NTSB Identification: WPR12LA241
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, June 01, 2012 in Salinas, CA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 02/03/2014
Aircraft: WESTCOTT PROWLER JAGUAR, registration: N125CW
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
Witnesses reported that the airplane accelerated down the runway, and immediately after takeoff the nose pitched up, and the airplane stalled, rolled, pitched down, and impacted the ground nose first. A postaccident examination of the flight control surfaces revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
The forensic pathologist who performed the postmortem examination of the pilot reported that the pilot experienced a sudden cardiac event as a result of coronary artery atherosclerosis while piloting the airplane. The cardiac event is commonly associated with sudden unexpected death and would have resulted in incapacitation.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The pilot's inability to maintain airplane control during takeoff due to an incapacitating cardiac event.
HISTORY OF THE FLIGHT
On June 1, 2012, at 1059 Pacific daylight time, an experimental Westcott Prowler Jaguar, N125CW, impacted terrain immediately after takeoff at the Salinas Municipal Airport, Salinas, California. The airplane was registered to, and operated by, the owner/builder under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The airline transport pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed and involved in a post-accident fire. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan had not been filed.
According to the Monterey County Sheriff, witnesses reported observing the airplane accelerate down runway 26. Immediately after takeoff the nose pitched up, the airplane stalled, rolled, and pitched down, then impacted the ground nose first. A post-crash fire ensued. Witnesses stated that they could audibly hear the engine operating all the way up to ground impact.
PERSONNEL INFORMATION
The pilot, age 73, held an airline transport pilot certificate with an airplane multiengine land rating and commercial privileges for airplane single engine land. He held a third-class medical certificate issued February 8, 2012, with the limitation that he wear lenses for distant vision, and have glasses for near vision. The pilot reported on his medical application that his flight experience included 20,000 flight hours and 75 hours in the previous 6 months. The pilot's logbook was not located and was not examined by investigators.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATION
The experimental category tandem configured, low wing, airplane with retractable landing gear, serial number 0012, was manufactured in 2007. It was powered by a Rodeck V8 350-hp engine. Airplane maintenance records were not located and were not examined by investigators.
WRECKAGE & IMPACT INFORMATION
The wreckage was located on the south side of runway 26 near taxi way D. A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Inspector examined the wreckage and reported that all flight control surfaces were present and that the airplane had been consumed by a post-crash fire.
Airport surveillance cameras captured the airplane's last few seconds prior to the accident.
Camera 7 was located on the south side of the runway near the approach end of runway 26. The imagery depicted the airplane passing through the upper right corner of the camera's field of view at an approximately 30° angle climb at 1058:45, and exiting the frame at 1058:47. The airplane reenters the frame at 1058:49 in an extreme nose down attitude, impacts terrain at 1058:54, and was immediately followed by a fire ball explosion.
Camera 9, located on a building on the north side of runway 26, views the intersection of taxi way D and runway 26/08. The camera imagery depicts the airplane entering the field of view at 1058:52 in an extreme nose low attitude with the left wing pointing towards the ground. The airplane rolls approximately 90° to its left and impacts the terrain inverted nose first 2 seconds later. A fireball explosion immediately follows.
MEDICAL & PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
An autopsy was performed on the pilot on June 4, 2012, by the Monterey County Forensic Pathologist, at the Monterey County Coroner Facility, Salinas, California. The pathologist's summary stated that the pilot most likely died suddenly as a result of coronary artery atherosclerosis (heart attack due to hardening and narrowing of arteries that supply the heart muscle), commonly associated with sudden unexpected death. No rapidly fatal injuries sustained in the airplane crash were observed at autopsy.
The FAA's Forensic Toxicology Research Team CAMI performed forensic toxicology on specimens from the pilot. The following results were reported; no carbon monoxide detected in blood, no cyanide detected in blood, no ethanol detected in vitreous, and no listed drugs identified in urine.
NTSB Identification: WPR12LA241
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, June 01, 2012 in Salinas, CA
Aircraft: WESTCOTT PROWLER JAGUAR, registration: N125CW
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 may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On June 1, 2012, at 1059 Pacific daylight time, an experimental Westcott Prowler Jaguar, N125CW, impacted terrain immediately after takeoff at the Salinas Municipal Airport, Salinas, California. The airplane was operated by the owner/builder under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 91. The airline transport pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was substantially damaged and involved in a post accident fire. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a flight plan had not been filed.
A witness reported observing the airplane accelerate down runway 26. Immediately after takeoff the nose pitched up, the airplane rolled, and then impacted the ground nose first. A post crash fire ensued.
The pilot whose experimental
plane crashed into a runway and exploded into flames June 1 at Salinas
Municipal Airport died of natural causes before the aircraft hit the
ground, the Sheriff's Office announced Friday.
An autopsy of Charles Russell Westcott determined the
73-year-old Carmel resident died of coronary artery disease before the
crash. Westcott did not suffer any injuries prior to the crash, and his
death was ruled natural.
Westcott was the only occupant of his single-engine Prowler
Jaguar, home-built from a kit, when he attempted to take off from the
airport shortly before 11 a.m.
Witnesses reported that the plane was in a steep but normal
ascent when it lost power, rolled over and plunged to the ground,
hitting the runway nose-first.
A Salinas Fire Department crew, which happened to be at the
airport for training, was on the scene of the fiery crash within a
minute, but Westcott was determined to be dead when he was pulled from
the wreckage.
~
The pilot of a single-engine aircraft was killed Friday when the plane he was flying stalled and crashed just after takeoff from the Salinas Municipal Airport, witnesses and fire officials reported.
The aircraft, a single-engine, homebuilt Prowler Jaguar, crashed immediately after takeoff at about 11 a.m., according to Ian Gregor, public affairs manager for the Federal Aviation Administration.
He also confirmed that the only one aboard was the pilot, who was killed. A Salinas Californian reporter at the scene also confirmed that one body was removed from the single-engine aircraft, covered in a yellow tarp and loaded into a coroner's van.
The airplane was registered to Charles Westcott of Carmel, according to an FAA database.
Witnesses said the pilot had experienced a belly landing in the past – where the aircraft lands without its landing gear fully extended and uses its underside, or belly, as its primary landing device.
Neither Gregor nor the Salinas Fire Department would confirm the name of the pilot, pending notification of his next of kin.
Salinas Fire Battalion Chief Brett Loomis said the aircraft was about midway down the 6,000 foot long runway when the airplane must have hit the pavement.
There is a possibility of a fuel tank rupture causing a fuel leakage over the hot surfaces of the airplane’s engine, Loomis said.
“It was heavily involved in fire,” Loomis said.
The Salinas Fire Department arrived within 60 seconds of the crash as they were training at the Salinas Municipal Airport, Loomis said. Loomis said the heavy smoke coming from the airplane caught the firefighters’ attention. The thick gray smoke could be seen by motorists on Highway 101 at North Main Street, he said. “When we arrived the occupant was beyond any life saving … but we continued to put out the fire,” Loomis said. The fire was extinguished within 10 minutes of the crash, he said. Dave Teeters, owner of Salinas Airport-based Airmotive Specialties for 14 years outside his company’s building when the crash happened.
Teeters, who has been building airplanes since he was 10 years old, said witnessing the crash was very difficult for him. He continued to be shaken up hours after the crash.
“(The male pilot) gave gas to the engine and the airplane started down the runway. The airplane sounded like it was gradually losing power,” said Teeters.
His theory is that the airplane suffered a stall shortly after takeoff.
“There was not enough air going over the wings properly,” said Teeters. “The only thing he could have done is to point the airplane’s nose downward but it was too close to the ground to gather speed.”
Teeters said the pilot was “a very nice guy” and “an aircraft enthusiast.”
He said the pilot had been building the aircraft for a while and that the man had been flying the airplane for about a year.
“I restore and rebuild airplanes and I never want to build an airplane that hurts anyone,” said Teeters. “It hurts me seeing someone get hurt doing what they enjoy.”
A prowler is a two-seater airplane built to replace World War II fighter airplanes. They are high performing, fast airplanes. Teeters said they are not very forgiving. If a mistake is made you get killed, he said.
Throughout his 39 years of experience in restoring and rebuilding aircraft, Teeters said he has seen friends die flying airplanes. Nevertheless, he said, flying airplanes is one of the safest hobbies there is.
“It’s like being an artist or a musician. There is lots of passion involved in building and running airplanes,” said Teeters. “He was doing what he enjoyed most in life. He tried real hard to do everything right.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is the lead investigative agency.
The engine of an experimental aircraft may have faltered Friday just before the plane crashed, killing its only occupant, shortly before 11 a.m. at Salinas Municipal Airport.
An eyewitness to the accident said the single-engine Prowler Jaguar, home-built from a kit, was on a steep ascent after takeoff when he heard the engine sputter.
"The plane was in a normal configuration for takeoff, in a pretty steep climb, which was normal, when I heard the engine starting to quit," said Dave Teeters, owner of Airmotive Specialties, an aircraft maintenance and restoration company based at Salinas Municipal Airport. "At that point it lost power and started to school down, sounding the same way a car might sound when you take your foot off the gas. By then, the plane wasn't going fast enough to fly without full power. It rolled over and went straight in."
Teeters said the plane hit the ground nose-first and burst into flames.
"There was no way the pilot could have saved it," he said. "He probably did everything he could have done."
The identity of the pilot has not been released pending notification of next of kin, but Teeters said the victim had purchased parts from his company on a couple of occasions.
"He was a really nice guy, very enthusiastic about aviation, and, from what I understand, he was a veteran pilot. He may have even been a former airline pilot," Teeters said.
Ian Gregor, public affairs officer for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the aircraft, a Prowler Jaguar, crashed for reasons that are not yet known. The Prowler Jaguar, an aircraft built from a kit made by Prowler Aviation, is described on the Prowler website as resembling a Spitfire, a P-40 and P-51 Mustang. The Jaguar received the prestigious Experimental Aircraft Association design award in 1986.
The National Transportation and Safety Bureau and the FAA are investigating the incident, Gregor said.
The plane crash is the second in Salinas in 53 days. On April 8, two men were killed when their light plane crashed in a field near Old Stage and Zabala roads, three miles east of Salinas Municipal Airport.
That aircraft, a single-engine monoplane Extra EA-300, was designed and built for aerobatic competition.
The body of a pilot was pulled from the charred wreckage of an aircraft that crashed and burned Friday at the Salinas Municipal Airport. Dave Teeters, owner of Airmotive Specialties located at the airport , said “The pilot was taking off and crashed. I saw the whole thing.” The aircraft, a single-engine, homebuilt Prowler Jaguar, crashed immediately after takeoff at about 11 a.m., according to Ian Gregor, public affairs manager for the Federal Aviation Administration. He also confirmed that the only one aboard was the pilot, who was killed. A Salinas Californian reporter at the scene also confirmed that one body was removed from the single-engine aircraft, covered in a yellow tarp and loaded into a coroner's van.
Salinas Fire Battalion Chief Brett Loomis said the aircraft was about midway down the 6,000 foot long runway when the airplane must have hit the pavement. There is a possibility of a fuel tank rupture causing a fuel leakage over the hot surfaces of the airplane’s engine, Loomis said.
“It was heavily involved in fire,” Loomis said. The Salinas Fire Department arrived within 60 seconds of the crash as they were training at the Salinas Municipal Airport, Loomis said. Loomis said the heavy smoke coming from the airplane caught the firefighters’ attention. “When we arrived the occupant was beyond any life saving…but we continued to put out the fire,” Loomis said. The fire was extinguished within 10 minutes of the crash, he said
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“It was heavily involved in fire,” Loomis said. The Salinas Fire Department arrived within 60 seconds of the crash as they were training at the Salinas Municipal Airport, Loomis said. Loomis said the heavy smoke coming from the airplane caught the firefighters’ attention. “When we arrived the occupant was beyond any life saving…but we continued to put out the fire,” Loomis said. The fire was extinguished within 10 minutes of the crash, he said
===========
One body was pulled from the charred wreckage of an aircraft that crashed and burned Friday at the Salinas Municipal Airport
Dave
Teeters, owner of Airmotive Specialties located at the airport , said
“The pilot was taking off and crashed. I saw the whole thing.”
The
aircraft, a single-engine, homebuilt Prowler Jaguar, crashed
immediately after takeoff at about 11 a.m., according to Ian Gregor,
public affairs manager for the Federal Aviation Administration.
He
also confirmed that the only one aboard was the pilot, who was killed. A
Salinas Californian reporter at the scene also confirmed that one body
was removed from the single-engine aircraft, covered in a yellow tarp
and loaded into a coroner's van.
Gregor declined to confirm the tail number of the aircraft until the pilot’s next of kin have been notified.
National Transportation Safety Administration is the lead investigative agency.
SALINAS, Calif. -- A small plane crashed on the runway at Salinas Municipal Airport this morning, killing the pilot, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.
The single-engine, home-built Prowler Jaguar crashed immediately after taking off around 11 a.m., FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.
The plane was destroyed by the fire and the Salinas Fire Department is reporting that the pilot, the only person on board, was killed, Gregor said.
The crash will be investigated by both the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA, with the NTSB taking the lead.
