Aviation Safety

At 15:00 CDT, an F4U Corsair collided with a Grumman Bearcat on runway 18 at Wittman Regional Airport. The F4U-4 Corsair was destroyed and the pilot seriously injured. The Bearcat was substantially damaged but the pilot suffered no injuries. The pilot of the F4U-5 Corsair suffered minor injuries. At the time of the collision, the Bearcat was stationary on the runway about 1,400 feet from the departure end with its engine at idle power. The F4U-4 was at full power on takeoff roll and struck the Bearcat from behind. The F4U-5 was on takeoff roll in formation with the F4U-4. It sustained substantial damage when the pilot saw a second Grumman Bearcat on the runway in front of his aircraft and el…

At 16:00 CDT, a Mooney M20J made a forced landing and was damaged following a partial loss of engine power near Mount Pleasant. The two aboard were not injured. The pilot told investigators that he smelled a strong odor of fuel and the fuel pressure dropped to almost zero while he was cruising at 10,500 feet. The pilot diverted toward the Mount Pleasant Municipal Airport with the engine operating at idle. While on final approach to runway 7, he applied throttle to adjust the aircrafts rate of descent but it had no effect. He landed in an open field about -mile short of the runway and nosed over. The pilot said that after exiting the aircraft, he observed fuel leaking from the right fuel ta…

At approximately 10:30 MDT, a Mooney M20F crashed on takeoff from a public road near Montrose. On July 28 the pilot apparently was en route from Evanston, Wyo., to Durango, Colo. The cylinder head temperature gauge peaked and, fearing engine damage, the pilot made a precautionary landing on a county road. A mechanic from a nearby airport was summoned. It was determined that the problem was that the gauge was displaying erroneous information. A ferry permit was obtained from FAAs Flight Standards District Office in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to the mechanic who witnessed the accident, the pilot examined the roadway and determined he could safely depart. Traffic was halted in both direct…

At about 07:30 CST, a Cessna 172N was damaged while making a precautionary landing in a field, but the pilot was not injured. The pilot said he watched the Weather Channel and then departed Geneva, Ala., at about 07:00 on a local flight with his wife to perform several touch-and-go landings. His wife then got out of the aircraft and he departed for Elba, Ala., where he intended to refuel the aircraft. Upon arriving at Elba, he found the airport fogged in. He then diverted to Enterprise, Ala., and found that airport fogged in. He returned to Geneva and found that airport also fogged in. He then contacted controllers at Columbus, Ga., and Cairns Army Airfield. He flew southeast of Geneva and e…

At about 11:38 CDT, a TWA DC-9 had its landing gear separate on rollout at Nashville International Airport. Three passengers were treated for minor injuries. The First Officer said he turned final and his sink rate was 600 to 800 fpm. The airplane touched down hard on the right main landing gear, which surprised him and the PIC. The PIC immediately got on the flight controls with him as the airplane bounced. On the second impact he felt a vibration, and it became evident that they had a directional control problem. The left wing started to settle and made contact with the ground. The captain said that, right before touchdown, he knew the first officer was not going to make a good landing. Th…

At about 10:59 EDT, the pilot of a Cessna 172RG lost control on landing at Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport. Neither the pilot nor the passenger were injured. The pilot said that, as he climbed through 500 feet, the airplane made an uncommanded yaw to the left and the turn coordinator indicated a skid to the left. He returned for landing and, while trying to use the manual rudder trim, noted that the trim wheel spun freely. While on short final approach, the tower advised him to go around because the landing gear was not extended. He selected the gear down and landed, but the main landing gear was not fully down and locked at touchdown. Inspection revealed the chain for the rudder trim asse…

At 15:15 CST, a Cessna 525 struck a hillside 4.3 miles from the approach end of runway 11 at M. Graham Clark Airport. The pilot and five passengers were killed. The operations manager at Clark Airport said the pilot contacted him from St. Louis at 13:48 inquiring about the weather at the airport. The operations manager told the pilot the weather was pretty poor and gave him the most recent observation, which was a few hours old. The pilot requested a current observation, but before the operations manager could give it, another pilot departing the airport in a Cessna 421 gave a pilot report for the field. The departing pilot told the accident pilot the clouds were approximately 1,200 feet msl…

At about 17:27 EST, a Beech 58TC struck a house in Hasbrouck Heights, killing the four aboard the aircraft and giving minor injuries to two people on the ground. The flight was en route from Hanover County Municipal Airport to Teterboro Airport. Upon arrival in the New York metropolitan area, the pilot requested a visual approach but New York Approach did not approve the request. The controller instead cleared him for the VOR/DME-A approach. The controller then handed him off to Teterboro Tower, which told the pilot he was number seven for landing. Several minutes later the tower controller told the pilot he needed to be at 1,500 feet until established on the left base turn. The pilot acknow…

At about 10:53 EST, a Beechcraft S35, piloted by Itzhak Jacoby crashed shortly after takeoff from Linden. All three aboard were killed and 22 people on the ground received varying degrees of injuries, from minor cuts to third degree burns. IMC prevailed and an IFR flight plan was filed. Records show that pilot contacted New York Departure Control and was instructed to turn left to a heading of 010 degrees, and climb to 5,000 feet msl. A few seconds later, the controller revised the clearance, and instructed the pilot to maintain 2,000 feet. Thirty-five seconds after that, the controller instructed the pilot to turn left to a heading of 270 degrees, to which the pilot did not reply. The contr…

At about 15:30 PDT, a Piper PA-23-160 Apache lost an engine and made a forced landing off-airport. The instructor suffered minor injuries and the student pilot was uninjured. The flight was a combination maintenance flight and instructional flight. The instructor said he intentionally failed and secured the right engine but was unable to restart it. He elected to return to the airport but the left engine failed about four miles from the airport. Inspectors found water in the main fuel tanks and in the carburetor bowls of both engines….