Aviation Safety

At 14:11 CDT, Cessna 152 crashed five miles south of the Bong Airport, killing the flight instructor and student pilot. Witnesses reported the flight, which began about 10 minutes before the accident, was the student pilots first instructional flight. A witness said, What attracted my attention was that I became increasingly aware the plane was in an extended dive. I could hear the engine running throughout the entire dive. I looked up and saw the plane in a dive, at an extremely sharp angle of descent, heading west. The plane continued down long past the time I thought it should have pulled up until finally it reached the tree-top of my vision, disappeared from my view and I heard more of…

At 10:15 MST, a Cessna 172B was blown over by high winds while turning from runway 22 to a parallel taxiway. Peak wind gusts of 75 knots were recorded shortly after the accident. The aircraft was substantially damaged but the pilot was not injured. The flight originated in Albuquerque, N.M., at 07:30. The pilot received two weather briefings, the first prior to his flight and the second in an in-flight radio contact with Prescott AFSS. He was advised of strong wind conditions, including observations of winds in the 50-knot range. …

At about 18:30 EST, a Piper Lance was substantially damaged while landing at the Richmond International Airport, but the pilot was not injured. The flight was a Part 135 cargo flight from Newport News, Va., to Richmond. The pilot was en route to Richmond when he became unable to maintain VFR and filed an IFR flight plan. He was cleared to climb to 2,000 feet, then 4,000 feet. While climbing from 2,000 feet to 4,000 feet the airplane began picking up ice, so the pilot asked for clearance back to 2,000 feet. The pilot was cleared down to 2,000 feet and direct to the airport. While landing, the pilot had difficulty judging the distance to the runway, due to the remaining ice on the windshield….

At about 12:30 EST, a Mooney 231 crashed into mountains near Counts, killing the pilot. A witness stated that he had intended to buy the accident airplane from the pilots corporation. The pilot flew the airplane to Mooresville, N.C., the day before the accident for a pre-purchase inspection. The inspection found numerous discrepancies, including the fuel flow being too high, the right magneto inoperative, low pressure on two engine cylinders, two exhaust manifolds leaking, various oil leaks, an inaccurate fuel gauge, a spongy left brake, and the left forward engine mount rusted. When the witness declined to buy the plane, the pilot became quite upset and departed the airport shortly befor…

At 15:48 EST, a Piper PA-34-200 crashed during takeoff from runway 27 at Tallahassee International Airport and the pilot was killed. The pilot reportedly had arrived from Fort Lauderdale for refueling en route to Memphis. The pilot of another aircraft saw the Seneca enter a right 45-degree bank and, turning through a 360-degree magnetic heading with the nose about 30 degrees up, it stalled. At approximately the same time, the pilot radioed that he was having a problem and wanted to return but he never stated the problem. The airplane suddenly started losing altitude and appeared to have stalled a second time. The witness stated that the stabilator appeared to be full pitch up. Both propell…

At 02:20 CST, an Air China cargo 747 and a Korean Air passenger 747 nearly collided on runway 14R at the OHare International Airport. The Air China 747 had landed at OHare just prior to the incident. The Korean Air 747 was departing. Air China landed on 14R and was cleared to turn off the runway via a right turn on taxiway Tango 10, a left turn on taxiway Kilo, and to cross runway 27L to the cargo ramp. The controller cleared the Korean Air flight for takeoff as the Air China flight was clearing the runway. The Air China flight made the right turn onto Tango 10 then made a left turn onto taxiway Mike. The Air China flight entered runway 14R as the Korean Air flight was lifting off. The Kor…

At about 15:40 EST, a flight attendant was seriously injured when she fell out of the main cabin door of a Boeing 737-300 at Newark International Airport. The airplane, which was operating as Continental Airlines flight 517, was parked at the gate. The airplane was completely closed and the jetway had been pushed back in preparation for departure. An agent asked if two additional passengers could board. The captain agreed to do so, and the agent proceeded back up the jetway to get the additional passengers. The captain then made an announcement over the public address system, after which a passenger came to the cockpit and advised him that the flight attendant had fallen from the airplane. A…

At about 13:20 EST, a Cessna 310N crashed while maneuvering after takeoff from Addington Field. The flight instructor and private pilot were killed. A notebook found in the wreckage indicated that the two had flown together for 3.2 hours the previous day, and a witness said the pilots had also flown together earlier on the day of the accident. They had flown a number of VOR instrument approaches, then landed to top off the fuel tanks and eat lunch. Prior to the accident flight, the witness overheard the pilots discussing engine out procedures and unusual attitude maneuvers. Another witness was standing about -mile south of the accident site when he heard the airplanes engines stop, then…

At 09:23 MST, an Ercoupe 415E crashed on approach to the Kingman Airport. The pilot and passenger were killed. The flight originated from Lake Havasu City, Ariz., about 08:30 as part of the Arizona Ercoupe Groups annual Wing Ding fly-in. The initial portion of the flight involved traveling to the Kingman Airport, where breakfast was to be served, and other activities related to the fly-in were planned. Within 10 minutes before and after the accident, other pilots in the group who also entered the Kingman traffic pattern reported moderate to extreme turbulence in the pattern. Several pilots also reported experiencing windshear while descending on the base and final approach legs. A witness r…

At 20:15 CDT, a Cessna Skyhawk struck power lines while maneuvering near Midlothian. The 80-hour pilot escaped injury and returned to the departure airport without further incident. The pilot encountered lowering ceilings while en route to the Midlothian Airport. When the ceilings dropped to about 300 feet, the pilot elected to return to Grand Prairie. He heard a loud pop and saw a bright flash of light. The engine initially sputtered, but then continued to run normally. The pilot said he was following the railroad tracks southbound at a low altitude when he collided with the unmarked power lines. The broken wire was suspended 28 feet above the tracks….