Plane Crash

Sadly, a plane crash took the lives of seven people in Quito last night in an area of the city that has suffered aviation catastrophes before. The neighborhood where it happened is along Gonzalez Suarez, an upscale avenue of high rises that sits right in a major flight path over Quito. The week of December 10, 1998, the residents here witnessed not one, but two planes crash into buildings on their street.

Now we can add to Facebook's list, "You know you have lived in Quito when . . ." the less humorous entry, "Planes slamming into buildings is an all too frequent occurrence."

This one comes right after the existing, "You have become accustomed to breaking up the conversation for the 757 to fly over."

This image of Quito culled from Google Earth might help explain why this happens here, and why the airport being built in the countryside east of Quito couldn't be more urgent.


The projected airport has also prompted the following entries to the Facebook list:

Take-off is aborted because the runway isn't long enough for the plane to get enough speed to take off.
You don't expect for the new airport to open in 2020, much less 2010, when it's scheduled to open.
You have asphyxiated from the dust cloud thrown up by the dirt track that will someday be the new runway.

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