Aircraft: Cessna 172RG. Injuries: None. Location: Lexington, Ky. Aircraft damage: Substantial. What reportedly happened: Upon arrival at the destination airport during an instructional flight, the landing gear did not fully deploy. Only the nose gear and the left main landing gear extended and locked in the down position. Both pilots reported they attempted to retract the landing gear, […]
aviation accidents
Inadequate inspection leads to fatal crash
Aircraft: Piper Cherokee Six. Injuries: 3 Fatal. Location: Jackson, Miss. Aircraft damage: Destroyed. What reportedly happened: The airplane had been stored in a hangar with its fuel tanks half full under varying temperature conditions. The accident flight was the first time in two months the plane had flown. On the day of the accident, the pilot had planned […]
Tailwind landing goes bad
Aircraft: Cessna 182. Injuries: None. Location: San Antonio, Texas. Aircraft damage: Substantial. What reportedly happened: According to the pilot, as he touched down he felt turbulence and tailwind. He applied the brakes. When he realized that he was running out of runway, he applied the brakes harder but couldn’t stop the airplane before he ran out of runway […]
Extended slip kills engine
Aircraft: Cessna 210. Injuries: None. Location: Jasper, Ga. Aircraft damage: Substantial. What reportedly happened: The pilot, who was attempting to land to refuel during a cross-country flight, switched the fuel selector from the right tank which, according to the fuel gauge contained 1/4 tank of fuel, to the left tank which, according to the fuel gauge, showed between […]
Cable failure brings down airplane
Aircraft: Rans S12-XL. Injuries: None. Location: Gordon, Ala. Aircraft damage: Substantial. What reportedly happened: The pilot reported that the takeoff was normal, but as he accelerated to cruise airspeed the elevator suddenly began to flutter violently, shaking the airplane. He reduced airspeed, but the elevator continued to flutter. The control column was moving rapidly forward and aft about […]
Accelerated stall kills Piper pilot
Aircraft: Piper Cherokee. Injuries: 1 Fatal. Location: Anadarko, Okla. Aircraft damage: Destroyed. What reportedly happened: According to a witness, the pilot’s first attempt to land resulted in the airplane bouncing. He did a go-around and entered the traffic pattern to land again. According to witnesses on the ground, when the airplane turned from the base leg to final, […]
Hard landing tears airplane
Aircraft: Remox GX. Injuries: None. Location: Sacramento, Calif. Aircraft damage: Substantial. What reportedly happened: The student pilot was practicing touch-and-go landings. During the first landing, the airplane landed hard and bounced. The student performed a second touch-and-go landing, then noticed that the airplane “did not feel right.” The student made a third landing to a full stop. The […]
Short field, low airspeed bad combination
Aircraft: Luscombe 8E. Injuries: 2 Minor. Location: West Bend, Wis. Aircraft damage: Substantial. What reportedly happened: The pilot was attempting to take off from a grass 1,500-foot runway. The airplane lifted off, but the pilot felt it was not climbing fast enough to clear power lines at the end of the runway, so he aborted the takeoff and […]
Twin crashes after maintenance
Aircraft: Cessna 310. Injuries: 2 Fatal. Location: Stotts City, Mo. Aircraft damage: Destroyed. What reportedly happened: The right engine of the twin Cessna had recently undergone extensive maintenance. The pilot and the pilot-rated passenger originally planned to make several circuits in the traffic pattern to test the right engine, then fly the airplane to a nearby airport. However, […]