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Tags: Tragedy / Museums / Holocaust Memorial / Museum / DC Travel / → All Tags

Security Guard Wounded in Shooting at The Holocaust Museum

UPDATE: More tragic news. The museum has released a statement saying that the security offier, Stephen Tyrone Johns, has died after being shot today. The museum will be closed tomorrow in his honor.

Despite heavy security and metal detectors present at The Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, an 89-year-old man walked into the museum this afternoon and fired off shots, wounding at least one security guard before he was shot down by a second security officer. According to the NY Times:

Preliminary reports indicated that the gunman was carrying either a rifle or shotgun and possibly a pistol, and that he fired five or six shots before being wounded.

The man has tentatively been identified as James W. von Brunn, who has been known to have conspiracy theories (and a website detailing them) about minority groups. However, the Washington police chief has not confirmed his identity. He's since been taken to the hospital. The shooting victim is a security guard, who's identity was also not released and who reportedly in grave condition.

The Holocaust museum sees an annual amount of 1.7 million visitors a year. At the time of the shooting, "a couple of thousand" visitors were inside, according to museum's chief of staff. The museum and roads surrounding it remain closed during the investigation.

Related Stories:
· Two Shot at Holocaust Museum in D.C., Police Say [NY Times]
· Shots Fired at The Holocaust Museum [CNN]
· The Holocaust Memorial Museum [Official Site]

[Photo: NY Times]

Tags: Travel News Briefs / Facebook / Gossip Girl / Tragedy / → All Tags

Now That Everyone is On Twitter, Airports Create Facebook Pages

With so much travel news raining down on us, we don't always have time to give every story its own forecast. Here's more of the day's news, in brief.

· Airports on Facebook: The truth is the new redesign of Facebook has killed most Facebook addictions. We find ourselves updating our status maybe once every two or three days now instead of once an hour. Why? Because we have Twitter for that now. But apparently a believer in "Better late to the social media party than never" credo, airports like Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International have begun creating Facebook pages where you can check in for actual airport updates and possibly win a roundtrip ticket on Frontier airlines. [Today in the Sky]

· 'Gossip Girl' Stars Spend Time in Miami: While we eagerly await the next episode of Gossip Girl tonight, co-stars Ed Westwick and Jessica Szohr cozied up together during a mini-vacay to the Mondrian South Beach. Looks like even Chuck Bass needs a trip to the gym every once in a while. [HotelChatter]

· JP Morgan Gets New Corporate Jets: The Wall Street firm has set aside $119 million for new jets and a hangar upgrade. But don't worry, no bail-out money is going to be used to buy them. And like, they won't even arrive until 2012. Still, we bet there are better ways to use funds. [NY Post]

· Tragic Plane Crash in Montana: A private plane chartering 14 people, including seven children, to a ski trip in Montana crashed just 500 feet west of the airport, landing in a cemetary and killing all onboard.[NY Times]

Tags: Tragedy / Turkish Airlines / Disasters / AMS / Chesley Sullenberger / → All Tags

Turkish Airlines Jet Crashes Outside Schiphol Airport

A Turkish Airlines 737 carrying 134 passengers from Istanbul crashed into a field outside Amsterdam Schiphol Airport today.

After initial reports that all of the passengers and the crew survived comes the news that nine people have died in the crash. Twenty people are also reported to be seriously injured. From the NY Times:

Candan Karlitekin, the chairman of Turkish Airlines, said most of the injured were seated at the back of the plane. “There was nothing extraordinary about the weather conditions, vision capability was 4,500 meters. Around 500 meters away from the landing strip, the plane landed in a field. The plane was broken into three parts, as you all saw in pictures.” ”

No one is sure yet as to why the plane crashed with Turkish Airlines saying the pilot was one of their most experienced pilots on staff. Investigations are obviously underway to determine what could have brought the plane down just three miles away from the airport runway.

Further shaking our faith in the aviation industry is Flight 1549 hero Capt. Sully who told U.S. Congress yesterday that the best airline pilots are quitting the commercial aviation industry because their pay and pensions have been slashed. We can't have that so let's pray that 2009 begins to turn around for airlines...quick.

Related Stories:
· 9 Dead as Turkish Plane Crashes in Amsterdam [NY Times]
· Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger Says A Good Pilot's Getting Hard to Find [WNYC]

Tags: Flight 3407 / Tragedy / Continental / EWR / BUF / → All Tags

More Info, More Mysteries For Buffalo Crash

As investigators rush to recover information about Continental Connection Flight 3407, which took the lives of 50 last Thursday night when it crashed outside of Buffalo, the pieces still don't add up. But here's what we learned about the flight from this weekend:

Flight 3407 did not nosedive, but rather crashed flat. This pattern may explain why the plane only landed on one house, killing Douglas Wielinski, a man who lived there (and sending his family to the hospital with minor injuries), but sparing his neighbors.

The plane did, in fact, have major ice build-up. The theory floated early Friday that icing may have hastened 3407's descent is given grounding by the black boxes, which demonstrate that the flight crew both noticed the ice and had the plane de-icer on at the time of the crash.

The plane may have been on auto-pilot, violating airline regulations. It's the policy of Colgan Air, which operated Flight 3407, that pilots manually operate the plane in cases of "severe" icing, which may not have been present that night. Still, it's chilling to think that anything might have kept the captain and crew from righting the plane in case conditions in the air suddenly changed.

Related Stories:
· Flight 3407 Plummeted Straight Down, Killing 50 [ABC News]
· Stunned N.Y. town mourns amid questions about Flight 3407 procedures [LA Times]
· Unease Over Weather’s Role in a City Known for Snow [NY Times]
· Friday: 49 Dead In Upstate N.Y. Continental Crash [Jaunted]

[Photo of Buffalo Niagara International Airport, Flight 3407's final destination: darkwater]

Tags: Tragedy / Dangerous Travel / Continental / Flight 3407 / Disasters / → All Tags

49 Dead In Upstate N.Y. Continental Crash

All 48 passengers aboard Continental Connection Flight 3407 were killed late last night when the plane crashed into a suburban house near Buffalo, New York. The crash also claimed one life in the house where the plane landed in the hamlet of Clarence Center.

According to early reports, Flight 3407 operated by Colgan Air departing from Newark abruptly lost contact with air traffic control before crashing about five miles from its destination, Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Ice build-up on the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 74-seat turboprop may also have been to blame; in tapes released last night, air traffic control can be heard checking with other flight crews before vainly attempting to contact the pilot of Flight 3407.

Passengers included a Jacksonville, Florida law student and a September 11 widow who listened to her husband via cell phone while he was in the south tower. This is the first fatal crash in the U.S. since August 2006. An investigation into the crash site has been delayed while the wreckage is still burning.

Related Stories:
· 49 Killed in Plane Crash Near Buffalo [NY Times]
· 49 Killed As Plane Crashes Into Home In Clarence Center [Buffalo News]
· Sept. 11 Widow Among Plane Crash Victims [MSNBC]

[Photo: Buffalo News]