a dispatcher with Heartland fire said.
Broadcast images showed a white pickup truck lodged under a high-winged plane that appeared to have suffered significant damage.
The man was driving on Johnson Avenue when he passed out and his truck went through the fence and ended up on the airport tarmac, Monica Zech of the city of El Cajon said.
The truck smashed into one parked Cessna 152 and dragged another several hundred feet, Zech said.
"He woke up with a plane on top of him," Zech said.
The man declined to be taken to a hospital, Zech said.
The third plane suffered superficial damage, according to Zech.
There was no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved, Zech said.
From my iphone:
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
Semper Fidelis
“De inimico non loquaris male, sed cogites"-
Do not wish death for your enemy, plan it.
Nope ... its a medical issue, therefore no criminal charges are contemplated regardless of monetary losses to the victims.
It does make one wonder what condition caused the man to pass out ... and why was he given the opportunity to decline a trip to the hospital?
Waddya bet he has his licence popped? Also waddya bet someone here will post .... "Aw, he shouldn't have had his medical pulled, he was just a great guy trying to do a tough job ...he shouldn't suffer any more than he already has ... TC is full of jerks!"
Easy explanation: it was one of them "poorly paid, often tired junior pilots" passing out while working his a** off at his third job making deliveries with the pickup he borrowed from his ex-wifes brother
Finn47 wrote:Easy explanation: it was one of them "poorly paid, often tired junior pilots" passing out while working his a** off at his third job making deliveries with the pickup he borrowed from his ex-wifes brother
SMS report under the " reporters recommended corrective action section"
In order to prevent a recurrance of this incident I recommend
Short term:
Drivers should have "driver incapcitation training" This training should be delivered by a certified training institution. A recurrent training program should be established and a audit trail be created so that compliance with the training be tracked and verified.
Long Term:
An industry review of "best practices" should be carried out in order to identify and evaluate the most effective approaches to reduce the risk factors leading to these kinds of incidents. A long term study should be conducted to verify the effectiveness of the "driver incapacitation" training program. In addition all parts of this program should be in accordance with the company's safety "system of systems" methodology
