Preliminary Reports

At about 10:53 EST, a Beechcraft S35, piloted by Itzhak Jacoby crashed shortly after takeoff from Linden. All three aboard were killed and 22 people on the ground received varying degrees of injuries, from minor cuts to third degree burns. IMC prevailed and an IFR flight plan was filed. Records show that pilot contacted New York Departure Control and was instructed to turn left to a heading of 010 degrees, and climb to 5,000 feet msl. A few seconds later, the controller revised the clearance, and instructed the pilot to maintain 2,000 feet. Thirty-five seconds after that, the controller instructed the pilot to turn left to a heading of 270 degrees, to which the pilot did not reply. The contr…

At about 15:30 PDT, a Piper PA-23-160 Apache lost an engine and made a forced landing off-airport. The instructor suffered minor injuries and the student pilot was uninjured. The flight was a combination maintenance flight and instructional flight. The instructor said he intentionally failed and secured the right engine but was unable to restart it. He elected to return to the airport but the left engine failed about four miles from the airport. Inspectors found water in the main fuel tanks and in the carburetor bowls of both engines….

At approximately 11:00 MDT, a Piper Pawnee crashed after an aborted landing at Salida. The pilot was seriously injured. A glider was towed aloft from runway 6 and the Pawnee took off shortly thereafter. Both aircraft remained in the traffic pattern. Local airport procedures call for gliders to depart runway 6 and land on runway 24. The Pawnee landed on runway 6 and, during the rollout, its pilot saw the approaching glider. He applied full power and veered to the right, but the airplane struck terrain. The glider landed uneventfully….

At about 17:00 PST, a Cessna 140A crashed near the Mud Flat Ranch, 35 miles south of Harper. The pilot was killed. The airplane reportedly departed the Crowley Ranch, 12 miles southeast of the accident site, with its destination Caldwell, Idaho. A rancher in the general area at the time said it was snowing heavily. No flight plan was filed, but the family reported the pilot missing the next day. The pilot had not been wearing a seat belt and apparently was thrown from the airplane when it struck the ground at about 4535 msl….

At about 17:00 EDT, a Beech Sierra crashed while on approach to Pickens County Airport. The pilot was killed and a passenger sustained serious injuries. The flight had originated from Ocean City, Md., about 4 hours before the accident. According to the airports fixed-base operator, who was manning the base radio, the pilot transmitted, Mayday three times and said he had run out of fuel. The airplane collided with a stand of trees about 1 miles short of the airport….

At about 16:45 EST, a Piper PA-28-161 and a Cessna 152 collided while on final approach to land at the Plant City Airport. The two airplanes stuck together, with the Cessna on the bottom. The instructor aboard the Cessna successfully landed the two planes in the grass adjacent to runway 10. The two airplanes suffered only minor damage and no one was injured. The pilot of the Piper was flying from Melbourne to Plant City and the Cessnas student pilot was practicing touch-and-go landings. Both pilots said they were announcing their positions and both turned base to final at approximately the same time. The two airplanes collided as they crossed the airport boundary fence….

At approximately 13:10 PDT, a Republic Seabee crashed into the water at Discovery Bay, killing both occupants. Witnesses observed the aircraft flying northbound and descending over the south end of Discovery Bay. As it approached power lines 30 feet above the water it made an abrupt turn away from the power lines and struck the water in a slightly left wing low attitude. It bounced into the air and then impacted the water in a steep, nose-low attitude coming to rest inverted. Whitecaps were reported on the water surface as well as some foam streaking….

At approximately 10:05 MST, a Piper PA-18-125 crashed adjacent to the Afton Municipal Airport, killing the pilot and his passenger. IMC prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The flight was originating at the time of the accident. The airplane was en route from Oshkosh, Neb., to Nampa, Idaho, and landed for fuel in Afton after dark. The pilot was seen refueling the plane at a local service station at about 21:00 on Nov. 27. The next morning, the pilot and his passenger were seen using a courtesy car to jump start the engine at about 09:00. At 10:38, a witness spotted a fire in a field next to the airport that turned out to be the accident site. There was no evidence of airframe or powe…

At approximately 17:00 PDT, an experimental Vixen crashed near a private airfield near Naples, killing both occupants. The two occupants were brothers flying an airplane registered to their father, who had bought the airplane a year earlier, after it had been flying for two years. A witness said the airplane took off and made an immediate 180-degree turn back to the field. The pilot then added power for a go around, climbed, and made another 180-degree turn. At the top of the second turn, the aircraft abruptly descended and crashed. An inspector discovered sections of freshly broken barbed wire at the accident site and noted damage to the propeller that matched the barbed wire, but no nearby…

At 11:08 CST, a Beech BE35 was damaged in a forced landing following a loss of power near Stillwater. The pilot was seriously injured and the passenger sustained minor injuries. The pilots spouse said the pilot reported losing engine power shortly after departing Stillwater Municipal Airport. Investigators found the right fuel tank empty and the left fuel tank full. The fuel selector was positioned on the right fuel tank and the fuel quantity indicator selector was positioned to indicate the quantity in the left tank….