Preliminary Reports

At 1148 mountain time, a Beech B36TC suffered a collapsed nosewheel after landing at Centennial Airport. The pilot and his passenger were not injured. The pilot said his landing approach was a little fast, a little high, so he retarded the throttle and flared. The airplane struck the runway hard and bounced, breaking off the nose landing gear and sending the airplane off the runway and into runway lights….

At 1330 central time, a Cessna 177 flew into the ground near Pond Creek, leaving the pilot with serious injuries. The flight was a pipeline patrol, cruising at about 300 agl. The pilot said he dozed off and woke up when the airplane struck the ground….

At 18:20 eastern time, a Cessna 182P struck a pickup truck while on short final to land on runway 21 at Mishawaka Pilots Club Airport. The pilot and the driver of the truck both received minor injuries. …

At about 1601 eastern time, a Cessna 150L crashed while attempting to land at Gwinnett County-Briscoe Field. The pilot, who held an airline transport rating, suffered minor injuries. The pilot said he abandoned his first attempt to land on runway 25 he could not properly line up with the runway due to a crosswind. He was making his second go-around when the left wing dropped and the aircraft struck terrain. Winds at the time were from 170 degrees at 8 knots….

At 1145 eastern time, a Piper PA-28-180 broke up in flight over the Fort Drum Wildlife Management Reserve. The pilot and passenger were killed. The airplane was on an IFR flight plan in IMC when the accident occurred. Most of the wreckage was found within 500 feet of the fuselage, but the right aileron and flap were not located. Other pilots in the area reported encountering severe turbulence at about the time of the accident. One pilot stated that his airplane lost a thousand feet of altitude and almost flipped over. Other pilots were asking controllers to get them out of the area and assign them a lower altitude….

At about 17:45 Pacific time, an unoccupied Aeronca 7AC crashed in the mountains near Winters. The airplane took off from a private airstrip near Petaluma with no one aboard after the pilot started the airplane by hand propping the propeller. The airplane was not equipped with an electric starter and the pilot routinely started it by pulling the propeller through by hand. Prior to the accident, the pilot concluded the engine was flooded, so he turned off the mags and applied full throttle. He propped the engine backward to clear the fuel, then turned the mag switches back on for a normal start. He forgot to retard the throttle. The engine started a maximum power and took off. The crash site w…

At 1624 eastern time, a Cessna 310R struck the runway and terrain during an aborted landing at Mount Holly Airport. The pilot and passenger received minor injuries. The pilot said the accident occurred during the second landing attempt to Runway 26. He was late in putting the gear down and the props struck the runway. He went around and returned for landing, but in the flare the airplane stalled and crashed nosewheel first. Several witnesses said that, on the second landing, the airplane hit hard and the pilot tried to go around again but stalled in the process. Winds at the time were from 330 at 20 knots, gusting to 26….

At about 1335 eastern time, a Piper PA-28-161 overran the runway at Bader Field, damaging the airplane but leaving the pilot and two passengers uninjured. The pilot said he touched down with about 2/3rds of the 2,948-foot runway remaining, but then the wind caught the plane and started to push it off the runway. He tried to take off, but the airplane struck vegetation and came to rest in the water. A witness stated the landing was the pilots second attempt. The airplane touched down at taxiway B, about 2,000 feet beyond the approach end of runway 29. The airplane then veered off the right side of the runway and into the weeds. Winds at a nearby airport were reported from 290 degrees at 5…

At about 18:08 eastern time, a Piper PA-28R-180 crashed into Long Island Sound off the coast of Milford, killing the pilot. The flight had been under way for about two and a half hours when the pilot made a visual approach to his planned destination of Sikorsky Memorial Airport. When he reported not being able to see the airport, he was vectored for the VOR Runway 29 approach. During the approach, the airplane began a descent of about 1,300 fpm until radar contact was lost. Examination of the wreckage showed the fuel selector was on the left tank, which contained only six gallons of fuel. The right tank contained 17 gallons. …

At about 1135 Pacific time, a Cessna 180J nosed over during landing rollout at a backcountry airstrip in Death Valley National Park. Neither occupant was injured. The airstrips existence is not depicted on aeronautical charts and it is not maintained. The runway is only usable in a single direction. The airstrip is locally known as the Chicken Strip. The pilot said a wheel caught in a hole in the runways surface and the airplane departed the runway. The pilot said he had landed at the airstrip a half-dozen times in the previous 90 days….