Preliminary Reports

At about 09:45 eastern time, a Cessna 150L and a Pitts S-2B collided while taxiing at Leesburg Regional Airport. Neither pilot was injured. A witness said the Cessna had just landed and cleared the runway onto an adjoining taxiway. The Pitts was taxiing for takeoff. The witness said both pilots stopped their respective aircraft momentarily, but then proceeded to taxi and struck each other….

At 11:30 mountain time, a Cessna TU-206G struck trees while attempting an emergency landing at a remote airstrip about 40 miles east of McCall. The pilot was killed. The Part 135 cargo flight had just departed Pistol Creek Airstrip, en route to Cascade, when the pilot reported he was engine out into Pistol Creek. Witnesses heard a loud popping or sputtering sound, followed by an almost complete loss of any engine noise. The aircraft turned onto a left downwind for landing, then flew base and final trailing bluish-white smoke. The aircraft banked steeply during its turn from base to final but overshot the extended centerline of the runway and angled back in toward the runway. About 200 feet…

At 17:48 mountain time, a Cessna 152 lost power and was damaged in a forced landing near Roswell. The flight instructor and student pilot were not injured. The flight instructor said the engine stopped producing power and he performed a night forced landing to a dark area. During the forced landing the airplane struck a wire and then the ground….

At 09:12 eastern time, an American AA-1A crash-landed at Westchester County Airport. The pilot and passenger were seriously injured. The airplane was in a right-hand traffic pattern to land on runway 29. Witnesses said the airplane entered a steep right bank, turned final, and then descended toward the runway. The airplane struck the runway while still in the right turn, bounced and departed the runway on the right side. The initial ground strike was on the centerline in the middle of the displaced threshold for runway 29 and the wreckage came to rest before the start of the landing area….

At 18:32 Pacific time, a Cessna 152 struck the ground short of the runway, seriously injuring the flight instructor and leaving the student pilot with minor injuries. The student said the aircraft was trailing about 30 seconds behind two Life Flight helicopters (Bell 230 and BK 117) on final approach to runway 02. After the helicopters crossed over the airport boundary fence (about 500 feet before the end of the runway) they made a right turn for landing on the ramp. The student stated that he was on the controls at the time, and at about 100 feet above ground level and 60 knots, the aircraft suddenly rolled to the right about 90 degrees. The flight instructor took over the controls and righ…

At 17:00 central time, a Beech BE-35 struck the runway with its left wing while landing at Wittman Regional Airport. The pilot and passenger were not injured. Special Air Traffic Management landing instructions, which had been issued in a NOTAM, were in effect during the time of the accident. The airplane had made a right downwind pattern and was landing at the Green Spot, located 3,000 feet from the runway threshold on the right side of runway 27. Another airplane, a Velocity, was behind the Beech on final approach, and was instructed to land on the Orange Spot, located 1,500 feet from the runway threshold on the left side of runway 27. The pilot of the Beech 35 said, When I saw the ot…

At 10:33 mountain time, a Cessna 182P nosed over during landing rollout on runway 11R at the Tucson International Airport. The pilot and passenger received minor injuries. The tower controller said the airplanes approach looked a little steep. The airplane appeared to have passed over the landing threshold, then it bounced on the runway and porpoised before veering off the runway and nosing over in the dirt shoulder. The airplanes nose wheel assembly was found about 300 feet from the main wreckage….

At 00:28 eastern time, a Cessna 210D crashed shortly after departure from Hanover County Airport, killing the pilot. Witnesses reported the airplane arrived about 18:15 and the tanks were filled. Several hours later the pilot called for a weather briefing and filed an IFR flight plan. The pilot took off and was climbing to his cruising altitude of 5,000 feet when the controller called him to find out why he hadnt started turning on course. The pilot replied Ah, currently, Im at, ah … The radio continued to transmit background noise but no voice. Again a few minutes later, the aircraft transmitted background noise only. The controller tried to contact the pilot again and got a verbal resp…

At 19:45 central time, the pilot of a Cessna 210 lost control and crashed during the initial climb from runway 17R at Will Rogers World Airport. The pilot was killed. The pilot had filed an IFR flight plan to Spearman, Texas, and departed at 19:42:17. The controller advised him to contact Departure and he acknowledged, but he did not check in on the Departure frequency. Witness accounts were that the airplane climbed into the clouds, then descended from them in a steep left bank….

At approximately 12:15 mountain time, a Cessna 425 crashed about two miles north of Fanning Field. The two occupants on board for the maintenance test flight were killed. The aircraft had recently had maintenance work performed on its autofeather system after reports of the left engine not autofeathering properly in flight. The maintenance work was performed and the purpose of the accident flight was to verify proper inflight operation of the system. Two witnesses described the aircraft as entering a spiral from a banked turn about five minutes after takeoff. One said he first observed the aircraft flying south 200 to 300 feet agl. He said the aircraft entered a left turn and began a skiddi…