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Second plane crashes in Swiss Alps on Saturday

By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi

 

ZURICH (Reuters) - A small airliner crashed in the Swiss Alps on Saturday, just hours after a family of four was killed when their small plane went down in a forest.

 

Authorities provided few details about the second crash but local airline JU-AIR said one of its Ju-52 airplanes, which seats 17 passengers along with two pilots, had crashed. It was not clear how many people were on the plane.

 

"We have the sad duty to announce that one of our Ju-52 aircraft had a accident today," the airline said on its website. "At the moment, no further information is available."

 

Police said on Twitter that five helicopters and a large rescue mission were deployed to the scene of the accident, which occurred on the west side of the Piz Segnas mountain in the canton of Graubuenden.

 

The airspace above the crash site, which is 2,450 metres (8,038 feet) above sea level, was closed by the country's Federal Office for Civil Aviation.

 

Local newspaper Blick reported that all passengers aboard the plane were killed.

 

Neither police nor the airline could immediately be reached on Saturday night but police said on Twitter that further information would be provided on Sunday morning.

 

Based out of Duebendorf in canton Zurich, JU-AIR offers sightseeing, charter and adventure flights with its three midcentury Junkers Ju-52 aircraft, known affectionately in German as "Auntie Ju" planes.

 

Earlier on Saturday, a small plane crashed in the Rengg mountain pass area in the canton of Nidwalden, killing two parents and their two children.

 

Both crashes were under investigation.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-08-05

[KiChakayan]

Hmmmhhh.... very hot weather, strong thermals, small aircraft. I used to fly paragliders... miss the feeling of dropping out of the sky when I circled a bit too wide.

[KhunBENQ]

16 minutes ago, KiChakayan said:

Hmmmhhh.... very hot weather, strong thermals, small aircraft. I used to fly paragliders... miss the feeling of dropping out of the sky when I circled a bit too wide.

News from Switzerland speculate about a possible connection with the current heat wave.

News are scarce and more to come after sunrise.

[Belzybob]

From avweb.com:

 

Twenty people died Saturday when one of the seven remaining airworthy Ju-52 airliners crashed while on a sightseeing trip in the Swiss Alps. The aircraft is reported to be HB-HOT, the same aircraft that visited AirVenture in 2012. There were 17 passengers and three crew onboard when the aircraft went down on a flight from Locarno to Dubendorf. The aircraft is one of three Ju-52s owned by JU-Air, a Swiss company that uses them on sightseeing and charters. The crash occurred near Martinsloch/Piz Segnaz at the 8330-foot level.

 

Flights through the Alps on the old corrugated metal airliners are popular and almost always fly full according to local reports. This is the first major accident involving JU-AIR and The Aviation Herald, a site that specializes in reporting commercial aircraft incidents, noted that a new NOTAM was issued for the area of the crash warning of a mile long cable that had been erected about 100 metres above the ground a short distance from the crash site. There has been no confirmation that the cable was involved.

 

[Esso49]

Not sure why this is worthy of headline news ? Thais kill more than that on their roads on a typical Saturday and no one bothers too much.

[balo]

I would never fly a vintage plane , sounds to risky to me. 

 

We had another plane crash in South Africa 3 weeks ago , it was a Convair built in 1954 . Luckily all passengers except 1 survived with minor injuries. 

 

I hate those small planes anyway. 

 

  

[Tug]

Probably density at altitude had a part in it rip to all who were lost and sad to see the loss of the historic aircraft