COVINGTON, Ga. (AP) — Two people were killed when a single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff late Saturday from a small airport east of Atlanta, authorities said

Police said responding officers found the aircraft and the two victims in woods just north of the runway in Newton County, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east of downtown Atlanta.

The crash is being investigated by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board

    • TheRealKuni
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      515 days ago

      General aviation crashes are not uncommon.

      We’ve had one commercial aviation crash in the US since Trump took office. That one crash had nothing to do directly with decisions he made (though decisions he has made certainly make them more likely as time goes on).

      But the other four have been general aviation. Those types of accidents, unfortunately, occur more frequently. For example, in September 2024 a couple of men died in a crash near Provo, Utah. I know about this because my wife’s cousin knew them, and had recently spoken to the pilot about his new plane. But that crash wasn’t widely reported.

      But since there was a commercial crash, followed by a crash of an air ambulance Learjet into a residential area, everyone is now reporting broadly on every incident. Just like how after Boeing had issues with the MAX8 and MAX9, everything that went wrong with a 737, even ones that were decades old, was suddenly “newsworthy” because people would click on headlines about Boeing. The kinds of maintenance issues that are normally just headaches for travelers and flight crews became national news, as long as the plane was a Boeing. Similarly, now it’s “anything with wings crashes, print it.”

      I say all this not to defend Trump, or the year 2025, or anything like that, but just to provide context. You’re hearing about types of incidents you normally don’t hear about, and it’s making it seem like suddenly there are a lot of plane crashes.

      • @[email protected]
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        174 days ago

        This nuance would be so utterly disregarded if the tables were turned. Let him eat blame for every event that happens from this point forward.

        • TheRealKuni
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          4 days ago

          It would be hypocritical to desire understanding of nuance from others but not possess it ourselves.

          There is plenty to shit on Trump for. Including his continued gutting of the FAA. Future accidents will be his fault eventually, at this rate.

          But I thought the dipshits putting Joe Biden “I Did That” stickers on gas pumps were complete morons. There’s no reason to stoop to the level of blaming everything you don’t like on the guy you don’t like. That’s simplistic tribalism and frankly stupid.

            • TheRealKuni
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              4 days ago

              Did you miss the Toronto crash?

              I’m not sure why you asked me this in response to this comment. The Toronto crash has nothing to do with anything I said there.

              As for my previous comment in the chain, I made that comment roughly around the same time as the crash happened. So obviously I hadn’t heard of it yet.

      • @RedditRefugee69
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        65 days ago

        Media frenzy is a real thing. If it sells, it prints.

    • don
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      5 days ago

      It might be number six, there was also a crash today in Montreal, I think, and fortunately everyone survived.

      Edit: here’s a link to the article.

  • Shadow
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    225 days ago

    Before everyone jumps on politics, not every plane crash is Trumps fault. Small planes are roughly as safe as riding a motorcycle, stuff like this happens all the time.

    • @[email protected]
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      295 days ago

      Who cares — blame it all on Trump, or Musk, or DOGE. Shout it from the rooftops. This is a perfect cudgel to use against minarchists and MAGAs alike.

    • @[email protected]
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      5 days ago

      Where you getting the as safe as a motorcycle number? Aviation is usually very safe compared to automotive, and motorcycles are on the dangerous end of automotive.

      Edit: looks like general aviation is 27x more deadly per mile than general driving, and about in the same ball park per mile as motorcycles. That’s a lot higher than I thought.

      https://pilotinstitute.com/is-flying-safer-than-driving/

      • Shadow
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        145 days ago

        I pasted the links elsewhere, but it’s important to differentiate between general aviation (small planes, crop dusters, personal pilots, etc) and commercial flying.

        Commercial flying is EXTREMELY safe, ridiculously so. The safety culture is amazing. General aviation does it’s best, but at the end of the day people just aren’t as responsible in small planes.

    • @[email protected]
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      95 days ago

      Do motorcycles need to get annuals to be considered road worthy? Do you need to pass a medical exam to get a motorcycle license? Do you need a different license to ride your motorcycle when it’s foggy or rainy?

      If not, I disagree with your statement.

        • @[email protected]
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          25 days ago

          You need a pilots license to fly an airplane at all. To fly in less than optimal conditions (ie fog) you need an IFR endorsement. You can get other endorsements like sea place, multi engine, high powered, etc.

          To fly for payment at all you need a commercial pilots license. To fly a consumer airline, you need an ATP endorsement.

          Depending on what type of license you have (private, commercial, ATP), you need pass a certain class of medical exam. Your license also dictates how often your medical needs to be renewed.

          To achieve a PPL ( in the US) you need to pass a checkride and a written exam. You also need to pass a check ride for your instrument endorsement. I have no idea if you need to pass a written exam for a CPL, but you definitely need a check ride for that. And your ATP.

          You also need to pass an annual mechanical inspection for your personal plane. For commercial it’s ever X hours ( I think it’s 1000?). No idea for ATP

          Beyond that, you can lose the ability to fly your plane if the FAA or manufacturer identifies a defect in your plane and you have yet to get it fixed by the required procedure.

          Did I mention it’s 40 hours flight hours minimum for a PPL and 1500 for ATP?

          Oh and there are preflight checklists to verify that your plane is in working order BEFORE flight.

          Thats all to say, flying is much much more stringent than riding a motorcycle.

          Sure there’s a big difference between 40 and 1500 hours, but no matter how you slice it, there are greater pains to making sure flying is safer than driving

  • @[email protected]
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    84 days ago

    Trump: Small price to pay for…

    Advisor: Sir, the people were rich white assholes!

    Trump: Such a tragic tragic loss! Hooch loss!