KitFox Series 7, N646FD: Accident occurred August 12, 2012 in Monroe, Michigan

NTSB Identification: CEN12LA545 
 14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, August 12, 2012 in Monroe, MI
Probable Cause Approval Date: 08/13/2013
Aircraft: Dykas Kitfox Series 7, registration: N646FD
Injuries: 1 Serious,1 Minor.

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 an approach for landing, the airplane impacted a marked power line that was about 27 feet high and about 360 feet from the runway at a private airstrip. When the airplane contacted the power line, it descended and impacted terrain about 75 feet from the approach end of the runway. The pilot thought that the airplane was high enough to clear the power line and stated that the accident could have been prevented if he had flown a higher approach and payed more attention to the location of the power line. The pilot stated that there was no mechanical malfunction or failure with the airplane at the time of the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The inadequate descent angle flown by the pilot during a final approach for landing, which resulted in an in-flight collision with a power line.

On August 12, 2012, about 2030 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Dykas Kitfox Series 7, N646FD, struck a power line during final approach to a private grass airstrip near Monroe, Michigan. The private pilot sustained serious injuries and a passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan had not been filed for the local flight that departed from the airstrip at 2015.

The pilot stated that he took a family member for an airplane ride over his house. They circled over the house and returned to the departure airstrip. During the approach to the airstrip, the pilot thought he was high enough to clear the power line that was along the approach. The right main landing gear wheel contacted the power line, and the airplane descended and impacted the ground.

The pilot stated that the accident could have been prevented by "giving more attention to the location of the wires and staying a little higher so [he] would be plenty high to clear them." The pilot stated that there was no mechanical malfunction/failure with the airplane at the time of the accident.

According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, the pilot was operating under a sport pilot certificate because his medical certificate, last issued in 2009, had not been denied.

The FAA inspector stated that the airplane was on approach to the south runway when it struck a power line that was about 27 feet above ground level and 360 feet from the approach end of the runway. The poles that support the power line were equipped with unlighted cones. The airplane came to rest about 75 feet short of the runway.

 NTSB Identification: CEN12LA545 
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, August 12, 2012 in Monroe, MI
Aircraft: Dykas Kitfox Series 7, registration: N646FD
Injuries: 2 Minor.

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.

On August 12, 2012, about 2030 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Dykas Kitfox Series 7 N646FD, struck a powerline during final approach to a grass field near Monroe, Michigan. The certificated private pilot and a passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan had not been filed for the local flight that departed from the field at an unknown time.

Wilbert Matthes, owner and operator of the experimental plane, was attempting to land at a private airport at 5485 Saum Road in Raisinville Township, Michigan. 

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MONROE — Ian Zawacki captured the sunset over the farmland outside Monroe, then turned his phone’s camera toward the rapidly approaching airstrip cut into the corn.

He’d been up with his grandfather, Wilbert Matthes, many times before, just never in Mr. Matthes’ new Kitfox plane. Just hours before, they’d met for Mr. Zawacki’s sister’s birthday, and made a pact to fly on Sunday. The day was calm. They took off from a friend’s grass strip on Saum Road in Raisinville Township. The pair flew with no destination, just a round-trip to see the sights, before heading back to the strip.

And then the calm broke.

Mr. Matthes, 84, an experienced pilot, descended too far too fast, his plane maybe 5 or 10 feet lower than he had planned. The plane’s wheels clipped a power line, and the plane curved to the right. The left wing dipped.

“It was nerve-wracking. I thought I was going to die as soon as I saw we were going down,” Mr. Zawacki said on Monday. “I was just in panic mode.”

The wing’s dip may have saved the men’s life, as it crashed first into the ground, saving them a straight nosedive. As the plane dug into the cornfield, the front wheels snapped off. Jolted, his phone thrown from his hand — still recording through the crash — Mr. Zawacki made sure his legs remained attached, launched a stream of profanities suited for the moment, then rushed out of the plane toward his grandfather’s side.

They both asked if the other was OK. Mr. Zawacki, 20, was, save for some cuts on his legs and some whiplash. Mr. Matthes was in rougher shape with a fractured sternum. Mr. Zawacki saw blood on his grandfather’s pants and that his hearing aides had fallen out. The young man pulled his grandfather from the wreckage, and yelled for help.

The airstrip’s owner saw the crash and dialed 911. Rescuers arrived in minutes and found them just outside the plane. Mr. Zawacki recounted the crash from Mercy Memorial Hospital in Monroe, where both had been taken. Mr. Zawacki was released shortly afterward but Mr. Matthes remained there on Monday.

He should recover, though he was too loopy from medications to give a proper interview, his wife of 62 years, Peg Matthes, said.

The crash was her husband’s first mishap in the more than six decades he’s flown, she said. He had half-ownership of a plane when they were young, and used to land it in her father’s cow pasture on visits before they married. He sold the half when they were married.

For decades, while he ran Matthes Evergreen Farm outside Ida, Mich., and a cabinet business, he rented planes. He retired from the cabinet business in 1990, but he and his wife still run the farm, which annually sells Christmas trees. All the while, he pined for his own plane.

“It was a real dream of his to have one of his own,” Ms. Matthes said.

A little than a year ago, he bought an already-assembled Kitfox, a small kit aircraft. Mr. Matthes flies twice, maybe three times a week, until now without incident — flights over fairs, trips to see friends, or just an evening with the family.

They were lucky this time. It wasn’t just the crash that could have killed them.

The initial collision knocked the power line over. The live wires fell just feet from the plane. A different path run toward his grandfather may have ended in electric shock for Mr. Zawacki. But despite the close call, he’s not scared of flying. He still plans to get his pilot’s license.
“It won’t stop me from flying,” he said of the crash.

Mr. Matthes, too, will head up in the air when he’s healthy, and once the plane is fixed, relatives said.

MONROE — An 84-year-old pilot from Ida, Mich., and his 20-year-old grandson from Monroe were treated after the small plane they were flying crashed in central Monroe County on Sunday evening. 

Wilbert Matthes, owner and operator of the experimental plane, was attempting to land at a private airport at 5485 Saum Road in Raisinville Township and his co-pilot, Ian Zawacki, was filming the landing when the crash occurred about 8:30 p.m., according to the Monroe County sheriff’s office.

As the plane, a KitFox Series 7, approached the landing strip, its landing gear caught a power line spanning a corn field on the north side of the airfield, the sheriff’s office reported. That caused the plane to nose dive into the corn field.

The power line was tangled in the wreckage and led to an unknown number of power outages.

Both men suffered minor injuries and were taken to Mercy Memorial Hospital in Monroe as a precaution, according to the sheriff’s office.

Two people are recovering after their small plane crashed in Ida Township Sunday evening.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Department said the plane was about to land at a private airport on Saum Road around 8:30 p.m., when its landing gear caught a power line, causing the plane to nose dive into a corn field.

The pilot, 84-year-old Wilbert Matthes from Ida Township, and his grandson, 20-year-old Ian Zawacki from Monroe, suffered minor injuries.

They were both taken to the hospital as a precaution.

The aircraft was an experimental plane called a KitFox Series 7, which is similar in size to a Cessna 150, according to the Sheriff's Department.

There are some power outages in the area as a result of the crash.