Aviation Safety

At about 19:00 Alaska daylight time, a Piper Super Cub crashed into the ocean about 19 miles south of Teller. The pilot was not on board the airplane at the time. The pilot had landed on a beach landing site and was returning to Nome. He was starting the airplane by hand-propping the engine from outside the airplane, but apparently the throttle was advanced too far. When the engine started the airplane took off, climbed to about 500 feet, and slowly turned toward the beach. The airplane crashed into the ocean about 100 feet from his location. He was reported overdue by a relative, and located by the crew of an Alaska National Guard helicopter about 26 hours later….

At 11:13 CDT, a Smith Aerostar 601P crashed when it lost power on initial climb out of the Wiley Post Airport. The pilot and the pilot-rated passenger were killed. Another pilot who witnessed the crash from the runway said, the airplanes left engine was producing black smoke during the takeoff roll and the airplane started to drift to the left after takeoff. The accident pilot told the controller he had a problem, but did not elaborate. The airplane then pitched up and began a Vmc rollover to the left….

At 07:30 EDT, a Beech 23 struck a fence while taking off from a pasture near Vidalia. The pilot was not injured. The pilot elected to fly the airplane from the 800-foot pasture despite a large dent and torn sheet metal on the leading edge of the wing from a previous accident. The landing light covers located on the leading edge of both wings were also found to have been damaged and partially missing from the previous accident. Upon takeoff the airplane became airborne and climbed three to four feet before striking a fence at the end of the field. The airplane then yawed 180 degrees and came to rest in a rubbish pile. The last annual performed on the airplane occurred in February 1997 with no…

At approximately 12:10 PDT, a Vanek gyroplane and an unregistered ultralight collided in mid-air at the Scappoose airport. The two occupants of the gyroplane and the ultralights pilot were killed. Witnesses said the ultralight was taking off from the runway and the gyroplane was descending to land on the parallel taxiway when they collided….

At approximately 07:30 MDT, an American AA-1 crashed in mountainous terrain near Centennial. The pilot and passenger suffered minor injuries. The pilot told investigators that he entered the Medicine Bow Mountains and failed to negotiate the terrain. He turned left and started losing altitude; he turned right and began losing airspeed. He collided with terrain in a small clearing. He was able to contact the pilot of an overflying United Airlines flight, who relayed information to search and rescue officials. The two occupants were rescued late that morning….

At 11:27 CDT, a Continental Express Aerospatiale ATR 42-500 was terminating its flight at Adams Field when a ground crewmember was killed by a rotating propeller. Witnesses said the ground crewmember walked from behind the left wing toward the nose of the airplane, listening or talking on a shoulder mounted radio and then looked up at the people in the terminal. He had been working in Little Rock as a ground operator for approximately 31 years….

At 13:10 PDT, a Schempp-Hirth Nimbus 4DM motorized glider broke up in flight near Minden, killing pilot William Ivans and passenger Donald Engen, director of the National Air and Space Museum and former administrator of the FAA. Witnesses said the glider was turning tightly in a thermal when it entered a spiral. The pilot stopped the rotation but the nose dropped further. As the pilot pulled out of the dive, the wings disintegrated….

At 15:00 EDT, a Piper Dakota landed hard at the Parr Airport. None of the four occupants was injured. The pilot said, When I turned base to final I started to drop. I put the power back in and crawled over the trees. … The airplane struck the ground about 30 degrees nose down. The nose gear and the prop hit the ground. A witness who was a flight instructor said, He was slow coming in over the trees. I got up to grab the microphone, to tell him to add power, but it was too late. He fell in from about 25 feet. The pilot reported 112 hours of total flight experience, 58 hours of which were in make and model….

At approximately 10:15 PDT, the pilot of a Cessna 182A crashed into a parked Beech Bonanza while attempting to abort a landing at the Apex Airpark. The Cessna pilot sustained minor injuries; the Beech was unoccupied. The investigator found marks from the aircraft wheels in the dirt approximately 90 feet short of the runway 35 threshold. A witness reported seeing the aircraft veer right after landing, heard an application of power, and then observed the aircraft collide with the Beech C35. The pilot returned to the aircraft following a medical evaluation, removed the contents of the aircraft, and has been unreachable since….

At 10:25 PDT, a Piper PA28-180 lost power and made a forced landing at Hayward. The airplane was substantially damaged but the pilot was not injured. The pilot was executing the LOC/DME RWY 28L approach when, with the airport in sight about 1 mile out, he canceled his IFR flight plan. The engine quit at a half-mile out and at 500 feet. The investigator found that the right tank was filled nearly to the tab while the left tank was empty. The pilot said he had been on the right tank for the entire 2:25 flight and that he switched to the left tank as he was turning final….