Plane crashes on roof of Pomona office building

Plane crashes on roof of Pomona office building

Well this is quite the crash landing. It looks like the pilot was able to land his Piper on the roof on an office building, with surprisingly very little damage.

The crash was reported at 4:42 p.m., and the plane landed on a building at 971 Corporate Center Drive, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Flores. Two people were walking around the plane when firefighters arrived on the scene, Flores said.

The building houses State of California offices.

Flores said the airport received a Mayday call from the pilot and there were reports of smoke coming from the plane. "He was having some kind of trouble," she said.

Not much else to the story, just thought it was interesting!

If it were me flying, I would much rather take my chances on a forced landing on ground, but I guess I am not familiar with the area. It's also interesting he as only 3.5 miles from the airport... its too bad he couldn't make it the rest of the way there!

a reply to: charolais

How are they going to get it down from the roof?

Shortest crash landing strip ever?

The roof cushioned the impact.

a reply to: windword

Crane. They'll bring a heavy duty crane in and lift it off, and put it on a flatbed and take it to the airport.

He thought he was flying a Helicopter?

They did that in the last resident evil movie. Hollywood got it right?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: windword

Crane. They'll bring a heavy duty crane in and lift it off, and put it on a flatbed and take it to the airport.

If the fuselage is too compromised or bent beyond repair might they also just take a saw saw and cut up the plane and remove it in bits?

a reply to: BASSPLYR


Honestly it's an insurance issue now. They'll do what's cheapest for them according to the pilot's policy.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

It doesn't look too bad. It'll almost certainly be written off, but it looks like the frame is in good shape. They'll disassemble it, remove the wings, horizontal stabilizers, etc, but it looks like they shouldn't have any trouble removing it.

Just Cause 3?

a reply to: charolais

That must be one LIGHT aircraft.

That looks like a flat roof, and in my experience flat rooftops are usually weaker than a Trvium gig. Good eye on the part of the pilot, being able to put her down on that postage stamp of a roof. Must have cut airspeed just the right amount before touch down. Could have been nasty if it had tipped over the edge though.

originally posted by: charolais
Plane crashes on roof of Pomona office building

Well this is quite the crash landing. It looks like the pilot was able to land his Piper on the roof on an office building, with surprisingly very little damage.

The crash was reported at 4:42 p.m., and the plane landed on a building at 971 Corporate Center Drive, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokeswoman Melanie Flores. Two people were walking around the plane when firefighters arrived on the scene, Flores said.

The building houses State of California offices.

Flores said the airport received a Mayday call from the pilot and there were reports of smoke coming from the plane. "He was having some kind of trouble," she said.

Not much else to the story, just thought it was interesting!

If it were me flying, I would much rather take my chances on a forced landing on ground, but I guess I am not familiar with the area. It's also interesting he as only 3.5 miles from the airport... its too bad he couldn't make it the rest of the way there!

Far out, thats a bit of a short runway init?

a reply to: TrueBrit

The PA-28 has a maximum takeoff weight of under 2200 pounds and an empty weight under 1300.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well, the pilot must have nailed the angle of approach, because otherwise he would either have ploughed through the roof, or fallen off the edge!

Wow. looks like he dropped out the sky vertically.

a reply to: charolais

Kind of looks like he "skipped" it once on the roof before planting it. Look on the roof below the tail..

originally posted by: Soloprotocol
Wow. looks like he dropped out the sky vertically.

Almost looks like he did this

a reply to: Zaphod58

We could almost call this a textbook short field - stalled landing... other than the collapsed front gear!

a reply to: charolais

Wow...that must take some nerve to land like that!

I'm assuming you fly in towards a strong headwind?

If the wind wasn't steady or was a little gusty, that plane would have dropped like a stone and got smashed to bits.

originally posted by: MysterX
a reply to: charolais

Wow...that must take some nerve to land like that!

I'm assuming you fly in towards a strong headwind?

If the wind wasn't steady or was a little gusty, that plane would have dropped like a stone and got smashed to bits.

Yeah more than likely he was flying into a 20-30 knot headwind. The cubs have a stall speed of 33 knots and a lot of guys modify them to decrease the stall speed by up to 30%.

You are right though, a sudden gust or a drop in wind speed would make it stall and drop like a stone (and it has happened a lot). The amount of crashes in Alaska is insane. Mostly due to stupidity.