Aviation Safety

At approximately 14:45 mountain time, a Maule M-5-235C was damaged in a groundloop upon landing at Grand Junction. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said the landing was normal but the airplane suddenly groundlooped to the left. Postaccident examination of the airplanes left steering cable revealed the swaged attachment had separated….

At 1910 Pacific time, a Beech 76 suffered a collapsed landing gear during a practice single-engine go-around at Petaluma Airport. The flight instructor, the commercial-licensed multiengine student, and one additional passenger were not injured. The instructor said they were performing a single-engine VOR approach in VFR conditions when he decided to have the student do a single-engine go-around. However, he issued the go-around instruction too late and the airplane touched down with full power on the left engine, causing the pilots to lose control. The instructor said neither he nor the student were making aggressive enough control inputs to correct the situation in the early stages and he m…

At 12:10 eastern time, a Piper PA-28-180 was damaged during an aborted landing at Oxford Airport. The pilot sustained minor injuries. The pilot intended to land at Southbridge Municipal Airport about 9.5 miles southwest of Oxford Airport. He landed about a third of the way down the 2,047-foot runway but determined he would not be able to stop by the end because of snow and patchy ice, so he added power and took off for another try. However, he could not outclimb trees at the departure end of the runway. His intended destination has a 3,500-foot runway. The airplanes performance charts show it would need 1,190 feet to land over obstacles on a dry paved runway….

At 1250 mountain time, a Cessna T206H porpoised after a bounced landing at the Sedona Airport. Neither the private pilot nor the three passengers were injured. The airplane was landing on runway 21, and the winds were from 170 degrees at 19 knots gusting to 26. The pilot was issued his private pilot certificate 20 days earlier….

About 1804 central time, an Aircam amateur-built airplane struck power lines and crashed in a lake while maneuvering near Troy. The pilot was seriously injured. Witnesses said the airplane had been flying around the area at a low level for about 30 minutes, when it struck power lines about 70 feet above a lake. The crash site was located about one mile southeast of the airport. A witness, who happened to have military training in underwater rescue, jumped into the lake and rescued the pilot from the submerged wreckage….

At about 14:50 Pacific time, a Piper PA-28-180 was damaged during a forced landing brought on by imminent fuel exhaustion. The pilot was seriously injured. The pilot left Truckee at about 09:45 and was destined for Tulare. He was unable to land because of a low stratus layer, so he diverted to Pine Mountain Lake and landed. He called the Tulare airport and was told the ceiling was 1,500 to 2,000 feet, so he again tried to fly to Tulare. He could not descend through the clouds, so he returned to Pine Mountain Lake, only to find it covered with a stratus layer. The pilot realized he was too low on fuel to reach an airport in VMC and contacted Oakland Center for help. The pilot was unable to fi…

At 1900 mountain time, a Piper PA-24-250 veered off the runway and struck obstacles while landing at the Prescott Airport. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The pilot flew for TWA until he lost his medical in 1972. He recently reacquired his medical and reported 15 hours since returning to flying. He said he had just recently bought the airplane….

At 14:50 central time, a Cessna 172 overran the runway at Iraan Municipal Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said he had difficulty locating the windsock and then made three approaches to runway 32. On the third try, he touched down about a third of the way down the runway and could not stop, crashing through a fence, across a ditch and into a business yard. The pilot then determined he had landed with a 15-knot tailwind….

At about 1420 central time, a Cessna 180 struck a ditch during the landing roll at a private airstrip near Canton. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The pilot said the airplane touched down about 400 feet from the threshold of a 2,000-foot runway. He had rolled about 1,000 feet when the airplane drifted to the right and struck the ditch….

At approximately 21:13 central time, a Beech C23 struck trees while making a missed approach on the VOR-DME 14 approach at Sinton San Patricio County Airport. The pilot was killed. The pilot was returning home after making an Angel Flight and was cleared for the approach. He was instructed to maintain 2,000 feet until established on the final approach course. He then reported being unable to see the airport and the controller told him to fly the published missed approach. The pilot then said he had the airport in sight underneath him. The controller asked if he was landing and he said yes. The controller asked him if he was canceling IFR and he said no. He crashed just west of the airport cl…