NTSB Identification: WPR12LA225
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, May 22, 2012 in Buhl, ID
Probable Cause Approval Date: 10/15/2012
Aircraft: WAGGONNER EXCALIBUR, registration: N165AW
Injuries: 1 Serious.
NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
During his first time operating the newly-assembled airplane, the pilot/airplane builder performed a series of high-speed taxi tests on the taxiway. The pilot stated that, after traversing the length of the taxiway several times, the airplane became airborne in the gusty wind. The pilot increased the engine power, and the airplane continued to ascend. He maneuvered near the airport for about 10 minutes and then decided to return. While on final approach to the runway, the airplane was unstable, and the pilot performed a go-around. On the second approach, with the airplane about 30 feet above ground level, the pilot lost control, and the airplane descended in a nose-low attitude into the terrain. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. About the time of the accident, the wind was reported to be at 9 knots, gusting to 19 knots.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane while on final approach, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.
On May 22, 2012, about 1640 mountain daylight time, a Waggonner Excalibur, N165AW, collided with terrain during an approach to the runway at the Buhl Municipal Airport, Buhl, Idaho. The owner was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The private pilot, the sole occupant, sustained serious injuries; the airplane sustained substantial damage. The local personal flight departed from Buhl about 1630. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
In a written statement, the pilot reported that he arrived at the airport earlier in the morning and assembled the airplane; he had never flown it prior. After the fuel pump was replaced, he had an Airframe and Powerplant mechanic examine the airplane and received verbal confirmation from him that it was in airworthy condition. The mechanic did not sign the airplane’s logbooks due to inadequate records from the previous owner. The pilot then taxied the airplane for about an hour.
The pilot further stated that during taxi, a gust of wind lifted the airplane airborne and he decided to add engine power. He maneuvered the airplane for about 10 minutes and decided to return to the airport. The first approach to the runway was unsatisfactory and he performed a go-around. On the second approach, with the airplane about 30 feet above ground level (agl), he experienced a loss of control and the airplane dove in a nose-low attitude into terrain. He was transported to a nearby hospital.
The pilot reported no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
According to witnesses, the pilot was performing a series of high speed taxi tests on the parallel taxiway located south of the runway. After several times of traversing the length of the taxiway, the airplane taxied onto the active runway at the midfield point. The airplane then accelerated down the runway and became airborne in the gusty winds. The witnesses heard the engine power increase and the airplane continued to ascend. The airplane maneuvered near the airport for about 10 minutes and then approached back to the runway. While on final approach, the airplane appeared unstable and the pilot performed a go-around.
The witnesses further stated that the airplane made several turns and the pilot appeared to be attempting to return back to the runway. With the airplane about 20 feet agl, the airplane stalled and descended into the terrain. The airplane came to rest near the approach end of runway 27 with the engine still running.
A routine aviation weather report (METAR) generated by an Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS) at Magic Valley Regional Airport, Twin Falls, Idaho (located 15.5 nautical miles west from the accident site), indicated that about 15 minutes after the accident the wind was variable from 260 to 330 degrees at 9 knots with wind gusts at 19 knots.
A responder on the scene of a plane crash Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at the airport in Buhl.
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DREW NASH • TIMES-NEWS
A man looks over a crash involving a small plane Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at the airport in Buhl.
DREW NASH • TIMES-NEWS
Buhl police investigate a crash
involving a small plane Tuesday at the Buhl Municipal Airport. The male
pilot was taken from the scene by air ambulance.
FAA IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 165AW Make/Model: EXP Description: EXCALIBUR
Date: 05/22/2012 Time: 2240
Event Type: Incident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
City: BUHL State: ID Country: US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT CRASHED OFF THE END OF THE RUNWAY, BUHL, ID
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 0
# Crew: 1 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: 1
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Taxi Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: BOISE, ID (NM11) Entry date: 05/23/2012
BUHL • A man was injured after a plane crash Tuesday afternoon at the Buhl airport, authorities say.
The man was transported from the scene by Air St. Luke’s, but emergency dispatchers did not know if he was taken to St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center in Twin Falls or to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.
Dispatchers received the call about the crash at 4:20 p.m.. They reported the plane landed upside down and no flames were visible.
Michelle Jones was heading west on 4200 North Road in Buhl when she saw the small red and white plane tilting back and forth in the sky. The plane stalled, she said, then quickly lost speed and fell at an angle from the sky before crashing in the grass near the landing strip at the airport.
Jones, a nurse, turned around and headed back to the airport to see if she could help.
When Jones arrived, she said, she saw the man slumping out of the door of the plane. She then helped stabilize him as other first-responders arrived.
Jones said the man had a head injury and possibly a broken foot along with other injuries.
While Jones didn’t want to identify the man before his family learned of the incident, she said she does know him.
“I just met him yesterday,” she said. “He’s a really nice guy.”
No one from the Buhl Police Department was immediately available for comment Tuesday evening.
The Buhl Fire Department, Buhl police, Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office, Air St. Luke’s, and local paramedics all responded to the crash.
http://magicvalley.com
Buhl, Idaho (KMVT-TV) - A local Buhl man is in the hospital this Tuesday afternoon after his light weight experimental aircraft crashed out at the Buhl Airport.
According to one of first responders on the scene...
At approximately 4:15, a man flying a new experimental aircraft, called a "Light Weight Excalibur", lost control on his approach to land and crashed into a field about 30 yards past the end of the runway.
Residents living in the area saw the plane flying erratically around the airport and soon after the accident occurred.
We talked with one of the first responders on the scene and asked her how the man was doing when she arrived.
"When you do an assessment on a patient you're supposed to do, ask him if they are alert and responsive times 3. Which means you have to know your name, you have to know where you are at and you have to know like the season. He was not responsive at all... he was alert times zero. It was scary, but they got him in the ambulance and he was alert times one with him knowing his name." Said First Responder, Michelle Jones.
The man was taken to Saint Luke's Magic Valley by ambulance and his condition is not known at this time.
Officials from the FAA were en route to the Buhl Airport to begin the process of finding out what exactly happened.
http://www.kmvt.com
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