14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Thursday, August 25, 2011 in Heath, OH
Aircraft: Nichols Lancair 235, registration: N777BN
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On August 25, 2011, at 1856 eastern daylight time, a Nichols model Lancair 235 airplane, N777BN, was substantially damaged when it impacted trees and terrain during initial climb from Newark-Heath Airport, Heath, Ohio. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by a private pilot, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which was operated without a flight plan. The local flight was originating at the time of the accident.
According to a witness, who was located on the airport, the airplane had used runway 27 for the accident takeoff. The witness stated that the airplane appeared to be "very unstable" after it became airborne, alternately rolling right and left while remaining only a few feet above the runway. The witness noted that he did not believe the pilot had control of the airplane. The airplane then turned left and proceeded off the runway directly toward the witness's position. The witness noted that the airplane continued to fly erratically, with continuous pitch, yaw, and roll changes, and cleared a row of hangars by approximately 10 feet. The airplane continued in a climb to 100-150 feet above the ground before it banked sharply to the left and entered a nose-down descent into trees. The witness stated that the engine sounded normal throughout the entire flight, with no hesitations or misfires noted.
A postaccident examination of the airport property revealed that the airplane had veered off the left side of the runway, about 1,700 feet from the approach threshold, while still on the ground. The airplane's nose landing gear collided with a runway edge light and the observed tire tracks continued on a southwesterly heading for about 100 feet before the airplane became airborne.
The airplane collided with several trees and a residential backyard located immediately south of the airport property. All airframe structural components and aerodynamic control surfaces were accounted for at the accident site. Flight control continuity could not be established due to damage; however, all observed flight control system discontinuities were consistent with an overload failure. No preimpact anomalies were noted with the main landing gear braking system that was used for directional control during ground operations. The airplane was not equipped with nose-wheel steering.
The experimental amateur-built airplane had accumulated 1,131 hours since being issued an airworthiness certificate on August 10, 1990. The pilot reportedly had not flown the airplane since he purchased it from the original builder on September 14, 2010. He had reportedly expressed concerns with the airplane's ground-handling characteristics, and in the weeks preceding the accident, was seen performing several high-speed ground tests.
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HEATH, Ohio - A Licking County man was killed Thursday evening when the single-engine plane he was flying crashed just after takeoff at Newark-Heath Airport. The pilot was identified as Donny Asher, 51, of Pataskala, 10TV’s Kevin Landers reported.
No one else was on board.
Witnesses said they saw the small plane clip a tree before it crashed in the back yard of a home, located across the street from the airport. They said Asher was alive after the crash but died before he could be removed from the wreckage.
“The plane was completely demolished,” said Cassidy Clapp, who was one of the first people to reach the scene. “We saw the man in there and tried to keep him conscious, talk to him, tell him not to move. It was horrible.”
Investigators said preliminarily that the crash appeared to have been caused by a mechanical problem, Landers reported.
Authorities were expected to continue their investigation on Friday.
Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for additional information.
PATASKALA — A Pataskala man who died Thursday night in an airplane crash in Heath is being remembered as kind-hearted person who loved flying planes, both big and small.
"We thought the world of him," said Yolanda Kincaid, a neighbor of Donny L. Asher. "It's not real yet. I just saw him come home from work yesterday and wave hello."
Asher, 50, of 6086 Mink St. SW, died Thursday night after the single-engine, single-prop Lancair 235 plane he was piloting crashed after taking off from the Newark-Heath Airport.
A detailed investigation is pending, but Ohio Highway Patrol Lt. Darrin Bolsser said it appeared a mechanical problem caused the crash.
Kincaid has lived next door to Asher for four years, and she said Thursday she could not have asked for a better neighbor.
"He was a wonderful person, a great neighbor," Kincaid said.
Kincaid often saw Asher flying small, remote-controlled gasoline-powered planes around his property and the 300 acres of farmland that abuts it.
"He loved everything about airplanes," she said. "He had the gas-powered ones and his little airplane, (which he flew)."
Asher said Kincaid had recently bought a new plane, but she was not sure if it was the two-seat Lancair 235 that crashed Thursday.
Asher sometimes flew his girlfriend of 17 years on out-of-state trips, Kincaid said, but he usually did not reveal much about his travels until the couple returned home.
"Donny was pretty private," Kincaid said. "Usually, we found out stuff after they got back. (They'd have flown to) Niagara Falls, Vegas, wherever. They just took off and went."
Asher, who had two grown sons, had worked at Battelle for 11 years. He was a team leader for a PC tech group, and he was well liked, said T.R. Massey, a Battelle spokesperson.
"He was a great guy," Massey said. "Obviously everybody around here is just stunned."
Kincaid on Thursday remembered Asher as "intelligent," "polite" and "super nice." He was so nice, Kincaid said, he often volunteered to use his IT background to fix her computer.
Massey said that sounded like the kind of thing Asher would have done.
"I'm sure he would have (done that)," Massey said. "He was very, very good at (computers)."
He also, Massey said, was a guy "everybody at Battelle liked."
To that end, Massey said Asher's coworkers on Friday were keeping his family and friends in their thoughts, considering his sudden death.
Kincaid said she will miss her neighbor and the times she sat around bonfires talking to him.
"This is just so sad."
Asher is the second Pataskala man to die in a plane crash this year.
Pataskala resident and developer Phil Key, 68, died after the airplane he was piloting crashed May 30 in the Chattahoochee National Forest in northern Georgia. Key, the owner of Key Homes, had been on a sightseeing flight with three passengers.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a report in June indicating the right wing of Key's plan collided with a tree about 50 feet off the ground and was destroyed by fire.
The Granville Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol on Friday did not have any new information on the plane crash involving Asher.
HEATH -- Twisted metal and debris litter the backyard of a Heath Home at 551 Heath Road while NTSB investigates the crash that killed Donny L. Asher, 50, of Pataskala.
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"I heard the loud noise but as you can tell I'm used to all that noise," said Mary Cottrell. She lives directly across from Newark-Heath Airport.
That's why she didn't think much of the sound of snapping trees and crunching medal Tuesday night. When she finally saw flames and people rushing to a trapped pilot she knew something was wrong.
"A woman starting talking to him, saying, 'don't move. We're going to get help for you.' He nodded his head.
But Donny Asher, a father of two from Pataskala didn't make it. National Transportation Safety Administration is are investigating a possible mechanical failure.
Almost 24-hours after the deadly crash, neighbors are paying their respects and the crash sight and remembering a fallen pilot.
"I always feel sorry it happened. I'm sorry for the family, naturally. I guess it's just part of life," said Bob Bennett.
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