Aviation Safety

At 17:22 Pacific time, a Cessna 150L crashed while maneuvering near Laton, killing both occupants. Witnesses said the pilot frequently flew over their home at low altitude. He would orbit and converse with them. On this occasion, the airplane was orbiting at about 300 feet when the pilot opened his side window and said, Hello. One of the ground witnesses invited him to come visit after his flight and he responded, We will. The airplane continued the left turn, momentarily leveled out, then banked left and began to turn left again. The bank angle continued to rapidly increase until the witnesses could see the tops of the wings. The nose dropped and the airplane crashed….

At 17:45 Pacific time, a rented Cessna 152 lost power during cruise flight and subsequently landed hard at the Lodi airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot stated he had departed Corona, Calif., 3 hours and 25 minutes before the accident and was en route to Lodi. The operator said the pilot ran out of fuel short of the airport….

At 11:00 mountain time, a Piper PA-28-161 lost power on initial climb from runway 7L at Deer Valley Airport. During an attempted return to runway maneuver, the aircraft landed short of runway 25L and struck a perimeter fence. The CFI and student pilot were not injured….

At 14:00 central time, a Piper PA-28-236 experienced a left main gear brake fire while taxiing for takeoff at Des Moines International Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot apparently taxied with the parking brake set….

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…

At about 12:00 eastern time, a Piper PA-32-300 crashed on landing at Seven Springs Airport, killing one passenger and leaving the pilot and two passengers seriously injured. A witness said the airplane did not seem lined up with the runway as it touched down and veered off the left side of the runway. The engine revved as if the airplane was going to take off again, but it veered to the right, touched down back onto the runway, and traveled off the right side of the runway. The engine revved again, as if the airplane was going to take off, but the airplane struck trees and came to rest in a ravine. Two tail strike marks were found on the runway and one was found in the grass off the left sid…

About 07:55 Pacific time, a Maule M4-210C crashed while maneuvering 1 mile southwest of the Willows-Glenn County Airport, killing the pilot and passenger. The airplane was one of a group of six airplanes en route to Happy Camp, Calif., on a camping trip with an intermediate stop at Willows-Glen. The accident airplane was about seven miles behind the other five. Winds were recorded at 32 mph, gusting to 42. A witness saw the accident airplane enter two steep 360-degree turns, level off and descend, then complete two more steep 360-degree turns before falling to the ground. Antelopes were reported at the scene and the pilots from the other airplanes in the group indicated that the accident air…

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….

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…

At about 13:00 eastern time, a Cessna 150 was damaged during an emergency landing in a field near Bridgewater. Neither occupant was injured. The pilot designated the PIC said the pilot-rated passenger was a mechanic who had completed an annual inspection on the airplane. The mechanic wanted to take the airplane for a test flight, but did not have a current medical certificate, so he asked the PIC to accompany him on the flight. Prior to the annual inspection, the airplane had not flown for approximately three years. The mechanic checked the main fuel strainer during the annual inspection and did not observe any debris or contamination. About 2 weeks before the accident flight, the mechanic c…