"Girl who survived Washington plane crash hikes to safety"

"I've spent 30 years in the Civil Air Patrol and in search-and-rescue. Moments of joy like this can be hard to find."

A teenage girl who survived a small-plane crash in the craggy, thickly forested mountains of north-central Washington state emerged from the wilderness after hiking "for a couple of days" and was picked up by a motorist who drove her to safety, authorities said Monday. But the fate of her two step-grandparents, who were also on board, remained unclear.

David Veatch, the father of 16-year-old Autumn Veatch, told reporters outside a Brewster hospital late Monday his daughter is exhausted but doing remarkably well.

She was able to joke with him about all the survival shows they watched together on television, he said. (read more)

David Veatch, the father of Autumn Veatch, 16

"Co-pilot appears to have crashed Germanwings plane on purpose"

"A young German co-pilot locked himself alone in the cockpit of a Germanwings airliner and flew it into a mountain with what appears to have been the intent to destroy it, a French prosecutor said on Thursday."

Investigators and grieving relatives were left struggling to explain what motivated Andreas Lubitz, 28, to kill all 150 people on board the Airbus A320, including himself, in Wednesday's crash in the French Alps.

The CEO of Lufthansa, parent company of Germanwings, said its air crew were picked carefully and subjected to psychological vetting.

"No matter your safety regulations, no matter how high you set the bar, and we have incredibly high standards, there is no way to rule out such an event," CEO Carsten Spohr said. (read more)

My speculation, after the pilot's name was released this morning, was that maybe the co-pilot wanted the passengers to have a closer view of the French Alps. Perhaps, similarly to how the captain of the Concordia wanted his passengers to take a closer look ashore and miscalculated. Who knows?

Maybe the authorities will find something to explain his actions, but, maybe they wont.

"German Airbus A320 plane crashes in French Alps"

A passenger plane flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf has crashed in a remote and mountainous area of southern France.

A distress call was made by the aircraft at 10.47am, while the plane was “in an abnormal situation”, the French transport ministry said. The crash happened shortly afterwards, it added.

The aircraft disappeared off the radar at around 11.20am, Le Figaro reported. The plane dropped from 11,500 metres to 2,100 metres (38,000ft to 7,000ft) in nine minutes between 10.31am and 10.40am, air radar services said.

The distress call to air traffic control in Marseilles was “mayday, mayday, mayday” and the pilot requested an emergency descent, meaning all airspace had to be cleared below the route of the aircraft.

A chance for CNN and Fox to have people talk and scribble large digital maps a la John Madden.

"Actor Harrison Ford reportedly in stable condition after plane crash on golf course"

Police sketch of suspicious person fleeing the airspace near Harrison Ford's crash site. pic.twitter.com/ec8FgOd8UK
— Justice Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) March 6, 2015

"Dramatic video shows Taiwan plane crash that killed 23"

"At least 23 people died but 15 survived a spectacular crash caught on video of a TransAsia Airways flight that clipped its wing on a bridge after takeoff from the Taiwanese capital Taipei and crashed into a nearby river."

"Taiwanese rescuers used a massive crane to hoist the ATR 72-600 propjet from the shallow river after survivors were brought to safety on rubber rafts or scrambled to the river bank on their own. Twenty people remained missing hours after the crash."