Five-Hour Search For Downed Plane at Raleigh-Durham Airport, 1978

Posted by Mike Legeros on 29 January 2020, 7:10 pm

Found these plane crash photos from 1978 by Jim Thornton in the Herald-Sun photo collection at Wilson Library at UNC. Here’s the story behind them. On Monday night, February 13, 1978, a twin-engine Aero Commander 600 approaching Raleigh-Durham Airport disappeared from radar at 8:00 p.m. Six souls were aboard. The plane apparently struck a tree …

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Audio Recording from Commuter Plane Crash Response in Morrisville, 1994

Posted by Mike Legeros on 11 January 2020, 4:57 pm

Here’s a surprise historical find, newly discovered audio recording of the 911 call, the dispatch, and the first 13 minutes of radio traffic, of fire units responding to the commuter plane crash in Morrisville on December 13, 1994. Listen to the recording at www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwV4H5GVK_Y. It was contributed by David Ferrell, a Morrisville Fire Captain and …

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Vintage Air Ambulance Advertisement, 1947

Posted by Mike Legeros on 17 December 2019, 5:36 am

Found for sale on eBay. Advertisement for “America’s first air ambulance service” in Durham, from 1947. Was this the same service that operated the air ambulance that crashed near Oxford two years later? To be determined. See that posting.

Interactive Map of Local Plane Crash Sites

Posted by Mike Legeros on 5 November 2019, 7:20 am

New interactive map: Raleigh-Durham area plane crashes. With an emphasis on major / serious / notable. Displays information about crash sites in Wake, Durham, Orange, Harnett, Johnston, and Franklin counties. Most are exact or close-close locations. Some are noted with question marks, and tagged in a general location. Let’s calls this the final-for-now version. Will …

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Run Card for Plane Crash at Umstead Park

Posted by Mike Legeros on 23 October 2019, 6:52 am

See photos from Sunday and Monday at legeros.smugmug.com/Fire-Photos/2019/2019-10-umstead-crash Here’s a run card for Sunday night’s aircraft incident, after radar contact was lost with a small plane on approach to Runway 32 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. That’s the smallest of the airport’s three runways, and perpendicular to the main runway. The tower notified crash-fire-rescue and airport …

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Airport Orders Pierce Pumper – Update October 2019

Posted by Mike Legeros on 10 October 2019, 8:52 pm

October 10, 2019 Here’s a factory photo of the completed truck, as posted on this Pierce Flickr page: October 30, 2018 News from Raleigh-Durham International Airport. They’ve ordered a Freightliner/Pierce pumper to replace CFR 1, a 2005 Ford F-550/4 Guys mini-pumper, 500/250/20. And it’s the first full-size pumper in the airport’s history.[1]

Plane Strikes Fire Truck While Taking Off – Charlotte, 1977

Posted by Mike Legeros on 12 June 2019, 7:34 am

Here’s an usual apparatus accident, reported by the Charlotte Observer on Saturday, April 9, 1977. Douglas Municipal Airport on Friday night, April 8. Piece of fire apparatus with three aboard. They were returning to the station, after doing some pre-planning of a DC-10 that had made a rare landing at the airport. The FFs radioed …

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Emergency Landing at Winston-Salem Airport, 1971

Posted by Mike Legeros on 22 December 2018, 11:52 am

From the May-June 1971 issue of Hose & Nozzle magazine. Piedmont Airlines prop plane made an emergency landing at Smith Reynolds Airport in Winston-Salem. Jammed landing gear forced a belly landing. Runway foaming was started, but stopped when the pilot reported that the plane had only a few more minutes of fuel. It had circled …

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Visual History of Raleigh-Durham Airport Fire Department

Posted by Mike Legeros on 4 July 2018, 4:06 pm

For your holiday enjoyment, here’s another Legeros History Chart. Raleigh-Durham International Airport fire department. AKA, RDU CFR. View as JPG | View as PDF | See more charts Here’s the landing page. And only one typo spotted so far. The 1979 quick-response truck was a Chevy, not a Ford. Will be updated. Here’s the chart in paper form. Sometimes Mr. …

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Chapel Hill Airport Burns – January 11, 1941

Posted by Mike Legeros on 25 April 2018, 6:46 am

From the Daily Tar Heel, January 12, 1941, via Digital NC / North Carolina Newspapers: Airport Burns; Seven CAA Planes Destroyed Defective Wiring Attributed Cause By Bucky Harward All ten airplanes and the hangar at the University airport were completely demolished last night between 7 and 8 o’clock by a fire which resulted from a …

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