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Skydivers bail out as plane's engine fails

Skydivers bail out as plane's engine fails
21/01/2008 11:59 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Four skydivers had to bail out of a light plane high above Grahamstown after the engine failed, the Herald Online reported on Monday.

The newspaper reported that commercial pilot Alexander Hammerschmidt, 42, was the toast of the EP Skydiving Club after he was forced to perform an emergency landing on a dirt road around 11:00 on Sunday. Hammerschmidt landed the 1965 Cessna 206 on a straight stretch of dirt road on the Whites Farm road 12km from town.

Club owner Joos Vos said the pilot had to glide down to the road from 609,6m in the air.
"He came in with full flaps and applied hard brakes. The road was not the best, but it worked on the day." Hammerschmidt had to avoid fences which were only two metres either side of the wingtips. "He was brilliant! He was also the only person in the plane who did not have a parachute!" Vos told the Herald.

However, the four parachutists - Port Elizabeth mechanical engineer Gera Felix, Port Elizabeth-based MTN technician Deon Jones, Lluwellan Henman from East London and Vos - had to land in the bush - but there were no injuries.

An added bonus for Vos was that the plane, valued at R1m, was not damaged during the landing, the Herald said. "We have our emergency procedures and there were no problems," he said of the emergency jump and landing, adding it was the first time in a decade that the club plane had suffered engine failure.

Vos told the Herald that the plane was serviced regularly in Port Elizabeth. "It was just one of those things," he said.

www.news24.co.za

Speed Flying - a brand new extreme sport

A brand new extreme sport has sprung up called Speed Flying (or Speed Racing). Looks great and very scary!

Police helicopter crashes in South Africa

21/11/2007 12:09 JOHANNESBURG, Nov 21 (AFP)

Police helicopter crashes in South Africa

A helicopter carrying 19 people, including 14 South African police officers and five air force officials, crashed near the border with Lesotho on Wednesday, police said.

"The helicopter was doing normal routine patrolling in the border of Lesotho," police spokesman Superintendent Sam Makhele told AFP.

"There were 14 people in the helicopter who were police officals, three crew members from the air force and two officers of the air force.

"As far as we know people were injured. We have not learned of any fatalities but we will know as we arrive at the scene."

The Oryx helicopter crashed near the border of South Africa and Lesotho in the southern part of the Free State province.

©2007 AFP

Ashley Force Drag Racing

The "Hottest" Athlete of 2007

Name: Ashley Force
Age: 24
Occupation: Professional Race car driver
Education: Esperanza High School (Yorba Linda, Ca.), California State University- Fullerton, College of Communications, B.A., Radio TV Film
Hobbies: Movies, video production, shopping, kickboxing, & spending time wth family & friends.

News Update:

In September of 2007, Ashley Force was voted the winner of the first annual "Hottest Athlete" poll on AOL Sports. Ashley beat out quarterback hunk Tom Brady, and fellow female driver Danica Patrick for the honor. Check out the Ashley Force photo gallery to see pictures of this driver on and off the track.

Racing background:

After graduating from Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, she spent two seasons in the entry-level Super Comp class and three more in Top Alcohol Dragster before becoming just the 10th woman in NHRA history to earn a license to compete in the Funny Car division. In Top Alcohol, she won five NHRA national events including the biggest event in the sport, the 2004 U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, Ind.

Notable:

Ashley was a Top 10 finisher in national points in each of her three seasons in Top Alcohol Dragster. When she won the 2004 World Finals at Pomona, Calif., she shared the winners' circle with her dad as the first father-and-daughter champions in the history of the NHRA series. Now, she has moved up to race against her father at the wheel of one of the most challenging vehicles on the planet – an 8,000 horsepower Funny Car. Ashley is trying to become the first woman to advance to the final round in the Funny Car division, the first woman to win a race, the first to qualify No. 1 and the first to earn a Top 10 finish.

Despite the fact that she chose "auto shop" and "welding" as two of her elective courses in high school, Ashley's interest in the "family business" came as a compete shock to her father, 14-time NHRA Funny Car Champion John Force. Nevertheless, three years after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cal State-Fullerton, the former high school cheerleader is being hailed as a future star of the NHRA series and a possible successor to her father.

Despite the demands of her racing career, Ashley still finds time to indulge her passion for movie-making. Among her productions was "The Bi-Polar Express," a takeoff on Dickens'; "A Christmas Carol" in which her father was cast as Ebenezer Scrooge.

http://www.aetv.com/drivingforce/df_meet_the_forces.jsp?index=1&type=actor

Street racer sentenced to three years in prison

A 20-year-old Quebec man was sentenced to three years in prison for a drag racing accident that killed two of his friends.

Two years ago, Frederick Garneau was behind the wheel when he lost control of his car and hit a lamppost. Two girls riding in the car with him died as a result of the crash. Evidence in the trial revealed that Garneau drank five cans of beer before the accident.

The court also heard that Garneau reached speeds of 150 kilometres per hour in a drag race with another driver. The posted speed limit was only 50 kilometers an hour. In June, he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing two deaths.

"My daughter asked him, 'Stop! Please, stop, stop, stop,'" said Gilles Emard, the father of one of the dead girls. "But he didn't. He didn't listen."

Emard's wife wrote a letter to the court before sentencing. In it she said that she has been in a severe depression for the past two years. She also told the judge that she hasn't been able to leave her home.

Emard said he hopes Garneau's sentence sends a message to other young people. "That will give some people, some parents, the opportunity to say to their children, 'You see, if you drink, if you drive, if you have an accident, that's what is going to happen to you.'"

Quebec has had several high-profile dangerous driving cases recently. On Sunday, demonstrators in a Montreal suburb took to the streets to denounce reckless drivers. Quebec lawmakers also moved this week to enact tougher driving laws.

Legal insiders say Garneau's sentence is on the severe side of sentencing for similar cases. Defence lawyers had asked for a sentence of two years to be served in the community. Instead, the judge handed prosecutors the three year sentence they had wanted.

"What we want is (for) other people to realize what he did, that they could be in the same position if they do it," said Crown Prosecutor Isabelle Gelinas.

Garneau could be out on parole in one year.

With a report from CTV Montreal's Rob Lurie.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071115/quebecer_sentencing_071115/20071115?hub=Canada