Aviation Safety

At about 08:00 EDT, a homebuilt Volksplane crashed during takeoff from a private airstrip near Westmore, killing the pilot. The pilot had recently completed building the airplane and conducted a ground test prior to making a test flight. He decided to change the original propeller to one with a smaller diameter in order to prevent ground strike damage. The accident flight was to be the first flight in the airplane. A witness said the airplane lifted off after a ground roll of about 1,000 feet but did not climb enough to make it over 50-foot trees at the far end of the airstrip….

About 13:50 Alaska daylight time, a float equipped DeHavilland Otter was damaged when it struck terrain at the edge of a lake about 30 miles west of Port Alsworth. The four on board were not injured as the Part 135 flight attempted to take off from the 2,000-foot long lake. The pilot began the takeoff run with the flaps halfway extended, and then when the airplane was on the step he inadvertently retracted the flaps instead of extending them. The airplane did not get airborne, the pilot retarded the power lever to idle, and the airplane struck the four feet high bank at the end of the lake….

At about 09:00 PST, a Boeing 767-223 operated by American Airlines as Flight 160 suffered a rapid decompression during climb. The pilot made an emergency descent and landed without additional incident at the Palm Springs International Airport. Two of the 10 flight attendants and four of the 111 passengers reported minor injuries. The flight crew said the jet was climbing through 32,000 feet when they heard a rumbling sound followed by the illumination of the Center Duct Leak light on an overhead panel. Unable to control the rate of depressurization, the crew performed the Explosive Depressurization procedure and descended to 10,000 feet. An examination of the airplane revealed the main c…

At about 18:45 EST, a Cessna 172L was damaged while taxiing after landing at Wayne County Airport. No one was injured. The pilot said the airplanes landing light had burned out. After landing, he turned the airplane onto a taxiway, but then misjudged the taxiway lighting, and taxied the airplane into a ditch. At the time, the pilot was facing a business jet that had its taxi lights on….

At about 14:37 EDT, the landing gear of a Piper PA- 24-250 Comanche collapsed on landing rollout at Naples Municipal Airport. No one was injured. The pilot said she completed the prelanding check and lowered the landing gear about five miles from the airport. She did not see a green light and recycled the landing gear several times with negative results. She contacted Naples tower and asked if they could see the landing gear. She was informed that a medical evacuation aircraft was close by. The medical evacuation pilot informed her that the landing gear appeared to be down. The tower also informed her that the landing gear appeared to be down on short final. A manual gear extension was not a…

At 09:30 MST, a Cessna 180A was substantially damaged when the pilot taxied into a parked Beech Bonanza after landing at Gallatin Field. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said camera equipment on the glareshield restricted his visibility and he did not see the parked plane before he turned into it. The pilots medical certificate had been denied in January 1997….

At 19:09 CST, the pilot and instructor aboard a Cessna 310N were killed after losing control shortly after takeoff from runway 21 at Danville-Vermilion County Airport. IMC prevailed but no flight plan was filed. A witness who had landed about 30 minutes earlier said the CFI asked him over the radio what the cloud bases were. The witness said he reported the cloud bases were 1,700 feet msl. Witnesses said the airplane climbed to about 100 to 200 feet, then the engines made an unusual noise and the airplane started a high rate descent toward the runway. The plane recovered into level flight for a few seconds, then began a climb which took the aircraft into the clouds. Both engines showed signs…

At 17:20 CST, a Piper PA-24-260 crashed on approach to Lakefront Airport, killing all four aboard. The aircraft reportedly was No. 2 for landing behind traffic on a right base for runway 36R. It appeared that the aircraft was lining up with runway 27, so the air traffic controller asked the pilot what his intentions were and confirmed that the pilot was to land on runway 36R. A witness observed the aircraft flying slowly at about 200 feet agl. The aircraft began a bank to the left and then a bank to the right. Then the aircrafts nose dropped, and it entered a left turn and descended out of sight behind some warehouse buildings. The airplane came to rest between two warehouse buildings about…

At about 12:05 EST, a Beechcraft 90 landed short of the runway at St. George Airport while on a parachute jumping flight. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said he took off at about 11:50 and was at 12,500 feet when the aircraft started to lose power and descend. He instructed the parachutists to jump and turned toward the airport, but landed about 500 yards short of the runway. All of the parachutists exited the aircraft safely….

At about 12:04 ADT, a Eurocopter helicopter struck the Juneau ice field about 16 miles north of Juneau. The sightseeing flight was being operated as a Part 135 flight. Five of the occupants had minor injuries; the other passenger was seriously injured. The pilot said he was attempting to return to the Juneau airport after completion of an ice field sightseeing tour flight when the lack of surface features and light snow caused a disorientation that led to him flying into the ground. Three other company helicopters began searching for the first one, and one of them crashed, with the two occupants uninjured. A third company helicopter was dispatched to the crash of the second, and it picked up…