March 2001
Dec. 30, Salt Lake City, Utah / McDonnell Douglas MD-90
Subscribers Only At 08:08 mountain time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 operating as Delta Air Lines flight 1147 struck approach lights while on short final to Salt Lake City International Airport. No one was injured. Preliminary reports indicate the airplane struck approach lights 400 feet short of runway 34R. The airplane then landed on the runway and taxied to the gate. Two threshold lights and one light each from the 100 foot and 200 foot approach light bars were found knocked off. The airplane sustained damage to the left main wheel splash guard, and one of the wheels was cut. A 1-inch-square piece of metal was found lodged in the left engine noise suppression material and there was damage to the left eng...
Dec. 29, Honolulu, Hawaii / Lockheed L-1011
Subscribers Only At about 21:15 Hawaiian time, a Lockheed L-1011 operating as Delta Air Lines flight 219, experienced an electrical fire forward of the flight engineer’s station while en route from San Francisco to Honolulu. The flight continued for an uneventful landing and there were no injuries. The flight was cruising at 32,000 feet msl in clouds when it experienced Saint Elmo’s fire – a discharge of static electricity. This activity lasted for about 3 minutes, after which an arc was observed at the location of the windshield heat wire bundle above the first officer’s side window. The crew donned their smoke goggles and masks. Two of the windshield heat circuit breakers popped and the crew opened the rem...
Dec. 27, Greeleyville, S.C. / Beech King Air
Subscribers Only At about 09:05 eastern time, a Beech 200 lost its cabin door during cruise flight near Greeleyville. The pilot landed without further incident. The pilot said he was bound for Brunswick, Ga., to pick up passengers and was cruising at FL 200 in smooth air when the cabin door light illuminated and the aircraft lost pressurization. He went on oxygen and made an emergency descent. He looked towards the door and could see light from near the door area but did not know the door was separated until he landed at Savannah International Airport....
Dec. 26, Colorado City, Ariz. / Cessna Centurion
Subscribers Only At about 16:45 mountain time, a Cessna T210N lost engine power shortly after takeoff and was damaged during a forced landing at Colorado City. The four occupants suffered minor injuries. The pilot, who is also a maintenance technician, had just completed an annual inspection and installed an overhauled engine in the airplane. The pilot said he had flown the airplane three times for a total of about 2.5 hours. During takeoff and initial climb, the engine lost power at 400 to 500 feet agl. The pilot performed a 180-degree turn back to the airport but was unable to reach the runway and collided with rocky terrain. The pilot said he visually checked both fuel tanks during the preflight, observin...
Dec. 25, Addison, Texas / Beech Duke
Subscribers Only At 16:40 central time, a Beech BE-60 landed hard on runway 33 at the Addison Municipal Airport following ice accumulation on the airplane. The pilot and his two passengers escaped injury, but the airplane was substantially damaged. The pilot reported the airplane was about 100 feet agl on short final for runway 15 when the windshield iced. The pilot requested and was cleared to circle for the landing. The aircraft landed on runway 33 and slid, collapsing the landing gear and leaving structural damage throughout the aircraft....
Dec. 24, Albuquerque, N.M. / Beech Bonanza
Subscribers Only At 15:57 mountain time, a Beech V35B crashed during its landing approach to Albuquerque International Airport. The passenger was killed in the crash and the pilot died of his injuries two days later. The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 3 but the pilot lined up for landing on runway 35. When the tower pointed this out, he attempted to divert to the intersecting runway 3. The aircraft impacted the ground in a nose low attitude near the approach end of runway 3....
Dec. 23, Bakersfield, Calif. / Cessna 140
Subscribers Only At about 15:10 Pacific time, a Cessna 140 landed short of the runway after losing engine power on final approach to Bakersfield Municipal Airport. The airplane collided with the airport boundary fence and nosed over, leaving the pilot and passenger with minor injuries. The pilot said he flew from Corcoran to Joshua Tree in the morning to pick up a passenger. He departed Corcoran with full fuel tanks, and planned to refuel at Bakersfield on the return trip. He did a solo takeoff at Joshua Tree to evaluate the airplane’s performance prior to departing with the passenger aboard. About 25 miles from Bakersfield the engine stopped producing power. The pilot moved the fuel selector valve to the ot...
Dec. 22, Rangeley, Maine / Beech King Air
Subscribers Only At 17:16 eastern time, a Beech B200 crashed 7.9 miles south of Rangeley Municipal Airport. The pilot and passenger were killed. The flight was en route from Portland and was cleared for the GPS A approach. At nine miles the pilot reported the airport in sight and canceled his IFR clearance. The pilot then radioed his wife, who was waiting at the airport, and told her he was on a base for Runway 32. Bad weather hindered the search, and the airplane was located the next morning on the southwest side of a 3,125-foot mountain, about 100 feet from the top....
Dec. 20, Jackson, Wyo. / Hawker Siddeley HA-125
Subscribers Only At approximately 01:30 mountain time, a Hawker Siddeley-125-700 was damaged when it missed the runway while landing at Jackson Hole Airport. No one was injured during the Part 135 flight. The captain said they could see runway 18 from five nautical miles away. He said he flew an ILS approach and landed the airplane on the runway. An investigation revealed the airplane first hit the ground approximately 160 feet left of the runway and 3,500 feet down the 6,300-foot runway. The airplane settled into approximately 2 to 3 feet of snow, and left a track in the snow for approximately 600 feet. The right wing separated from the airplane and the left wing was bent and badly damaged....
Dec. 15, Lusk, Wyo. / Cessna Skyhawk
Subscribers Only Between 16:00 and 21:45 mountain time, a Cessna 172 crashed approximately 11 miles northeast of Lusk while en route from Casper, Wyo., to Rapid City, S.D. The non-instrument rated pilot and his passenger were killed. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed....
Dec. 14, Chesterfield, N.H. / Cessna 310
Subscribers Only At about 05:30 eastern time, a Cessna 310Q operating as a Part 135 cargo flight crashed in Chesterfield. The flight was destined for Albany, N.Y., and the pilot reported icing conditions and problems with one engine as he flew at 8,000 feet in the vicinity of Dillant-Hopkins Airport in Keene. The pilot said he was unable to maintain altitude and requested vectors to the nearest airport. He was given the ILS Runway 02 approach to Dillant-Hopkins and initially flew the vectors, but later reported he was not able to reach the airport. The airplane struck a hill approximately 7 miles southwest of EEN. Although the pilot initially survived the accident, he later died of his injuries. The air filt...
Dec. 14, Sacramento, Calif. / Dehavilland Twin Otter
Subscribers Only At about 17:20 Pacific time, a passenger aboard a Dehavilland DHC 6 was killed when she apparently jumped from the airplane during cruise flight near Sacramento. The Hewlett-Packard Co. was operating the airplane on a corporate transportation flight. A crew of two and four other passengers were aboard at the time. The company flew four scheduled roundtrip flights a day between San Jose and Lincoln, Calif., and this was the third flight of the day. The airplane had left Lincoln with the five passengers in a cabin configured to seat up to 15 passengers. The woman was seated in a single seat adjacent to an emergency exit on the left side. The airplane was climbing through 4,200 feet when a “doo...
Dec. 14, Ogden, Utah / Mooney M20K
Subscribers Only At 21:16 mountain time, a Mooney M20K struck Mt. Ogden at the end of a 5-hour, 27-minute flight, killing the pilot. FAA records showed the pilot transmitted that he could see Ogden. Radar data indicates that the pilot was descending at approximately 500 feet per minute and flew straight into the east side of the mountain....
Dec. 13, Boulder, Colo. / Cessna Centurion
Subscribers Only At approximately 13:30 mountain time, a Cessna 210C lost engine power shortly after takeoff from Boulder Municipal Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot was climbing through 400 to 500 feet agl when the engine quit. The airplane bounced on a field and came to rest inverted in a hedgerow. The airplane had been dormant for about four years and FAA had issued a ferry permit to Englewood, Colo., for an annual inspection....
Dec. 12, St. Cloud, Minn. / Cessna Skyhawk
Subscribers Only At 13:30 central time, a Cessna 172S lost most of one propeller blade during takeoff from St. Cloud Regional Airport. The separation occurred at 400 to 500 feet above the runway and the CFI was able to land the airplane on a parallel taxiway without incident. The airplane was damaged by vibration as a result of the propeller separation. Inspection of the airplane revealed the McCauley propeller blade separated at a point approximately 8 inches from the hub. The airplane had a total time of 236 hours....
Dec. 12, Lancaster, Calif. / Cessna Skylane
Subscribers Only At 10:00 Pacific time, a Cessna 182P descended into flat desert terrain near the Fox Field Airport as the airplane was maneuvering to enter the traffic pattern, killing the pilot. The pilot called the tower and reported about 7 or 8 miles northwest of the airport at 8,500 feet msl inbound for landing. The controller asked the pilot if he could descend from that altitude. The pilot replied that he would do his “rock” descent. He was then cleared to crossover the airport at midfield for a left downwind entry to runway 24. Radar data showed the airplane with a groundspeed that varied between 160 and 200 knots and a descent rate of 800 feet in 12 seconds....
Dec. 10, Marathon, Fla. / Robinson R22
Subscribers Only At about 19:03 eastern time, a Robinson R22 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean about 100 yards offshore of Marathon, leaving the flight instructor and student pilot with minor injuries. The flight had departed Key West at about 15:30 with another helicopter en route to Fort Lauderdale Executive. No weather briefing had been obtained. They entered IMC and the R22 turned toward clear skies in the east while the other helicopter landed. The accident helicopter flew to Indian Key Island and landed to wait out the weather. The CFI got a weather briefing, which told of a line of thunderstorms along the route of flight. The weather improved and the pilot departed the island. He flew toward a highway h...
Dec. 10, Norman, Okla. / Cessna Golden Eagle
Subscribers Only At 04:48 central time, a Cessna 421B struck terrain while maneuvering near Norman, killing the pilot and his passenger. The flight originated from Altus, Okla., and was destined for Norman. The airplane was VFR over-the-top and requested an IFR clearance to the Westheimer Airport. The pilot was cleared for the localizer runway 03 instrument approach. Subsequently, ATC approved the flight to change to the airport advisory frequency, the pilot acknowledged, and no further communications were heard from the flight. A police officer who was patrolling the airport heard an airplane overfly runway 03 but did not see the airplane or any lights. The airplane was located one mile northeast of the air...
Dec. 9, Petaluma, Calif. / Cessna Turbo Skylane
Subscribers Only At about 19:27 Pacific time, a Cessna TR182 descended into rising hilly terrain about 3.5 nautical miles from Petaluma Municipal Airport, killing the pilot. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight plan had been filed. The pilot was practicing instrument flying and had made several flights earlier in the day. As the airplane approached Petaluma at 19:23 on the VOR DME runway 29 approach, the radar controller terminated radar services and advised the pilot to change to the airport’s advisory frequency. The pilot acknowledged the instruction but that was the last recorded communication ATC had with the pilot. The local weather conditions at the time included heav...
Dec. 9, Ingleside, Texas / Varieze
Subscribers Only At 18:00 central time, a homebuilt Varieze crashed when it entered an uncommanded left roll while in the traffic pattern at the T P McCambell Airport. The pilot suffered minor injuries. The pilot said that during the traffic pattern turn from upwind to crosswind, full opposite rudder would not overcome an uncommanded roll to the left, during which the left wing struck the ground. The airplane came to rest in brushy terrain, approximately 100 yards east of runway 13. An FAA inspector discovered that moving the rudder against the centering spring resulted in the cable eye hooking itself behind the rudder control arm....
Dec. 9, Trenton, N.J. / Mooney 201
Subscribers Only At about 11:00 eastern time, a Mooney M20J hit the runway after an apparent wake turbulence upset while landing at the Trenton Mercer Airport. The pilot and flight instructor were not injured. The pilot executed a normal takeoff from runway 34 and was making right closed traffic. As the pilot turned final, the instructor advised him to extend the touchdown point by 1,000 feet because a UH-60 helicopter was executing an approach from the southwest to the threshold of runway 34. The helicopter transitioned to hovering flight near the threshold about 30 seconds ahead of the accident airplane. Because of another airplane holding short of runway 34 on taxiway Echo, the UH-60 began to air-taxi to...
Dec. 9, Clermont, Fla. / Grob G102
Subscribers Only At about 15:55 eastern time, a Grob G102 crashed short of Seminole Lake Gliderport, but the pilot was not injured. The pilot said he deployed the airbrakes too early and the glider collided with trees short of the runway....
Dec. 8, Antimony, Utah / Piper Comanche
Subscribers Only At 16:55 mountain time, a Piper PA-24-250 crashed in the mountains about seven miles southeast of Antimony, killing the pilot and his passenger. The pilot was not instrument rated but IMC prevailed at the accident site. A family friend said the pilot had owned the airplane for four months and had flown from Mesa, Ariz., to Provo earlier that day to pick up his father. The pilot and his father were going to return to Mesa. At approximately 15:35, the pilot called his wife by cell phone while he was taxiing for takeoff and told her he would be back in Mesa by 18:30. A controller observed a VFR target in the vicinity of Antimony flying east to west. The target squawked 7700 once then disappeare...
Dec. 8, Brainerd, Minn. / Aero Comp-6
Subscribers Only At 14:00 central time, an amateur-built Aero Comp-6 nosed over during a forced landing in a snow-covered field near Brainerd after losing engine power. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said the purpose of the flight was to check the calibration on a newly installed fuel gauge sending unit....
Dec. 6, Charleston, W.V. / Embraer 120
Subscribers Only At 20:38 eastern time, an Embraer 120RT operating as Atlantic Southeast Airways flight 71 struck two deer just after landing at Yeager Airport. One passenger was seriously injured when the tip of one of the right propeller blades punctured the fuselage. The captain said the airplane hit two deer within seconds of landing. One of the deer was hit by the nose gear, the other by the right propeller. The separated chunk of one of the propeller blades was about four inches long and three inches wide....
Dec. 5, Danbury, Conn. / Mooney M20J
Subscribers Only At 11:38 eastern time, a Mooney M20J was damaged during a forced landing shortly after takeoff from Danbury Municipal Airport. The pilot was seriously injured and the two passengers were not injured. The pilot told investigators that, at 600 to 700 feet, the engine began running rough, then quit. The pilot then landed the airplane in a swamp. The pilot also said the airplane had sat on the ramp for about 2½ weeks, and that he did not check the fuel tanks for water prior to departure....
Dec. 5, Pacific City, Ore. / Cessna 150
Subscribers Only At about 13:15 Pacific time, a Cessna 150C was damaged while landing on runway 32 at Pacific City State Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said he landed on the 1,875 foot paved runway “a little hot.” During the landing roll, the pilot intentionally steered the airplane right of runway centerline in an effort to stop the aircraft in the run up area. However, the aircraft departed the right side of the runway and collided with heavy vegetation next to the runway....
Dec. 3, Lynwood, Wash. / Cessna 185
Subscribers Only At 13:00 Pacific time, a Cessna A185F amphibian lost engine power over Lynwood. While attempting an emergency landing in a high school football field, the aircraft collided with trees and a fence. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said he was flying from Seattle to Everett to refuel. He noted before takeoff that the fuel gauges read slightly below empty, but he said that he knew from experience that the fuel tank contained about 10 gallons when it read empty. During the aircraft recovery, a mechanic drained a total of about three gallons of fuel from the wings. The total fuel capacity is 80 gallons, with 74 gallons usable....
Dec. 3, Milltown, Wisc. / Beech Travelair
Subscribers Only At 15:16 central time, a Beechcraft 95-B55 crashed after a loss of control while maneuvering near Milltown, killing the flight instructor and the dual student. The flight had departed St. Paul, Minn., on a local instructional flight. Several witnesses reported hearing the engines stop and said they saw the airplane spiraling to the ground....
Dec. 2, Cross Keys, N.J. / Cessna 152
Subscribers Only At approximately 11:32 eastern time, a Cessna 152 was substantially damaged during takeoff from Cross Keys Airport. The two occupants were not injured. The pilot, who held a flight instructor certificate and was flying from the right seat, reported that the controls felt “spongy” during takeoff. About half way down the runway, he felt a “snap,” and experienced a “partial control failure.” The pilot then felt a second “snap” and the right control yoke broke off the control column. He reduced the power and the airplane began to drift toward the right side of the runway. The airplane then impacted the middle of a 40-foot tall tree, and came to rest inverted on the ground. The pilot-rated passen...
Alas, No Gas
Subscribers Only Undoubtedly the worst moment in my flying career so far was the day I ran out of fuel and wrote off a perfectly good airplane through my own stupidity. I’ll never forget it. They say accidents result from a chain of small, seemingly insignificant events that eventually add up. In my case, the first link in the chain was an absence of paperwork. I was flying a light twin in which it was not possible to dip the tanks, so we had to rely on fuel consumption records, with the fuel gauges as backups. On that particular day, the fuel records were missing, so I had to rely solely on the fuel gauges. This didn’t worry me too much; I’d been flying this plane for some time and knew the gauges w...
Delusional Vision
Jeff Schweitzer’s article “Beyond See and Avoid” [Instrument Check, January] is a good start. I have been flying just shy of 30 years, but 500-plus hours in the Northeast in a Skywatch-equipped Bonanza over the past 22 months have shocked me. We are fooling ourselves if we think “see and avoid” is much more than a snare and a delusion in congested airspace. The new boxes give you a fair chance when an intruder is coming from behind or climbing rapidly from below, offer a second chance for distracted pilots in rapid-convergence situations, expand the circle of safety for pilots (IFR or VFR) in marginal VMC, could have prevented a number of multiple-fatality midairs involving high-perf...
Under Pressure
Subscribers Only The following information is derived from the FAA’s Service Difficulty Reports and Aviation Maintenance Alerts. Click here to view "Airworthiness Directives." ---------- The FAA reports it is still receiving accident and incident reports stemming from fuel exhaustion on Cessna 210s. The FAA blames most of the episodes on pilots neglecting to operate their aircraft in accordance with the flight manual revisions ordered in AD 94-12-08. Also, some pilots apparently are confused about the proper operation of the electric fuel boost pump. There are several different methods of operating both the normal (low boost) pump switch and the emergency (hig...
NTSB Preliminary Reports
Subscribers Only The following briefs were selected from the 111 preliminary reports filed with the NTSB in December 2000. Statements in quotes were taken directly from the NTSB documents. The information is subject to change as the investigations are completed. Click here to view "Accident Totals, December." ---------- Dec. 2, Cross Keys, N.J. Cessna 152 At approximately 11:32 eastern time, a Cessna 152 was substantially damaged during takeoff from Cross Keys Airport. The two occupants were not injured. The pilot, who held a flight instructor certificate and was flying from the right seat, reported that the controls felt “spongy” during tak...
Follow the Leader
Subscribers Only A balmy summer day. A low-and-slow taildragger. Some would say there is no better way to wind up a weekend fly-in than a leisurely trip back home, accompanied by a few friends in their nearly identical airplanes. Flying with friends has its share of joys. The camaraderie is great when droning along. There’s always a friendly face – and someone to have lunch with – during fuel stops. And pooling experience gives some of the advantages of a multi-pilot cockpit, even if those multiple pilots are in different cockpits. But there are also some dangers, as well. The temptation to fly in formation, even loosely, cannot be ignored. Peer pressure may lead you into weather conditions that make...
Wrong Place, Wrong Time
Subscribers Only It’s often been said that if we don’t study history that we are condemned to repeating it. In that same vein, it’s also very true that it often takes accidents before enough attention is given to a problem. That certainly was the case with the 757’s wake vortices. Early in the 1990s, British researchers published a study of wake vortex incidents at Heathrow and noticed a disproportionate number of incidents trailing the 757. The British wake separation criteria had four categories at the time, unlike the American system, which had three categories. The American system lumped a corporate jet weighing 17,000 pounds in the same weight class – large – as a 757 weighing nearly 280,000 po...
Stranger in a Strange Land
Subscribers Only Here’s a fun game you can play in the pilot’s lounge: Throw darts at the Los Angeles Terminal Area Chart, and try not to hit an airport. There are a dozen underlying the LAX Class Bravo airspace, and 10 more just outside its perimeter. While not as congested as its freeways, L.A.’s sky is extremely busy. In the City of Angels, even cherubs must sport transponders. The traffic has led the FAA to develop some of the most complex airspace around. Transients and newcomers beware: The FAA is serious about keeping airliners and GA airplanes separate. “Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the fourth busiest in the world, behind Atlanta, O’Hare in Chicago, and Dallas,” says Frank Swe...
Hidden Trouble
Subscribers Only Aircraft are a great way to get into many remote backcountry locations. Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Canada are full of such backcountry camping opportunities. Backcountry flying is awesome, but there is a lot to learn, not the least of which is what you should and should not carry in the aircraft. One NASA ASRS reporter realized that almost too late. “I was traveling with a group for a fishing trip, and packed a duffel bag containing community food and camping gear. I made arrangements to have fuel and stove oil waiting at our destination. “Contained in my bag was a box of fire starter (sawdust and parafin, shaped like a candle) and a box of wooden kitchen matches. The matchbox ignit...
Four Dimensions
Faster, slower. Higher, lower. Bigger, smaller. Expensive, cheaper. Like the four dimensions physicists use to describe the universe, these four dimensions describe the universe of general aviation airplanes. The speed, altitude and size of the airplane you fly determines the kinds and levels of risk to which you expose yourself. The most extreme example is one of a military pilot skimming the treetops at attack speed, who is in a decidedly riskier spot than that same pilot ferrying that same aircraft from one base to another in the flight levels. The same could be said for general aviation airplanes, though perhaps the extremes are closer together. Flying a J-3 Cub at 1,500 feet agl...
Dogfighting Thor
Subscribers Only Just imagine an early U.S. Mail pilot boarding the train with his mail pouch to continue westbound to deliver the mail. This may have been one of the earliest encounters of pilot vs. thunderstorm, with the pilot being unable to complete the flight as planned. Have the odds changed with the advent of new technologies? General aviation pilots now have lightning detectors, improved ATC radar and communications, and some even are equipped with on-board color weather radar. Armed with these tools, should pilots reconsider the advice of their first flight instructors, who preached the merits of not even flying in the same county as a thunderstorm? My first experiences in flying around thund...