Aviation Safety

At 1100 Pacific time, a Cessna 172M porpoised on landing at Catalina Island Airport, damaging the firewall. The pilot and three passengers were not injured. The pilot said the approach was normal. The flap position indicator ceased to function during the flight and the pilot estimated that he used 20 degrees of flaps for the approach and landing. He said that once he had the runway made, he reduced the throttle to idle and flared. The engine continued to produce power, running at 1,200 to 1,600 rpm and the airplane bounced several times as he tried to get it to settle on the runway. Finally, he pulled the mixture to kill the engine. The engine had accumulated only 17 hours of operation….

At 1631 mountain time, a Cessna 340 crashed on final approach to Centennial Airport, killing the pilot and three passengers. The tower controller at Centennial Airport said the pilot had been cleared to land on runway 35R. About 90 seconds later, the pilot reported he had lost an engine. Radar data indicates the airplane made a left 180-degree turn to the south and then radar contact was lost….

At about 0730 mountain time, a Piper PA-18 struck terrain after being damaged by gunfire near Fort Peck. The pilot and passenger were seriously injured. The pilot was conducting a coyote control flight over private rangeland. At about 40 feet agl, the passenger inadvertently discharged a semiautomatic 12-gauge shotgun three to four times, striking the right wing and aileron assembly. The airplane entered a descending turn to the right and subsequently impacted terrain in a nose-low attitude….

At about 1500 eastern time, a Piper J4A lost engine power on initial climb from Cincinnati Municipal-Lunken Field and crashed. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said the engine stopped as he climbed through 500 feet. He attempted to return to the runway, but the landing gear struck the edge of the runway, the left gear collapsed, and the airplane flipped over. This was the first flight after the annual inspection, which included replacing the carburetor and changing the float. Post-accident examination revealed that the carburetor float was out of adjustment….

At approximately 1305 Pacific time, a National Air & Space Museum Boeing S-307 ditched in the waters of Elliott Bay following a loss of engine power. The two pilots and two flight engineers were not injured. The flight had departed from Boeing Field approximately 1230 en route to Everett and landed without incident. The airplane took off again and the number three engine experienced a momentary surge, then normalized. Due to this anomaly, the flight crew decided to discontinue the flight activities and return to Boeing Field. The landing gear was lowered but the left main gear did not fully extend. The approach was aborted to orbit the area to try and remedy the situation. The flight enginee…

At 1524 central time, a Mooney M20F lost engine power in cruise flight near Grapeland and was seriously damaged in the ensuing forced landing. The pilot and passenger were not injured. Examination of the airplane by an FAA inspector revealed two holes in the engines #2 cylinder….

At 1153 eastern time, a Piper PA-34-200T suffered an in-flight breakup near Apex, killing the pilot and passenger. The flight was cleared for the ILS Runway 5R approach to Raleigh-Durham International Airport and was 9.3 nautical miles from the airport. The pilot was given a radar vector to intercept the localizer. Witnesses reported hearing the airplane, then seeing the airplane come out of the fog straight down, with one wing coming down separately and debris falling after….

At 1534 Pacific time, a Piper PA-28-140 lost power and crashed about 1,300 feet short of runway 28L at Montgomery Field Airport. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said he spent 1.5 hours reviewing the flight manual for the airplane before departing because he was unfamiliar with the airplane. He took off at about 1320 on the left fuel tank, flew for a while, then switched to the right fuel tank for the return leg. He flew straight back to the airport, but the engine began to lose power about a mile from the airport. After the crash, fuel was found in the left fuel tank but not in the right fuel tank….

At 1108 eastern time, a Piper PA-28-151 struck trees on climbout from Herbert Smart Airport, killing the pilot and flight instructor. A witness reported the CFI and pilot were on an instrument training flight in the local area. They departed runway 28, climbed to approximately 300 feet and reported that they were going to return to the airport to land on runway 10. The airplane struck pine trees three-quarters of a mile southwest of the airport….

At 1407 mountain time, a Cessna 172L suffered a propeller blade failure during departure from Bullhead City/Laughlin International Airport. The student pilot landed on the remaining runway and overrun area. Neither the pilot nor his passenger was injured. Control tower personnel said the airplane had climbed to about 800 feet when the airplane experienced the failure. Preliminary examination revealed a disintegrated propeller hub with loss of propeller blades and a severed crankshaft aft of the shaft flange. The pilot reported that about 1 year prior to the accident, he and his instructor struck a bird during cruise flight. They made a dead stick landing into an airport, where they found t…