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StumbleSurvivor of plane crash says she had full confidence in pilot
Buddy and Tracy Faucheaux, from right, the mother and father of Tamika Savoy, one of the victims of Monday’s small plane crash in a residential area of the valley near Silverado Ranch Boulevard and Bermuda Road, thank Dr. John Fildes of UMC after a press conference Tuesday at the UMC Trauma Center.
Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010 | 7:38 p.m.
Plane crash
A woman injured in a plane crash in Henderson on Monday said before the aircraft took off that she was confident in the pilot’s abilities and trusted him like family, her mother said.
Tracy Faucheaux, whose daughter Tamika Savoy was one of four people aboard the plane, said she was nervous about her daughter flying in the small, private plane.
But Savoy reassured her that she had faith in the pilot, Douglas Touchet, 45, of Erath, La.
“She was like, ‘Mama, I trust him more than I trust daddy.’ That’s what relieved me, because that’s how careful he was,” Faucheaux said at a news conference on Tuesday. “Something just went terribly wrong.”
Touchet died of injuries suffered in the crash.
Savoy and her husband, Randall, of Catahoula, La., and Touchet’s wife, Susan, were at University Medical Center in stable condition, said Dr. John Fildes, medical director of trauma.
The plane, a Piper Lance, crashed in a residential neighborhood off Bermuda Road and Silverado Ranch Boulevard shortly after taking off from Henderson Executive Airport.
“It was taking off routinely and all of the sudden lost power,” Metro Police Lt. Joe Ojeda said. “It appears from the trajectory that it attempted to land on the street.”
Faucheaux, speaking at the hospital, said her daughter was taking the pilot’s death hard.
“It’s just a very sad loss,” Faucheaux said. “You know, that was her friend. I don’t know much about flying, but any one of the friends would have flew with him. He was that careful.”
She said her son-in-law, Randall Savoy, spoke to her and her husband, Buddy, on the phone from the runway minutes before the group took off saying that everything was OK.
The injured passengers suffered burns, internal injuries and fractures, specifically broken ribs, and are being treated in the hospital’s burn unit, Fildes said.
“They were very badly injured,” he said. “I’m very hopeful they will make a full recovery.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. A preliminary report is expected later this week. The full investigation is expected to take six months to a year to complete.
Discussion: 3 comments so far…
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Small planes go down all the time. It's fortunate in this case that only one person lost his life. I hope the NTSB's investigation will help other pilots avoid the same fate.
I have a fair amount of time in a Grumman Cheetah. I've never had an occasion to make an emergency landing, but I can appreciate everything that must have been going through the pilot's mind. For him to have put the plane down as well as he did (judging from the account) and have his passengers live says a lot about his skill.
Witness heard the engine sputtering, my ten year study on General Aviation aircraft engine sputter points to UNDETECTABLE WATER in the fuel tanks, the pilot cannot positively detect during the preflight of the aircraft. Both the FAA and NTSB are keenly aware of this indicated design flaw for decades. Those charged with the oversight of this indicated design flaw, FAA and NTSB, do nothing, as pilots and passengers continue to die. UNDETECTABLE WATER in the fuel tanks is simple to prove. Take a 16 ounce cup of red dyed water and pour it into the fuel tank of any GA aircraft as it sits in its normal ground attitude. Then go to the sump drain and see if you can positively detect and then eliminate the same 16 ounces of water you just poured into the fuel tank. GOOD LUCK.
"Sutton told KLAS-TV he heard the sputtering plane pass over his house at low altitude before there was a loud boom a few seconds later." From Plane crash on NV street kills 1, injures 3
(AP) -- 12 hours ago less
You can be confident in the pilot. But how can confident can you be in that single engine?
Curious - Who pays the $100k+ medical bills?
HOw are the stories on this so different?
Hopefully they crack down more on Henderson Airport, those guys fly over Anthem/Seven hills a lot, which is a strict no-fly zone.
This is from another source (Not RJ)
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A local aviation official says the pilot whose single-engine plane crashed in a south valley neighborhood did not follow a recommended flight path. The "Review-Journal" says according to the Clark County Aviation Department's deputy director, 50-year-old Douglas Touchet did not use a route which would have taken the Piper Cherokee away from the residential area. Federal investigators say the plane departed from the Henderson Executive Airport on Monday morning, but could not gain altitude. The Louisiana man tried to return to the airport, but the plane crashed at the intersection of a community near Bermuda Road and Silverado Ranch Boulevard. Touchet died on his way to the hospital, while his wife Susan remains in critical condition at University Medical Center. Another couple in the plane, Tamika and Randall Savoy, also remain hospitalized but are expected to recover. Tamika Savoy's mother told reporters her 29-year-old daughter feared for her life after the plane crash, and says she will, quote, "never fly again. Ever. Ever." The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release a preliminary report on the plane crash later this week.
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fuel contamination is a good possibility. a review of the planes' mechanical records will add more information.
TO sumpthiscom
I cannot exaggerate how careful this man was as a pilot. He used the plane for business in TX, AR, AL and FL. I fully believe he did all the checks. The sputtering heard is of concern to us, those he left, also. How can WE learn of this design flaw you refer to and how can we learn about the FAA and NTSB knowing of this??? YOU KNOW its going to come down to "pilot error" in the end ....
Mollymquire it is not the fault of the pilot at all. If the pilot performs a proper preflight and does not see any water in his sump cup he is good to fly. The problem is with the aircraft fuel system that may not offer the pilot positive detection of fuel contaminated with water. May I offer an example. I bought my Cessna new in 1981. It was in a hangar when not flying. I am the only person that ever fueled my aircraft. It was never washed only waxed after each flight, never left an airport with a bug on my plane. Meticulously maintained. For 17 years I did not see one drop of water in my sump cup during preflights. I thought this meant I had no water in the fuel tanks. Then after one rough running engine and three total engine failures in flight I discovered that the fuel tanks were hiding water. With the FAA present I poured 52 ounces of red dyed water into both of my fuel tanks as the aircraft sat in its normal ground attitude. Then went to all ten sump drains and did not see one drop of the 104 ounces of red dyed water just poured into the fuel tanks. Two FAA Safety Recommendations 99.283 and 99.284 were sent to Washington. Frank Del Gandio flew down to Nashville and awarded Craig Roberts a plaque, we all had our picture made. When the two safety recommendations actually closed down Cessna delivery for one day, that night six Cessna managers flew to Kansas City to meet with the FAA. The two safety recommendations for which Del Gandio awarded a plaque to Craig Roberts just vanished. My FOIA request for what happened at that meeting was returned to me redacted. When witness's on the ground report the engine was sputtering I cannot help but think, could that have been undetectable water in that aircraft fuel tank?
Did you know the NTSB has written off engine failures in GA aircraft well over 6,418 times as UNDETERMINED. I think the NTSB could use a good old country boy to show them a thing or two about air, spark and UNCONTAMINATED FUEL. Google NTSB Safety Recommendations A-83-6. Google SAIB CE-10-40R1. Both offer insight into the existence of the water problem in GA aircraft. Yep, it is usually pilot error Molly. That is the way they set the system up. Those at the crash cite are the NTSB, FAA, aircraft manufacturer and aircraft engine manufacturer. No one is at the cite to represent the pilot, either alive or deceased. Molly I am trying my best to speak on behalf of deceased pilots.
Everyone believes what they read in the media. Yet this is about a mile from the nearest part of henderson. Now Im not being picky about the location (LAS VEGAS), but remember things like this when you read the paper. Things arent always 100% accurate. Mistakes can be made
Whatever happened to that gal in the bikini that got clocked by a propeller at McCarren earlier this summer?