PiperPacer

The airplane was in cruise flight at 12,500 feet when the pilot disengaged the autopilot to maneuver over mountains. Shortly, the airplane began banking uncontrollably; the pilot steadied the airplane with rudder. The flight controls were difficult to manipulate, a difficulty that grew in intensity as airspeed was reduced.

The airplane was substantially damaged at about 1114 Eastern time after its autopilot disengaged and it entered a dive during cruise flight at FL220. There were no injuries to the Private pilot or passenger.

The airplane sustained substantial damage when it collided with terrain at 1248 Pacific time. The student pilot, who also owned the airplane, was fatally injured. Visual conditions prevailed. Witnesses reported the student pilot planned on doing touch-and-go landings. A witness reported he observed the airplane in a steep, nose-low, left downwind to base turn and that the airplane continued the descending turn until he lost sight of the aircraft behind a tree line.

At 17:54 Alaska daylight time, a Piper Pacer ran off the edge of runway 19 at the Dillingham airport. The two occupants were not injured. The pilot said that during his initial taxi, the airplane did not steer correctly, but he could not determine the reason and decided to return to parking. During the return taxi on runway 19, the pilot was unable to control the turn. After the accident, the pilot discovered that the external rudder gust lock was still installed….

At 1520 central time, a Piper PA-20 collided with the runway following an abrupt maneuver while landing on runway 27 at Wittman Regional Airport. The pilot suffered a minor injury and the passenger was not injured. The accident occurred during the EAA AirVenture 2002 convention. The airplane was cleared to land on runway 27 and the passenger yelled that there was another airplane in their flight path. The pilot pulled back on the control yoke in order to avoid the other airplane. The airplane stalled and struck the runway. The other airplane had been cleared to land runway 18. Air Traffic Control was operating under the VFR Arrival Yellow Flow procedures as outlined in the AirVenture Notam….