After a great evening at the "Welcome Reception" 
gathering last night, today is the official opening day of the 2026 ARFFWG Annual Educational Symposium here in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
We're here all week, so if your here, stop by booth 62 and say hello!
These are the news stories for today...
Be safe out there!
Tom
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Plane Narrowly Avoids Hitting Postal Van During Emergency Landing
BY JUSTIN HUGHES
A postal carrier in Gifford, Illinois, got the surprise of her life when a small yellow airplane narrowly missed 
colliding with her van shortly before landing on the road. WCIA reports that the plane made an emergency landing on U.S. 136 near the Gordyville USA entertainment venue the morning of Sunday, September 20. It not only barely avoided the mail van, but also some semi-trucks that pulled over to avoid a crash. No crashes occurred, and no one was hurt.
Witnesses described what they saw to WCIA:
"I just heard three screeches, kind of like you would hear at an airport or somewhere like that, or maybe somebody hitting the brakes real hard, and then looked over to see what was happening. And, lo and behold, there was a plane landing," Josh Parrott said. "I saw the wings barely over the mail truck. Came really close landing right on top of the mail truck."
The same noise made Parrott's next door neighbor, Hayden Henderson, run outside to see what was happening.
"If you've ever heard a train going by you, when it was landing on the ground, that's what it sounded like," Henderson said. "It was like, 'Am I seeing what I think that is? Is that really a plane down there?' Never expected that to be what it was in a million years."
A diesel locomotive is much louder than a small plane's idling engine. But Henderson's comment indicates that the engine was still running when he landed on the narrow two-lane road, and this wasn't a case of engine failure. 
The pilot did not talk to WCIA, but the Illinois State Police said that the emergency landing was "due to weather." They did not elaborate on exactly what conditions led to the plane landing on a U.S. highway. The security camera footage from Gordyville USA shows a large open field across the road, which might have been a safer choice away from obstructions and traffic, particularly in an older tail-dragger that was made for such landings. But in this case, everything worked out for the best.
The tail number visible in WCIA's coverage corresponds to a 1949 Piper PA-15 Vagabond, according to the FAA. A Piper badge is visible on the front of the plane as well. This was the successor to the famous Piper Cub, with shorter wings to save money on building materials in the post-war economy, according to the Piper Flyer Association. Those shorter wings may have helped this plane avoid striking objects on the side of the road it landed on.
Whatever weather conditions were that caused the pilot to land on a highway, those conditions didn't seem to last. Later in the day, police closed off the road, and the airplane took off, resuming its journey to points unknown. The mail carrier who got an up-close and personal view of the vintage flying machine presumably resumed her route as well. As the unofficial U.S. Postal Service motto says, "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor small planes nearly crashing into them stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds," or something like that.
Read More: https://www.jalopnik.com/2264529/plane-narrowly-avoids-hitting-postal-van-emergency-landing/
Search for missing pilot suspended following small plane crash off Newport coast
By FOX 12 Staff and Leslie Dominique
NEWPORT Ore. (KPTV) - A 78-year-old pilot remains missing after a small plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Newport Monday afternoon.
The Beechcraft B95 crashed about a mile west of Nye 
Beach shortly before 12:45 p.m., according to eyewitnesses who reported the incident to the Newport Fire Department.
According to the U.S Coast Guard Northwest District, the male pilot was the plane’s lone occupant.
Yoshio Abe was fishing just south of the Yaquina Lighthouse when he noticed the twin-engine plane.
“The plane was unusually flying low, maybe about 20 feet above the surface,” Abe said.
Abe said the plane was making a strange flight pattern, and he initially thought the pilot might have been practicing. Soon after, it hit the water.
“Within three minutes the head went down, and in 10 seconds the whole thing went down,” Abe said.
Abe said he boated out to the area where the plane went down, but he did not see anyone or anything come back to the surface.
The U.S. Coast Guard deployed a helicopter and search-and-rescue boats to the area. 
As darkness fell, people continued to gather at Don and Ann Davis Park at Nye Beach to watch the emergency response. Some worried the search could be suspended overnight as crews faced worsening visibility.
“I’m hoping for the best outcome. They [the pilot’s family] at least get a little bit of closure. I’m hoping they find some part of the aircraft or him,” said Vanessa Muth. “Keeping them in my thoughts and my prayers.”
The pilot has not yet been identified publicly by officials.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will investigate the crash.
FOX 12 reached out to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Pacific Northwest District for an update Monday evening but did not receive an immediate response.
At around 11 p.m. on Monday night, the Coast Guard says crews suspended their search for the pilot after covering around 124 square miles.
https://www.kptv.com/2026/09/22/small-plane-crashes-off-newport-coast-search-underway-missing-pilot/
NTSB Prelim: McFarland Larry C Zenith 601 HDS
Pilot Reported That During The Left Turn Onto The Downwind Leg Of The Airport Traffic Pattern, The Engine Lost All Power
Location: Ripley Landing, WV Accident Number: ERA26LA303
Date & Time: August 15, 2026, 13:00 Local Registration: N601EZ
Aircraft: McFarland Larry C Zenith 601 HDS Injuries: 1 Serious
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal
On August 15, 2026, about 1300 eastern daylight time, an experimental, amateur-built Zenith 601 HDS airplane, N601EZ, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Ripley Landing, West Virginia. The private pilot was seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.
The pilot departed Jackson County Airport, Ravenswood, West Virginia (I18), with the intention of practicing touch and go landings at the airport. The pilot reported that during the left turn onto the downwind leg of the airport traffic pattern, the engine lost all power. The pilot turned the airplane towards the airport but did not have enough altitude to glide to it. The pilot made an emergency off field landing in a tree clearing about 1.2 miles south-southeast of the airport.
Upon touchdown, the nose gear impacted terrain, the airplane then nosed over and came to rest inverted. The pilot was trapped under the wreckage until the following day when he was located by first responders about 0900.
The wreckage was recovered and retained for further examination.
FMI: www.ntsb.gov
Today in History
60 Years ago today: On 22 September 1966 Ansett-ANA flight 149, a Vickers Viscount, crashed near Winton, Queensland, Australia, following an in flight fire killing all 24 occupants.
| Date: | Thursday 22 September 1966 |
| Time: | 13:03 |
| Type: | Vickers 832 Viscount |
| Owner/operator: | Ansett-ANA |
| Registration: | VH-RMI |
| MSN: | 416 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1959 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 18634 hours |
| Cycles: | 6586 flights |
| Engine model: | Rolls-Royce Dart 525 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 24 / Occupants: 24 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 16 km WSW of Winton, QLD - Australia |
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Mount Isa Airport, QLD (ISA/YBMA) |
| Destination airport: | Longreach Airport, QLD (LRE/YLRE) |
| Confidence Rating: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Narrative:
Ansett-ANA flight 149, a Vickers Viscount, crashed near Winton, Queensland, Australia, following an in flight fire killing all 24 occupants.
Ansett-ANA Flight 149 took off at 12:08 for a 73-minute flight to Longreach. The flight progressed, apparently uneventfully, until 12:52 when the Longreach-Flight Service Unit heard the crew of VH-RMI say that it was on an emergency descent and to stand by. Two minutes later the aircraft advised that there were fire warnings in respect of no. 1 and 2 engines, that one of these warning conditions had ceased and that the propeller of the other engine could not be feathered. At 12:59, information from the crew of VH-RMI, relayed to Longreach through--the crew of another aircraft in the vicinity, indicated that there was a visible fire in no. 2 engine and that the aircraft was diverting below 5000 ft, to Winton.
The Vickers Viscount was descending at an indicated airspeed close to 170 knots between 3500 and 4000 ft above ground level . At this point the port wing failed upwards between engines 1 and 2. It struck the top of the fuselage, which at the same time was cut open by the blades of the no. 1 engine, and fell away from the remainder of the aircraft . The cabin shell above floor level was quickly broken away by air loads until eventually the rear fuselage and empennage also separated from the aircraft. The remaining forward fuselage, with the lower mid fuselage, starboard, wing and, engines and port wing stub with the no. 2 engine still attached, struck the ground at the edge of a clay pan and was immediately engulfed in flames.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The means of securing the oil metering unit to the no.2 cabin blower became ineffective and this led to the initiation of a fire within the blower, which propagated to the wing fuel tank and substantially reduced the strength of the main spar upper boom. It is probable that the separation of the oil metering unit arose from an out-of-balance condition induced by rotor break-up but the source of the rotor break-up could not be determined."
