December 2001
September 30, College Station, Texas / Beech BE-70
Subscribers Only At 13:40 central time, a Beech BE-70 lost power in its right engine during initial takeoff climb and made a forced landing near College Station. The pilot and eight passengers were not injured. The pilot said the right engine started losing power at about 150 feet agl. He decided to land on the remaining runway and lowered the gear, but then the engine regained power. He decided to proceed and raised the gear, but within a few seconds the right engine lost all power. The pilot executed a gear-up forced landing to a grassy area between two roads a half-mile north of the runway....
September 29, Marshfield, Wisc. / Cessna 414
Subscribers Only At 17:00 central time, a Cessna 414 crashed after the pilot reported losing partial power in one engine, killing the pilot and two passengers. Visual conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The flight was operating on an IFR flight plan from Wisconsin Rapids to Poplar Bluff, Mo....
September 29, Hilo, Hawaii / Bell 206B
Subscribers Only At 14:23 Hawaiian time, a Bell 206B lost engine power and made a forced landing about five miles south of Hilo. The pilot and two passengers were not injured and two passengers suffered minor injuries. The Part 135 sightseeing flight had departed three minutes earlier. The pilot reported a bang and a loss of engine power. A turbine wheel was missing from the engine. The helicopter had been flown about 50 hours since the wheel had been changed and the turbine seal had been replaced the morning of the accident....
September 28, Wildwood, N.J. / Cessna 170
Subscribers Only At about 11:00 eastern time, a Cessna 170B on a fish-spotting flight was damaged while landing at Cape May County Airport. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The pilot said, “I landed my C-170 hard at Cape May when I caught a gust of wind, and I lost all my airspeed and she dropped, and I was too low to do anything.” The pilot-rated passenger said the airplane was two or three feet off the ground when a gust lifted the upwind wing and the pilot lost control. The left wing and the prop struck the runway. The pilot reported 2,500 hours total, with about 1,700 hours in make and model....
September 24, St. George, Utah / Cessna Skymaster
Subscribers Only At approximately 16:15 mountain time, a Cessna 337B struck a power line and crashed in St. George. The pilot was killed. The ferry flight originated in Mesquite, Nev., approximately 20 minutes earlier. The interior of the airplane, including avionics and some instruments, had been removed with refurbishing scheduled at a later date. The fuel selector panel and handles were also removed. The pilot flew the airplane to Mesquite in February 2001, where it had been repainted. He was ferrying the airplane back to St. George when the accident occurred. Prior to takeoff, he requested that 15 gallons of fuel be added “to each side.” The airplane was next seen on a left base leg for runway 34, but th...
September 23, Petoskey, Mich. / Piper Seneca II
Subscribers Only At 14:35 eastern time, a Piper PA-34-200T struck rocks while making a forced landing onto the shoreline at Petoskey after apparently running out of fuel. IMC prevailed. The pilot and one passenger suffered minor injuries, while five other passengers were uninjured. The pilot had flown to Mackinac Island the previous evening and the pilot calculated he had enough fuel to get from Mackinac Island to Pellston, Mich. (Fuel is unavailable at Mackinac Island.) He had about 12 gallons in each tank at takeoff and Pellston was about 10 minutes away. The pilot said the vectors he was given resulted in a 90-degree intercept of the final approach course and he flew through the localizer. The controller...
September 23, Watertown, Ct. / Starduster Too
Subscribers Only At 13:30 eastern time, a homebuilt Starduster Too struck trees while maneuvering near Watertown. The student pilot was seriously injured. Witnesses reported the airplane flying at an altitude estimated as 150 to 500 feet agl at a high rate of speed. They said the airplane made high-speed, steep turns at low altitude. A city police officer reported seeing the airplane performing low-altitude aerobatics. The pilot said his attention was distracted while he was trying to tune his handheld radio to the AWOS frequency and he flew into the trees. The pilot’s logbook contained 31.7 hours of flight experience, 17.9 hours of which were in the Starduster Too....
September 19, Indianapolis, Ind. / Beech King Air
Subscribers Only At 07:55 eastern time, a Beech 200 crashed into the instrument approach light system for runway 23L while landing at the Indianapolis International Airport. The pilot and eight passengers reported no injuries. The pilot said the weather was IMC with heavy rain and 1½ miles visibility. The approach lights were visible at the outer marker. The flight encountered “heavy chop” about 300 yards from the end of the runway. A pilot-rated passenger said the runway was in sight when the rain got so heavy that forward visibility was negligible....
September 19, St. Bonifacius, Minn. / Cirrus SR-20
Subscribers Only At 08:30 central time, a Cirrus SR-20 lost engine power and was damaged while landing in a field near St. Bonifacius. The pilot and passenger were seriously injured. The flight was en route from Minneapolis to Rapid City, S.D. Examination of the engine revealed three punctures in the top of the crankcase at cylinders number 1, 2 and 4. A 2-inch diameter piece of the crankcase rested on top of the engine. The oil drain plug was absent. The threads at the oil drain port showed no damage or evidence of safety wiring. There was no evidence of oil in the engine....
September 16, Tucson, Ariz. / Cessna Skyhawk
Subscribers Only At about 07:45 mountain time, a Cessna 172L crashed into a house and burned in Tucson, killing the pilot. The flight had taken off from La Cholla Airpark, a private residential airport, in violation of flight restrictions against VFR flight. The airplane was detected by Tucson Approach and the controller transmitted in the blind, telling the pilot to return to the point of origin. The pilot did not respond but the airplane reversed course and the transponder code changed from 1233 to 1203. About six miles south of the departure airport, the airplane crashed into the house....
September 16, Sarasota, Fla. / Cessna Skyhawk
Subscribers Only At 08:28 eastern time a Cessna 172N flipped inverted while taxiing after landing at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. The pilot was not injured. The airplane had just arrived on an IFR flight from Atlanta, Ga., and landed on runway 32. While taxiing after landing, a gust of wind flipped the airplane. Winds were reported at 340 at 45 knots, gusting to 60....
September 14, Hendersonville, N.C. / Cessna Centurion
Subscribers Only At about 21:37 eastern time, a Cessna T210F crashed on Pinnacle Mountain near Hendersonville while being vectored for an ILS approach to Asheville. VMC prevailed and an IFR flight plan was filed. The pilot was killed. The airplane was cruising at 9,000 feet when the controller issued a vector for the approach and cleared the pilot to descend to 6,000 feet. The pilot reported precipitation and turbulence and was unable to hold altitude within a few hundred feet. The controller told the pilot he had descended below the MVA and that his heading was off course. Soon the pilot was flying 100 degrees to the right of the assigned heading, airspeed had increased dramatically and the airplane was bel...
September 10, Washington, Ct. / Yakovlev YAK-52
Subscribers Only At 20:23 eastern time, a Yakovlev YAK-52 crashed during a severe rainstorm near Washington, killing the pilot. The flight was en route from Wurtsboro, N.Y., to Providence, R.I., on the last leg of a flight from Arlington, Wash. The pilot had just purchased the airplane and was flying it home. The airplane was equipped for IMC flight, but the previous owner warned the pilot not to fly in IMC or night VFR because the layout of the flight instrument panel was unconventional. Weather radar showed an area of heavy precipitation at the accident site at the time of the crash. Two witnesses reported hearing the plane pass close to their house and then heard and felt the impact, and then smelled a fi...
September 09, Gold Beach, Ore. / Cessna Skylane
Subscribers Only At approximately 09:00 Pacific time, a Cessna 182J struck trees while approaching the Half Moon Bar Lodge airstrip, located about 28 miles northeast of Gold Beach. The pilot suffered minor injuries and the passenger was killed. The pilot said the airplane stalled and struck trees while turning from the base leg to the final approach....
September 08, Byhalia, Miss. / Piper Saratoga
Subscribers Only At 15:54 central time, a Piper PA-32R-301 broke up in flight near Byhalia. The pilot and passenger were killed. Witnesses said the airplane was in level flight when the left wing separated from the airplane and struck the empennage. The weather was reported as windy but with no rain or thunderstorms....
September 07, Orlando, Fla. / Cessna Skyhawk
Subscribers Only About 22:20 eastern time, a Cessna 172R suffered damage to its left wing tip while taxiing in the company parking ramp at Orlando Executive Airport. The flight instructor and student were not injured. The aircraft had just landed and was returning to parking when the propeller of another aircraft operated by the same flight school sliced the accident airplane’s wing tip....
September 05, Ashland, Ore. / Beech Baron
Subscribers Only At approximately 07:15 Pacific time, a Beechcraft 58 struck rising terrain about 10 miles southeast of Ashland, killing the pilot and two passengers. The flight had departed en route to Scottsdale, Ariz., about five minutes earlier and the pilot had been briefed on the weather, but had not filed a flight plan. Dense fog prevailed near the airport. Several witnesses at the airport said they were waiting for the weather to improve before departing....
September 05, Bern Township, Pa. / Piper Chieftain
Subscribers Only At 13:13 eastern time, a Piper PA-31-350 crashed as it was returning to land at Reading Regional/Carl A. Spaatz Field. The pilot was killed. The pilot was cleared for takeoff at 13:10 and called for a right turnout. The pilot called the tower on the local frequency to report he had a problem at 13:12, but conflicting radio traffic made the call unreadable. About 10 seconds later, the tower controller asked him if he required any assistance, but got no response. A subsequent transmission from the pilot was unreadable. At 1313, the controller told the pilot to fly left traffic for runway 36 and stated runway 31 was also available. There were no further communications from the pilot.Witnesses s...
September 05, Denver, Colo. / Boeing 777
Subscribers Only At 17:14 mountain time, a Boeing 777-236 operated by British Airways was damaged during a ground fire at Denver International Airport that killed a ground crew member. No one else was injured. A witness said the fueler had attached the refueling nozzles to the single point refueling lines in the airplane’s left wing. He said the flow meter indicated the refueling had begun when a fuel line separated from the airplane and whipped around a bit. A fire ensued....
September 05, Carbonado, Wash. / Cessna Cutlass
Subscribers Only At approximately 15:30 Pacific time, a Cessna 172RG on an aerial fire survey flight crashed into high terrain while maneuvering about 5 nm east of Carbonado. The pilot and passenger suffered minor injuries. The pilot, also a flight instructor, said he departed Boeing Field with the passenger for a fire spotting flight in the Cascade Mountain foothills. He demonstrated some flight maneuvers to the passenger, then allowed the passenger to fly. The pilot sensed a loss of climb performance and took the flight controls, but the engine began running rough and the airplane struck trees. The pilot said he may have encountered carb ice, but had never experienced carb ice before. The pilot also report...
September 04, Cottonwood, Ariz. / Cessna Skylane
Subscribers Only At 20:40 mountain time, a Cessna 182G struck power lines approximately four miles short of runway 32 while attempting to land at Cottonwood Airport, seriously injuring the pilot. A witness said the airplane overflew the airport normally, then circled back to land, at which time it hit the 60-foot high power lines. An FAA investigator found the rented airplane’s altimeter appeared to read about 600 feet low and the airport is in an area of rising terrain....
September 01, Koliganek, Ak. / Maule M-7-235B
Subscribers Only At about 15:30 Alaska time, a float-equipped Maule M-7-235B was damaged while attempting takeoff from a remote lake about 25 miles northeast of Koliganek. The two occupants were not injured. The pilot said he taxied to the center of the 1,500-foot lake several times to check for wind conditions, but the wind appeared to be shifting. He aborted his first takeoff to the northeast and decided to take off to the southwest, including a step turn. During the takeoff run, he decided to add flaps and reached for the flap handle. However, he reached for the area where the flaps are located in his other airplane, a Piper Super Cub. He was distracted by not finding the flap handle and collided with the...
September 01, Carson City, Nev. / Piper Dakota
Subscribers Only At 19:53 Pacific time, a Piper PA-28-235 lost power while on approach to Carson Airport and crashed into the back yard of a residence. The pilot, the passenger and a resident of the property who was standing in the yard were seriously injured. The pilot told an FAA inspector he switched fuel tanks as he approached the airport and the engine lost power as he turned on base leg. Attempts to restart the engine failed and the airplane crashed short of the runway....
Minimal Margin
Subscribers Only Lake effect is a term I’m going to get to know a lot about, now that I have a son at RIT. I first visited Rochester some years ago when my oldest son was screening colleges. I wasn’t an active pilot in those days, and we flew up commercially in mid-November. Arrival was delayed somewhat and the captain said something about “lake effect snow.” We picked up our rental car after dark, and no sooner had we entered the ramp to the interstate when my son asked, “Why are there so many parked cars at strange angles?” Turned out there had been a minor ice storm, but more than enough to cause disruption. It had ended, but the highway surface was still glazed. We were able to proceed, but only a...
A Dose of Reality
You put out an amazing issue in October. In getting in from the office at 11:00 last night, I stayed up until 1:30 reading the issue cover-to-cover. John Lowery’s Concorde piece, “Fallen Icon” [Reality Check] – was well done. It was a breath of fresh air to read a realistic piece about the Concorde crash. It’s a bit sad to see the way both companies and governments sometimes react to crashes. BEA blames Continental for their DC-10 dropping a metal strip; BEA similarly blamed the pilots of the ATR at Roselawn, claiming the pilots did not react correctly to the situation. I’m not attempting to blame the Europeans, but it does seem to be a consistent pattern in different accidents/incident...
Feather Failures
Subscribers Only The following information is derived from the FAA’s Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts. Pilots of piston-powered twins know of the need to feather the prop on a dead engine, but occasionally the task does not get accomplished – sometimes through human error, sometimes through mechanical blockages. In a recent accident, the pilot encountered a blocked propeller that could not be feathered. The FAA began investigating the potential for additional accidents of a similar nature involving a propeller that could not be feathered either with or without engine rotation. In most pilot operating handbooks and Aircraft Flight Manuals, there are warnings of the...
NTSB Preliminary Reports
Subscribers Only The following briefs were selected from the 119 preliminary reports filed with the NTSB in September 2001. Statements in quotes were taken directly from the NTSB documents. The information is subject to change as the investigations are completed. Sept. 01, Carson City, Nev. Piper Dakota At 19:53 Pacific time, a Piper PA-28-235 lost power while on approach to Carson Airport and crashed into the back yard of a residence. The pilot, the passenger and a resident of the property who was standing in the yard were seriously injured. The pilot told an FAA inspector he switched fuel tanks as he approached the airport and the engine lost power as he turned on base leg. Attem...
Experienced, But How?
Subscribers Only [IMGCAP(1)] Being a responsible pilot means there are a lot of things you can’t take for granted. Proficiency, maintenance, charts, briefings, inspections, review and judgment are all routine parts of the game. Some people play it well and play it to win. Some play it to have fun or pass the time. Some play because they think they should. Some shouldn’t play at all, but do. Accidents that involve the latter group are easy for more serious pilots to dismiss. They reason that by virtue of a more businesslike approach they are immune from many of the troubles that befall their unfortunate brethren. As you go up the aviation hierarchy to more flying hours, more ratings and bigger airpl...
Yaw Come Back, Now
Subscribers Only The father of a commercial pilot in Florida wanted an aerial photograph of a nearby golf course. His son checked the almost-full fuel tanks in the Cessna 172, added three passengers and took off in the early afternoon. As the airplane circled the area the man wanted to photograph at about 100 feet agl, the pilot’s father saw the airplane bank left. The nose pitched down and the airplane impacted the ground, with catastrophic results. The NTSB investigation turned up no reason for the accident, other than the failure to maintain airspeed during low-altitude maneuvering flight. Weight and balance calculations were not performed because the weights of the passengers were unknown and no...
Drag Strip
Subscribers Only [IMGCAP(1)] Surface contamination has been a major player in runway over-shoot and off the side mishaps. The pilot invariably gets blamed even though the pavement itself is often the principal cause. While tire tread design is important in keeping the rubber on the runway, research has shown that other factors, including runway crowning and surface micro texture is more important in preventing overshoot accidents. While runways used by airlines have crowns and grooves to help traction in almost all weather conditions, general aviation runways are not so lucky. There are two main causes for loss of control because of water, slush or snow on the runway: reverted rubber hydroplaning and...
A Dish Served Cold
Subscribers Only [IMGCAP(1)] Cold weather operations pose a number of risks that simply don’t exist – or are much less threatening – than when temperatures are warmer. While the risks are manageable, they require added vigilance to keep the airplane in one piece and pointed in the right direction. With a careful cold-weather preflight preparation out of the way, operational concerns come to the front. Primary among them is treating a below-zero airplane nicely – especially when it comes to engine start. After that, the stakes go up as the airplane gets farther from its parking spot. Taking care of your engine not only makes good economic sense but also adds to the safe operation of your airplane. Resea...
Round and Round
Subscribers Only The circling approach should be the easiest maneuver in an instrument-rated pilot’s repertoire of skills. It’s really just an IFR descent to get beneath the clouds and then a visual approach to the landing runway – in essence a VFR pattern, but at roughly half the usual pattern altitude. Yet NTSB data shows that circling approaches account for about 30 accidents per year, most of them fatal. Since 1983 there have been 577 accidents due to circling instrument approaches. A review of the record shows that three major causes stand out: circling below minimums, steep turns to stay within the runway environment, and beginning the final descent before acquiring the proper glide path. Recal...
Hey, Watch This
Freed at last from the tyranny of “enhanced Class B” airspace, the VFR-only Citabria virtually leaped into the sky despite a load that was nearly at max gross weight. We reached 500 feet well before the Cessna 172 that had taken off from runway 7 in front of us and we were cleared to make an early left turn for a northwest departure. This was a far cry from the almost iron-fisted display of IFR flying that had been the order of the day for nearly six weeks, adding to the sense of freedom. Tapping into the karma, I slowed the airplane and opened the window. Noisy, yeah, but worth it. Once clear of the ECB, I we undertook some moderately aggressive aerobatics. My passenger, also a pilot,...
You Can’t Fly There!
Subscribers Only [IMGCAP(1)] In the interest of national security, flying light planes has become a confusing and dynamic business where the rules can change between the time you get your briefing and start your engine. In this brave new world, prepare to be wrong. If that’s too pessimistic a view, there is a bright side. The FAA has backed off enforcement actions when pilots can show they’re following the rules that existed an hour ago. And the number of airplanes forced to land by armed fighter jets has been small. So far, the trouble appears to be borne of changing rules, nervous politicians and a paranoid public. But staying out of trouble has gotten decidedly more difficult. Consider that in t...