Preliminary Reports

At 14:12 EDT, a Beech Travelair crashed near Shawsville, and the four occupants died. The pilot had been given an IFR clearance and had advised the tower that he had Information Romeo, which contained a HIWAS alert for moderate to occasional severe turbulence below 12,000 feet due to northwesterly winds over rough terrain along the airplanes proposed route of flight. The tower controller asked for a pilot report shortly after clearing the flight to climb to 8,000 feet, but the pilot did not respond and the airplane disappeared from radar. The controller said the airplane had reached an altitude of 6,700 feet before he lost track of the target. Pilots in a Cessna 182, Piper Cherokee and…

At about 14:50 PST, a Cessna 172RG suffered a catastrophic engine failure and nosed over during the subsequent off-airport landing. The aircraft departed San Diego at about 13:15 enroute to Camarillo on a cross-country training flight. No one was injured. The instructor said they were cruising at 4,000 feet when he heard a loud bang from the engine compartment and saw flames by the rudder pedals. He turned the fuel off and began a rapid descent. He said the fire went out and he set up to land in a plowed field. After touchdown, he held the nose up as long as possible. When the nose wheel dropped into the soft dirt, it dug in and the aircraft nosed over. An inspector observed that a cylinder…

About 11:10 EDT, an American AA-5 struck a tree after an inadvertent encounter with IMC. The two occupants were not injured. The pilot and his son were returning from Florida to New York and had stopped for the night in Staunton, Va., due to widespread IFR conditions. The pilot was instrument rated and the airplane was legal for IFR flight, but the pilot said that he had not planned on conducting IFR operations on this trip, and because of his limited IFR experience, he would only conduct VFR operations. He encountered turbulence along the route as he tried to stay VFR in a valley where the mountain tops on each side were obscured by clouds. The airplane entered the clouds and the severity o…

At 21:30 CDT, the pilot of a Beech Sundowner was killed when he lost control in severe weather. Witnesses reported IMC prevailed at the time of the accident but there was no flight plan. Two witnesses reported seeing the airplane flying about one mile northeast of the Mandan Municipal Airport during a thunderstorm. One of the witnesses said she saw the airplane pitching up and down and rolling left and right violently before losing sight of it due to very heavy rain. The second witness said the wind was so gusty it almost pushed his car off the road. The airplanes ground impact location was in a field, with vegetation bent almost parallel to the ground about 300 feet around the impact point…

About 12:30 EDT, two Piper Cubs in a flight of three crashed near Dawson. One passenger was killed, the two pilots and another passenger were seriously injured. At about 09:30, a flight of four Cubs left Lock Haven, Pa., where the pilots and passengers had been attending a Piper Cub fly-in. The four airplanes arrived at High Rock Airport in Dawson at about 11:20. One airplane remained at High Rock, and the other three were fueled with auto fuel. The airport owner briefed the pilots on the airport departure procedures, and the pilots elected to depart to the north. The first airplane to depart was a Cub powered by a 65 hp engine and carried only the pilot. The second airplane to depart, a Pip…

At 16:28 CDT, a Piper Seneca was damaged during a forced landing near Laredo. The pilot and two passengers were not injured. The flight originated in San Antonio, at which time the right fuel gauge indicated 35 gallons and the left tank indicated somewhat higher, according to the pilot. Approximately 40 minutes into the flight the ammeter began indicating a failure, so the pilot turned off unnecessary electrical equipment. He then saw the left fuel gauge go from eight gallons indicated to zero and the right gauge go from 20 gallons indicated to zero. Subsequently both engines lost power. He set up to land on a road, but traffic forced him to land adjacent to the road and the right wing str…

About 21:40 EDT, a Cessna 182 was substantially damaged when it overran the runway on a downwind landing at the New London Airport. Neither occupant was injured. The airplane touched down on the 3,164-foot runway 34 at 60-65 mph with 30 degrees of flaps. The airplane bounced once, began to float, and touched down again with about 240 feet of runway remaining. The pilot braked heavily, but the airplane ran off the end of the runway and came to rest inverted on the side of a road. A nearby airport reported winds of 190 degrees at 10 knots….

At 13:45 CDT, a Cessna 172R was damaged when it veered off the runway on landing at the Kokomo Municipal Airport. The student pilot, who was making his first solo takeoff and landing, was not injured. After landing, the aircraft veered off the left side of runway 23 and struck the VOR station with the left wing and the nose of the aircraft….

At about 15:03 EDT, a Glaser-Dirks DG-400 broke up in flight and crashed. The pilot bailed out and received only minor injuries. The glider was self-launched from Mountain Meadow Airport in Burlington about 13:30. Flying straight and level at about 6,500 feet, the pilot heard a sharp bang that sounded like the glider had struck an object. The pilot turned the glider 360 degrees to look for any other traffic in the area. As the glider rolled out of the turn, another loud bang was heard and the gear warning alarm began to sound. The pilot looked out to the left and observed the left wing displaced 20 degrees up from its normal position. The glider began to descend and control inputs by the…

At about 13:34 EDT, a Cessna 305A and a Burkhart Grob G-103 glider collided in mid-air near the Philadelphia Gliderport, killing the pilot in the Cessna as well as the instructor and student in the glider. The Cessna was in a climb towing a glider, while the Grob was maneuvering. The pilot who had towed the Grob aloft said they had taken off at 13:25 and the Grob released at 2,500 feet agl. He returned to the gliderport and landed without seeing the Cessna. The pilot of a single seat glider that was being towed aloft by the Cessna said that they were climbing through 1,000 feet when he spotted the Grob at his 11 oclock position, about 1,500 feet away, and about 100 feet above his position….