Preliminary Reports

At about 10:00 EST, a Piper PA-28R-200 made a forced landing in a field shortly after takeoff from South Jersey Regional Airport. The pilot was unhurt. The pilot was planning to practice maneuvers for his upcoming commercial checkride when he was told the airplane was down for maintenance. He waited, and was then asked if he objected to making the first test flight of the rental airplane. He said the run-up was normal and he departed runway 26. At 50 feet, the engine began to backfire and lose power. At 350 feet the engine lost all power. A mechanic at the flight school that operated the airplane said the maintenance performed on the day of the accident consisted of reconnecting a manifold…

At 14:40 CST, a Cessna 180 was standing on Lake Vermillion when a passenger deplaned and walked into the airplanes rotating propeller. The passenger was killed….

At 16:49 CST, a Cessna 172M struck power lines while maneuvering near Manilla. The pilot and rear seat passenger suffered minor injuries and the front seat passenger was not injured. The two passengers said they were flying low over Mallard Lake to survey bass fishing spots when the pilot climbed over a tree-line and struck power lines. The pilot said the last altitude he recalled seeing was 800 feet and that the engine began malfunctioning, at which point he set up for landing in a field and struck the power lines. The airplanes spinner was found directly below two broken shield wires for a 500,000-volt transmission line. The broken wires had been suspended about 120 feet agl. During the f…

At about 10:35 EST, a Cessna 172K taxied into the path of a Cessna 152 on its takeoff roll on runway 14 at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. The two occupants in each plane were killed. The accident was apparently the result of the tower controller mistaking the 172 for an airplane at another spot on the field and clearing it to taxi into position and hold. The 172 had been holding at an intersection, however, and taxied into the 152s path. For more information, see the May issue of Aviation Safety….

At 10:30 CST, an Aerotek Pitts S-2A struck a golf cart while landing on runway 14 at Shelby County Airport, killing the driver of the golf cart and leaving the pilot uninjured. The golf cart was being used to apply weed killer adjacent to runway 14 and was about five feet off the side of the 200-foot-wide runway. The airplane struck the vehicle about 500 to 600 feet from the point of touchdown….

At about 17:35 EST, a Piper PA-28-181 hit a frozen lake while flying low near Center Harbor. The two occupants suffered minor injuries. The pilot said the flight took off from Alton Bay Seaplane Base and was flying at what he believed to be 100 feet agl when the wheels hit the snow-covered lake and the airplane plowed to a stop….

At 22:32 CDT, a Boeing 757-2G7 operated by America West Airlines encountered turbulence while cruising at FL310 near Abilene. The airplane was undamaged, but three flight attendants in the aft galley sustained injuries (one serious and two minor), and one flight attendant was not injured. No one else on board was injured. The aircraft was en route from Orlando, Fla., to Las Vegas, Nev., when the captain noted a line of thunderstorms. The captain advised the flight attendants to suspend service and stow the carts, and five or six minutes later the aircraft was hit with two strong jolts of turbulence. It was a dark night and the airplane was flying in and out of clouds. There was no visible…

At 22:08 CST, a Cessna 402C left runway 3 at the San Antonio International Airport during the landing roll. The pilot of the Part 135 cargo flight was not injured. The pilot was on short final when another aircraft was cleared for takeoff. He continued the approach, but touched down fast and opted to go around. On the second try, the airplane touched down and began pulling to the left. The pilot was unable to make the taxiway for which he was aiming, and the airplane exited the runway and the left wing struck taxiway and runway edge lights. The left main landing gear tire with the brake disc and brake pads was found intact 100 feet before the airplane came to rest….

At 21:30 EST, a Piper PA-24-180 struck trees while trying to make an emergency landing in Cordesville. The pilot and front seat passenger were killed and a rear seat passenger was seriously injured. The flight departed Princeton, N.J., at 16:15. The FBO at the departure airport said the pilot planned a fuel stop in Savannah, Ga. Approximately 5:15 into the flight the pilot radioed Charleston Approach control and requested landing. About two minutes later the pilot reported the airplane had run out of fuel. The approach controller issued the pilot radar vectors to the nearest airport. Seconds later radio and radar contact was lost and an ELT signal was detected by another airplane….

At 10:13 CDT, a Cessna 172E was damaged during a forced landing after losing power near Lubbock. The pilot was not injured and the passenger suffered only minor injuries. The flight was on an IFR cross country from Ennis, Texas, to Lubbock and was cleared for a straight-in approach to runway 26. Six miles southeast of the airport, the pilot radioed he was going down. During the landing roll in a field, the nose gear collapsed. The pilot told investigators that the engine lost power every time he moved the fuel selector from the BOTH position to the LEFT position. The investigator determined that the pilot never moved the fuel selector fully into the LEFT detent and fuel starvation had occurr…