Friday, September 14, 2012

Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee, N7971W: Accident occurred September 14, 2012 in French Valley, California

http://registry.faa.gov/N7971W

NTSB Identification: WPR12CA419  
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Friday, September 14, 2012 in French Valley, CA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 12/19/2012
Aircraft: PIPER PA-28-180, registration: N7971W
Injuries: 1 Minor,1 Uninjured.

NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.

The airplane drifted across the runway centerline during the final approach, and the pilot applied corrective control input. A gusting crosswind and high temperatures were present, and, as such, he continued the approach with the flaps retracted. He corrected for the wind by lowering the left wing, and applying right rudder control. During the flare, the wind direction shifted to a quartering tailwind, and the airplane veered to the right. Unable to keep the airplane over the runway, the pilot applied full engine power and initiated a go-around. The engine responded, but the airplane did not climb as expected, and its main landing gear made contact with the vertical stabilizer of an airplane on the taxiway. The airplane subsequently settled and landed in the adjacent parking apron, where it collided with five parked airplanes. The accident airplane’s left wing was substantially damaged, and all five parked airplanes also sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The pilot’s loss of directional control during a go-around following a sudden change in wind direction.


The airplane drifted across the runway centerline during the final approach, and the pilot applied corrective control input. Gusting crosswind and high temperatures were present, and as such, he continued the approach with the flaps retracted. He corrected for the wind by lowering the left wing, and applying right rudder control. During the flare, the wind direction shifted to a quartering tailwind, and the airplane veered to the right. Unable to keep the airplane over the runway, he applied full engine power and initiated a go-around. The engine responded, but the airplane did not climb as expected, and its main landing gear made contact with the vertical stabilizer of an airplane on the taxiway. The airplane subsequently settled and landed in the adjacent parking apron, where it collided with five parked airplanes. Both the accident airplane, and all five parked airplanes, sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.


 
 


 

 




A pilot coming in for a landing Friday at French Valley Airport lost control of his plane, which smashed into two aircraft and clipped several others on the ground.

Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dean Spivacke said one passenger in a taxiing plane that took the initial hit suffered minor injuries.

Preliminary investigation indicates the pilot of the Piper Cherokee 180 that was landing lost control after it was struck by a strong gust of wind about 2 p.m.

"It was quite breezy today, and he caught a crosswind that threw him off course," Spivacke said.
In addition to the landing plane, about a half-dozen others were damaged, the sergeant said. All the planes involved were of the small propeller-driven variety.

Spivacke said officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration had been notified and would be probing further into the incident.

The pilot declined to talk to a reporter when contacted at the airport on Sky Canyon Drive east of Temecula.

FAA records indicate the plane was registered to Chad Hutchins of Flagstaff, Ariz.

Inside the airport cafe shortly before the incident occurred, Menifee resident Todd Greene was having a burger and Stan Smith was polishing off fish and chips when they saw the Cherokee approaching nearer to the building than normal.

"Stan saw it first and he said, 'Look at that,'" said Greene, himself a pilot. "When I looked up and saw how close it was, I knew it was a problem."

Smith said they watched as the Piper appeared to bounce up in the air and land on top of a taxiing Cessna 172 containing a pilot and a passenger.

Although the Cessna's cockpit was smashed in, the pilot apparently escaped injury and the passenger was reportedly not not seriously hurt.

"She was able to walk away from it," Smith said.

The runaway plane came to a halt after it made a direct hit on Roy Haggard's Cessna 180 Taildragger, splitting the rear section of the fuselage in two.

Haggard said he had just returned to his home on the Santa Rosa Plateau after flying back from Catalina Island when he got a call from a mechanic at the airport.

"I got a phone call that said, 'You better start shopping for a new airplane because yours is in two pieces,'" Haggard said.

He valued the plane at between $80,000 and $90,000.

"I spent the last year just really cleaning it up," he said. "The goal was to get it to where we could go to Alaska. It takes a lot of work when you buy a used airplane to make it how you want it to be."

He was thankful, however, that he and his wife weren't in the plane when it was struck and that there were no deaths or major injuries.

"That's a gift," he said.

Given the cost of aircraft, the damages may total more than a half-million dollars, based on observers' estimates.

The airport runway remained open throughout the day, and the accident scene was confined to one section of the tarmac.

A representative of the airport's operator said he expected the damaged planes to be removed sometime Friday night after federal officials inspect the scene.
Mused Haggard as he surveyed the damage, "Who would have thought parking in an airport could be dangerous?"

 http://www.nctimes.com

An attempted landing at French Valley Airport went awry, injuring one of the aircraft’s occupants and damaging at least half-dozen planes on the ground. 

 The crash was reported around 2 p.m. on the airstrip on Sky Canyon Drive, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Dean Spivacke.

“Tentatively, the pilot caught cross winds, came in and clipped a plane that was on a taxi,” the sergeant said.

The plane then crashed onto the runway and barreled into several other unoccupied aircraft.

One person in the landing plane was taken to the hospital for evaluation of minor injuries, according to a news release from the Riverside County Fire Department/ Cal Fire. A second person in the plane was not injured, the release said.

Spivacke said a female passenger was the injured party. The pilot walked away, he said.

Bobbi-Joe Lyman, a server at the French Valley Café, saw the crash.

“I looked out and saw it come in, come down and just go into all those airplanes,” she said. “I was in shock.

“Did this really just happen?”

The plane stopped when it ran nose-first into the side of a parked aircraft.

Roy Haggard, the owner of the plane that was hit, got a phone call and rushed to the airport.

He noted the winds were bad for a flight.

“It’s a really gusty day, and when it’s gusty, (the planes) get pushed,” he said.


A small aircraft crashed just before 2:30 p.m. today at French Valley Airport located in the 37500 block of Winchester Rd., according to a Riverside County Fire Department report.

The pilot was uninjured and his passenger, a female, was transported to an area hospital with complaints of pain.

According to witnesses at the scene, the fixed wing, single-engine Piper Cherokee was airborne before crashing into at least six other airplanes parked near the cafe.

Witnesses were unable to confirm whether or not the plane was taking off or landing when it clipped the tops of the first few parked planes before colliding into the others upon landing.

At least six planes sustained damage — three were leaking fuel — however, first responder radio transmissions indicated as many as eight airplanes may have been hit in the crash.

No other injuries were reported.

A plane crashed Friday at the French Valley Airport while the pilot was attempting to land.

Around 2 p.m., the plane was landing when it struck a taxing aircraft, according to authorities.

The plane then went out of control and crash into at least a half-dozen parked aircraft.

One person in the landing plane was taken to the hospital for evaluation of minor injuries, according to a news release from the Riverside County Fire Department/ Cal Fire. A second person in the plane was not injured, the release said.