Plane Crash

When it came to mass recognition in the United States, the late Latin music star Jenni Rivera used to say she wasn't Coca-Cola, and maybe she wasn't Pepsi either. But she wasn't going to let anyone tell her she wasn't at least akin to Fanta. The sentiment - more colorfully expressed in Rivera's words according to friend and manager Pete Salgado during a recent interview in Studio City - may partly explain why the Mexican regional superstar floated under the radar of most non-Spanish-language outlets before her death last year.

When it came to mass recognition in the United States, the late Latin music star Jenni Rivera used to say she wasn't Coca-Cola, and maybe she wasn't Pepsi either. But she wasn't going to let anyone tell her she wasn't at least akin to Fanta. The sentiment - more colorfully expressed in Rivera's words according to friend and manager Pete Salgado during a recent interview in Studio City - may partly explain why the Mexican regional superstar floated under the radar of most non-Spanish-language outlets before her death last year.

Cecelia Cichan wears a tattoo of an airplane on her wrist. It's a statement of sorts - one of cheating death and an acknowledgment that a luckless flight she took a quarter-century ago has stayed in her dreams and in her daily reality. Twenty-five years ago this Thursday, on Aug. 16, 1987, Cichan was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 25, which crashed in the Detroit suburb of Romulus near Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, killing 154 people on board. Two people also died on the ground.

Former University of Oklahoma quarterback Steve Davis, who was the starting quarterback for the 1974 and 1975 national championship teams, was one of two people killed when a small aircraft smashed into a house in South Bend, Ind., on Sunday. Davis, 60, and Wesley Caves, 58, died in the crash. Davis started every game for the Sooners from 1973 to 1975 and finished with a 32-1-1 record. His coach at Oklahoma, Barry Switzer, sent out the following tweet on Monday: "I'm saddened by the loss of Steve Davis.

Former University of Oklahoma quarterback Steve Davis, who was the starting quarterback for the 1974 and 1975 national championship teams, was one of two people killed when a small aircraft smashed into a house in South Bend, Ind., on Sunday. Davis, 60, and Wesley Caves, 58, died in the crash. Davis started every game for the Sooners from 1973 to 1975 and finished with a 32-1-1 record. His coach at Oklahoma, Barry Switzer, sent out the following tweet on Monday: "I'm saddened by the loss of Steve Davis.

On her reality television show, Jenni Rivera proved endearing to millions just by being herself. But the 43-year-old Mexican American singer, who was believed to have died in a plane crash early Sunday, also had a desire to act. Last January, Rivera attended the Sundance Film Festival to promote what would be her first and last film, the independent drama "Filly Brown. " In the movie, Rivera plays the incarcerated mother of an aspiring rapper who is trying to maintain a relationship with her daughter from behind bars.

At the Wednesday public memorial service that celebrated her tragically short life, Jenni Rivera was hailed as "the eternal diva," "la gran señora," "mariposa de barrio" (butterfly of the barrio) and other terms of deep affection and respect. But there was another title that Rivera had aspired to and earned: the Latin American Oprah Winfrey. Like Winfrey before her, the Long Beach native, who died with six other people in a Dec. 9 plane crash in northern Mexico, was more than simply a multitalented, multi-tasking woman of a certain age, ethnicity and oversize personality.

A Moroccan military plane crash in a remote mountainous region of the North African nation on Tuesday killed at least 78 people and seriously injured three, according to Morocco's official news agency. The C-130 transport plane carried 60 soldiers, nine crew members and a dozen civilians and was preparing to land at an airport near the border with the disputed region of Western Sahara, according to local media reports. The wounded were taken to a military hospital in the nearby town of Guelmim while a search of the site continued, the Maghreb Arabe Presse Agency reported.

Isn't it a sad commentary on today's times when the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in New York is referred to as "just a plane crash." Robert Raimist Los Angeles

BOSTON - Mitt Romney canceled his only campaign event of the weekend Sunday after a fatal small plane crash in Pueblo, Colo., forced a partial closure of the airport where the GOP candidate had planned to land. Romney was scheduled to speak to supporters at an aviation museum at the airport en route to Los Angeles, where he is scheduled to speak to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Monday . Polls show President Obama with a razor-thin lead in Colorado, making it a battleground state in the presidential election.

A cameraman and pilot died in a plane crash in Kenya during filming of a Discovery series called "Dangerous Flights," the latest fatal incident to occur in the reality-TV industry. John Driftmier, a cameraman and director, was filming aerial footage for the program when the small plane he was in crashed, killing him and the pilot, who was not identified, according to a statement from Pixcom, the Canadian producer of the series. Driftmier, 30, worked on various reality-TV shows, including "Highway Thru Hell" and "License to Drill.

A company owned by the late Mexican American singer Jenni Rivera was named in a lawsuit filed Thursday on behalf of the four members of her entourage who were killed along with her in a Dec. 9 plane crash. The suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks punitive damages against the current owners of the jet, as well as the previous owner, which sold the plane last year. The negligence suit names Starwood Management, Rodatz Financial Group Inc., McOco Inc. and Jenni Rivera Enterprises Inc. DOCUMENT: Read the lawsuit Attorneys named Rivera's company because of its role in choosing to use the 43-year-old Learjet 25. The plane took off from Monterrey, Mexico, and crashed into mountainous terrain after nose-diving 28,000 feet in 30 seconds.

At the Wednesday public memorial service that celebrated her tragically short life, Jenni Rivera was hailed as "the eternal diva," "la gran señora," "mariposa de barrio" (butterfly of the barrio) and other terms of deep affection and respect. But there was another title that Rivera had aspired to and earned: the Latin American Oprah Winfrey. Like Winfrey before her, the Long Beach native, who died with six other people in a Dec. 9 plane crash in northern Mexico, was more than simply a multitalented, multi-tasking woman of a certain age, ethnicity and oversize personality.

In the wake of the plane crash that killed Latina pop singer and reality show star Jenni Rivera, attention quickly turned to the company that owned the plane and an executive at the firm with a long history of brushes with thelaw. It's not the first time Christian E. Esquino Nuñez has been embroiled in a controversy involving high-profile entertainers and a plane. Los Tigres del Norte, a San Jose-based norteño band originally from the Mexican state of Sinaloa, rose to international fame with its accordion-laced ballads portraying life on the border, including homages to drug traffickers.

So far, this much is clear: Jenni Rivera, one of the most celebrated artists in the Latin world, died when her private jet went into a dive. The plane plummeted nose-first, 28,000 feet in 30 seconds, leaving its wreckage - and the remains of Rivera and six others - splayed across the side of the mountain like a wash of pebbles. The investigation at the remote Mexican crash site is now in full swing, and authorities have not said whether they suspect maintenance problems or pilot error.

On her reality television show, Jenni Rivera proved endearing to millions just by being herself. But the 43-year-old Mexican American singer, who was believed to have died in a plane crash early Sunday, also had a desire to act. Last January, Rivera attended the Sundance Film Festival to promote what would be her first and last film, the independent drama "Filly Brown. " In the movie, Rivera plays the incarcerated mother of an aspiring rapper who is trying to maintain a relationship with her daughter from behind bars.

Los Angeles County coroner's officials worked Thursday to confirm the identities of two men killed in a plane crash at Santa Monica Airport, but friends of the two men identified them as the general manager of an aviation website and a world-traveling Internet business development consultant. Paulo Emanuele, believed to be 46, was the general manager of the airliners.net website. Martin Schaedel, believed to be about 23, was a consultant to FareCompare, an airline fare comparison website.

MEXICO CITY - Mexican American singer Jenni Rivera, the "diva de la banda" whose commanding voice burst through the limits of regional Latin music and made her a cross-border sensation and the queen of a business empire, was believed to have died Sunday when the small jet carrying her and members of her entourage crashed in mountainous terrain. Rivera, a native of Long Beach, was 43. Mexico's ministry of transportation did not confirm her death outright, but it said that she had been aboard the plane and that no one had survived the crash.