Connect with us

California

California Plane Crash Brings Attention to Home-Built Aircraft

Published

on

California Plane Crash Brings Attention to Home-Built Aircraft


A small airplane that crashed into the ocean off the California coast on Sunday was constructed piece by piece over nearly a decade, one of tens of thousands of home-built aircraft that are part of a high-flying hobby taking off across the country, the AP reports. Federal investigators said they believe four people were aboard the single-engine Cozy Mark IV when it went down in the evening just south of San Francisco. No survivors were found and only one body had been recovered from the waters near Half Moon Bay and identified as of Thursday. There have been no official indications of what went wrong, but a witness reported hearing an engine losing power and cutting out.

Like commercial aircraft, all home-built planes are required by the FAA to be inspected annually for air worthiness. Cozy aircraft, a class of planes constructed by individuals rather than mass-produced by companies, have the same safety record as commercially built planes of similar size, said aeronautical engineer Marc Zeitlin, who consults with the National Transportation Safety Board on crash investigations involving Cozy aircraft, including this one. More than 33,000 amateur-built aircraft are licensed by the FAA, a figure that has tripled since the 1980s. The administration designates any non-commercial, recreational aircraft as “experimental.” Those can include planes built from kits with some prefabricated parts or from plans in which the builder buys or manufactures and assembles all the parts.

Advertisement

The four-seat Mark IV, at just over 16 feet long with a 28-foot wingspan, is a popular plane among the growing number of aviation hobbyists who build their own aircraft. Zeitlin owns one himself that he takes on day trips and cross-country voyages. “The misconception is that these are put together by baling wire and glue,” said Zeitlin, CEO of California-based Burnside Aerospace. “But they are built using aircraft methodology.” Thane Ostroth said he bought the plans for his Cozy, the one that crashed Sunday, for about $500 and started putting it together in a friend’s basement in Michigan in 1999; by 2008, he was flying it. He sold it last year to an experienced pilot for around $100,000, which is about what he estimated went into the project over the decades.

story continues below

The plans come with a list of authorized suppliers of parts,” said Ostroth. “You buy foam, you buy fiberglass, you buy metal parts from all the manufacturers. And you slowly piece it together.” Help can be found from other enthusiasts who post tips and advice in online forums. Ostroth said he heard about the crash in an online chat group for pilots and builders of Cozy aircraft. He said it was “traumatic” to know the plane he had spent so much time on had crashed with people on board. “It’s just a horrible feeling,” Ostroth said.

Advertisement

(Read more plane crash stories.)





Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

California

New law requiring California bars to offer drink spiking drug test kits takes effect July 1 | CNN

Published

on

New law requiring California bars to offer drink spiking drug test kits takes effect July 1 | CNN




CNN
 — 

A new law requiring many California bars and nightclubs to offer common date-rape drug test kits will take effect Tuesday, according to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

The law, Assembly Bill 1013, requires approximately 2,400 establishments with a Type 48 license to have signage letting patrons know that drug testing kits are available.

Type 48 licenses are issued to bars and nightclubs and authorize the sale of beer, wine, and distilled spirits, according to the department.

Advertisement

The signage reads, “Don’t get roofied! Drink spiking drug test kits available here. Ask a staff member for details.”

The drug testing devices will either be offered for sale at a reasonable price or be given to customers for free, according to the department.

Devices could include test strips, stickers, or straws that can detect the presence of controlled substances in drinks.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

California

California bars required to offer drug testing kits starting July 1

Published

on

California bars required to offer drug testing kits starting July 1


California bars required to offer drug testing kits starting July 1 – CBS Sacramento

Watch CBS News


Bars and nightclubs across California will be required to have testing kits for date rape drugs, effective Monday.

Advertisement

Be the first to know

Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.




Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

California

Eagles’ Don Henley Files Lawsuit for Return of Handwritten ‘Hotel California’ Lyrics

Published

on

Eagles’ Don Henley Files Lawsuit for Return of Handwritten ‘Hotel California’ Lyrics


Eagles singer Don Henley filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday (June 28) seeking the return of his handwritten notes and song lyrics from the band’s 1976 album Hotel California.

The civil complaint filed in Manhattan federal court comes after prosecutors in March abruptly dropped criminal charges midway through a trial against three collectibles experts accused of scheming to sell the documents.

The Eagles co-founder has maintained the pages were stolen and had vowed to pursue a lawsuit when the criminal case was dropped against rare books dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and rock memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski.

“These 100 pages of personal lyric sheets belong to Mr. Henley and his family, and he has never authorized defendants or anyone else to peddle them for profit,” Daniel Petrocelli, Henley’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement Friday.

Advertisement

According to the lawsuit, the handwritten pages remain in the custody of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which declined to comment Friday on the litigation.

Lawyers for Kosinski and Inciardi dismissed the legal action as baseless, noting the criminal case was dropped after it was determined that Henley misled prosecutors by withholding critical information.

“Don Henley is desperate to rewrite history,” Shawn Crowley, Kosinski’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to litigating this case and bringing a lawsuit against Henley to hold him accountable for his repeated lies and misuse of the justice system.”

Inciardi’s lawyer, Stacey Richman, said in a separate statement that the lawsuit attempts to “bully” and “perpetuate a false narrative.”

A lawyer for Horowitz, who isn’t named as a defendant as he doesn’t claim ownership of the materials, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

Advertisement

During the trial, the men’s lawyers argued that Henley gave the lyrics pages decades ago to a writer who worked on a never-published Eagles biography and later sold the handwritten sheets to Horowitz. He, in turn, sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski, who started putting some of the pages up for auction in 2012.

The criminal case was abruptly dropped after prosecutors agreed that defense lawyers had essentially been blindsided by 6,000 pages of communications involving Henley and his attorneys and associates.

Prosecutors and the defense said they received the material only after Henley and his lawyers made a last-minute decision to waive their attorney-client privilege shielding legal discussions.

Judge Curtis Farber, who presided over the nonjury trial that opened in late February, said witnesses and their lawyers used attorney-client privilege “to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging” and that prosecutors “were apparently manipulated.”



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending