Planely Lost
May 23, 2013 5:26 AM
How do I go about finding a plane crash that took place involving a small engine plane, in which 3-5 people died, in a specific US city at the intersection of a major road and interstate highway, that took place in a span of time I can narrow down to within six months or a year (about 25 years ago)?
I started searching and just got news reports about all kinds of small engine plane crashes with fatalities in the last few months and years. Overwhelming in the amount of data returned, and difficult to weed through without reading more than I want to (even on preview only) about plane crashes and fatalities.
I don't want to read about all kinds of planes falling out of the sky, I want to know specifically what happened for this flight as a result of the crash investigation (if there was one), officially.
I found this search site for the NTSB, but it only goes back to 2002.
Thoughts?
I started searching and just got news reports about all kinds of small engine plane crashes with fatalities in the last few months and years. Overwhelming in the amount of data returned, and difficult to weed through without reading more than I want to (even on preview only) about plane crashes and fatalities.
I don't want to read about all kinds of planes falling out of the sky, I want to know specifically what happened for this flight as a result of the crash investigation (if there was one), officially.
I found this search site for the NTSB, but it only goes back to 2002.
Thoughts?
Oh, and if the NTSB doesn't have a record of it (which they should if there were fatalities), the FAA has their own Accident/Incident Database with the unfortunate acronym AIDS.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:42 AM on May 23, 2013
posted by backseatpilot at 5:42 AM on May 23, 2013
Oh, cool!
You finding that index was a huge HUGE help. I only had to read one incident report summary (luggage compartment door ajar or something) before I found it (and I was within three months of my guessed month!).
Many thanks, both for the clarification of the linked information available and your offer to try to find it for me. It really really helped.
posted by tilde at 5:45 AM on May 23, 2013
You finding that index was a huge HUGE help. I only had to read one incident report summary (luggage compartment door ajar or something) before I found it (and I was within three months of my guessed month!).
Many thanks, both for the clarification of the linked information available and your offer to try to find it for me. It really really helped.
posted by tilde at 5:45 AM on May 23, 2013
For future reference, if you know the location in that level of detail, you could probably find a record in the local newspaper -- if they still have back-issues on microfilm and not digital, a librarian in that town could look it up for you (given a date range) and give you enough to search elsewhere with more concrete info.
posted by acm at 8:00 AM on May 23, 2013
posted by acm at 8:00 AM on May 23, 2013
In theory, acm, yes. The local paper doesn't have the archives online for free, and I'm not sure if they would have reported on the follow up and determination of the result. The probable cause report wasn't filed (or digitized, maybe) until nearly three years later.
posted by tilde at 10:45 AM on May 23, 2013
posted by tilde at 10:45 AM on May 23, 2013
Can you contact the library in the area where the plane crash happened? They might have some information in their local-history-type stuff.
posted by sarcasticah at 2:55 PM on May 23, 2013
posted by sarcasticah at 2:55 PM on May 23, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:31 AM on May 23, 2013