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SAN JUAN. - Three bodies and pieces of an airplane were seen floating on the water north of Puerto Rico yesterday, where a small plane went down Sunday afternoon with six people aboard coming from Dominican Republic, the authorities said.

Arecibo Police spokesman Manuel Gomez told the agency Efe that rescue teams sighted three bodies and parts of the fuselage of the Cessna plane that crashed one kilometer from the town Quebradillas.

The pilot was identified as Jorge Beríngeri and passengers were Ralph Christiansen, Luis Laberge, Luis Rramos, Alberto Besthan and Karen Pizarro, who were reportedly on a businesses trip with the airline Tropical Aviation.

Christiansen was CEO of the insurance company Marsh Saldaña, whereas Laberge was a partner of QB Construction, one of Puerto Rico’s major builders.

In a statement the Coast Guard said it received a 911 call at 6:51 p.m. (22:51 GMT) Sunday that a small plane crashed in the sea north of Quebradillas.

It added that the group traveled from Casa de Campo International Airport (La Romana-east) in Dominican Republic, to Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport, in San Juan.

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COMMENTS
5 comment(s)
Written by: sumpthiscom, 10 Feb 2009 9:44 AM
From: United States Virgin Islands
Cessna 206 indicated design flaw the NTSB and FAA have known about for over two decades.

The following links illustrate an indicated design flaw about a lack of positive detection of water in the fuel tanks of many Cessna aircraft. In 1983 the NTSB identified a lack of positive detection of water in Cessna 206 rubber bladder fuel tanks. I have identifed the lack of positive detection of water in the integral (wet wing) fuel tanks and regular fuel tanks like those in the Cessna 150/152.

The indicated design flaw may be the possible cause of the Cessna 206 crash.

http://sumpthis.com/ntsbrecommendationtofaaandfaaresponse/a836.htm

http://sumpthis.com/wsjarticle04302001/jerryguidera.htm

http://sumpthis.com/ntsbpetition/ntsbpetitioncontents.htm

http://sumpthis.com/cessna150andc....na150tankandcessna152tanktest.htm
Written by: DixieNormus, 10 Feb 2009 11:51 AM
From: Dominican Republic
Bad luck for these folks. They must have been flying too low, or they would have made it to an airport.

They had just passed over (or by) the runway at BQN, and would have had the Arecibo airport in sight by the time they were over Quebradillas.

I bet pilot error will figure into this one.
Written by: hshot00, 10 Feb 2009 12:27 PM
From: Puerto Rico
I work here in BQN, the mayday call went out that they were on fire at 5,000 feet and they were last seen on radar at 4500 ft.
Written by: zak325, 11 Feb 2009 2:11 PM
From: United States
Sumpthiscom, you know it's part of any good pre-flight to check the fuel for contamination, lets hope the pilot did this. I don't care much for single engine flights over water, someone I work with flew a Piper Tripacer from N.J. to Florida and then to the Bahamas. Better him than me!
Written by: sumpthiscom, 24 Aug 2009 9:55 AM
From: United States Virgin Islands

Cessna 206 indicated design flaw the NTSB and FAA have known about for decades.
Whether the indicated design flaw was the cause of this crash or not the indicated design flaw still exists.

The problem is with the pre-flight procedure of sumping the fuel tanks of the aircraft does not work as certified. Here is the evidence about undetectable water in the fuel tanks of the affected aircraft, which includes the Cessna 206.

Number one: Letter to NTSB and FAA dated June 20, 1985

http://www.sumpthis.com/hwdocs/doc5.htm

Number two: NTSB Safety Recommendation A-83-6 dated January 13, 1986,

http://sumpthis.com/ntsbrecommendationtofaaandfaaresponse/a836.htm

Number three: FAA Safety Recommendations 99.283 and 99.284

http://sumpthis.com/05242000faaletter/jeffjanusz.htm

The documentation above clearly demonstrates that a life taking indicated design flaw has gone on for over twenty four years.
When will the NTSB "go team" finally arrive?
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