Experimental planes: How safe are they? 9OYS Wants to Know

VAIL, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) –Authorities have identified a pilot who was killed when his small plane crashed in Surprise.

Surprise police spokesman Sgt. Bert Anzini said Sunday 53-year-old Terence Donohoe was piloting the plane that crashed Saturday afternoon.

The plane was an experimental aircraft.

To learn more about such planes, KGUN9 met with Duane Boyd, the president for a local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

“An experimental aircraft is one that's been built at home,” he explained.

He said he’s been following the news coverage on the plane crash in Surprise.

“The airplane that crashed is a very very good airplane. Vans Aircraft has a beautiful kit. Most of the people that build them build a good airplane. Something strange happened, I don't know,” he said about the recent crash.

Kits, to build your own plane, range from $6 thousand to $40 thousand. Boyd says a manufactured plane costs at least $130 thousand.

We asked Boyd what the dangers of building your own aircraft are.

“For 90 percent of the people that build them, nothing," he said. “They're as good as or better than a manufactured airplane."

The other 10 percent, he said fail to follow the service manual. He says groups, like the Experimental Aircraft Association, are available to help other builders construct their plane safely.

“Maybe you never built a house or a garage, but if you watch and work with somebody you can learn and you can do it, and an airplane is no different, like putting an erector set together,” he said.

Before its first flight, an experimental aircraft has to be inspected and approved by the FAA.


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