NTSB Identification: ERA12FA565
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, September 16, 2012 in Brownsboro, AL
Aircraft: YAKOVLEV YAK 52, registration: N2207X
Injuries: 2 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 either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On September 16, 2012, about 1515 central daylight time, an experimental, Yakovlev Yak-52, N2207X, registered to Matrushka LLC and operated by an individual, sustained substantial damaged from ground impact at Moontown Airport (3M5), Brownsboro, Alabama. The pilot and the student pilot rated passenger were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 91, personal flight. The flight originated from 3M5, about 1450.
The airport was having a fly in event that day. Several witnesses observed three Yak-52 airplanes flying from west to east in a trailing formation, each slightly lower than the one in front. When they were southeast of the airport, the lead airplane performed a barrel row, followed by the second airplane in the formation. When the third airplane performed the barrel row, as the airplane reached the wings level attitude, the nose of the airplane was in a high pitch angle. The airplane began to descend in that nose high attitude. Then the airplane’s nose dropped below the horizon and it was lost from sight behind the trees that separated the open field and the airport’s grass runway. A loud impact noise was heard and smoke was seen immediately rising behind the trees.
The pilot, age 74, held a Federal Aviation Administration private pilot certificate with rating for airplane single engine land and airplane instrument. He was issued a second-class medical certificate on February 29, 2012, with limitations. A review of the pilot’s flight logbooks shows he documented a total time of 6,150 flight hours.
The Yakovlev Yak-52 was manufactured in the Soviet Union in 1982 and was issued a Federal Aviation Administration experimental airworthiness certificate in the exhibition category in November of 1999. The two place, low wing, metal construction airplane was powered by a 360 horsepower, Vedeneyev, M14P, 9-cylinder radial engine, and equipped with a two-bladed counter-clockwise rotating, variable pitch, wood and fiberglass laminated propeller.
The airplane’s energy path at the accident site was on an estimated 90-degree heading. The airplane’s initial collision was with the ground at an elevation of 686 feet mean sea level, which made a three foot in diameter crater that was two feet deep. One of the two wooden propeller blades was embedded into the ground at that location. The engine, along with its cowling, separated from the airframe and came to rest about 50 feet along the energy path from the crater. The propeller hub assembly remained attached to the engine minus the propeller blades. A section of the left outboard wing was located about 90 feet along the energy path from the crater. The main wreckage came to rest about 150 feet from the crater on an estimated 290-degree heading. Remnants of both wing’s flight control surfaces, engine parts, nose gear, right main gear, and canopy debris were located along the crash energy path.
The main wreckage consisted of the fuselage, wings, and empennage with its flight control surfaces. From the engine firewall to the rear cockpit area sustained thermal damage from the post impact fire that ensued. Some instrument panel components and the wing’s cross spar beam were discernible among the melted metal. The right wing was intact with impact damage to the leading edge and thermal damage near the wing root area. The left wing was separated from the wing root area and bent back to the fuselage. The left main gear remained attached to the wing. The empennage areas sustained impact damage and the fabric covered flight control surfaces had thermal damage.
George Myers, owner of the Moontown Airport, died in an airplane crash Sunday along with a student pilot, Christian Schmitt.
The vigil will start at 7 p.m. at Columbia High School, where Schmitt was a senior.
All family and friends are invited. For more information, call (256) 428-7576.
Schmitt and Gerald Myers, the former owner of Moontown Airport, crashed in a field just south of the airport on Sunday afternoon during the Moontown Grass Field Fly-in. Schmitt, a student pilot, and Myers were flying in a Soviet-era Yak.
A memorial service will be held for Myers followed by a pot luck dinner on Friday at 5 p.m. at the hangar at the Moontown Airport.
BROWNSBORO, Alabama -- Chris Schmitt, one of the two people who died in a plane crash Sunday near the Moontown Airport, helped organized relief efforts for victims of the 2011 tornadoes and was an aspiring pilot who had taken flying lessons.
Schmitt, 17-year-old Columbia High School senior, died when the plane he was flying in with George Myers, 74, crashed just south of the airport during the Moontown Grass Field Fly-in. Myers was the owner of Moontown Airport.
Schmitt served three years in the JROTC at Columbia, achieving the rank of first sergeant."He loved what he was doing and always enjoyed life," said Marion Mike, the command sergeant major of the JROTC at Columbia. "He was one of those smiling kids."
An investigator from the National Transportation and Safety Board was at the scene this afternoon. The investigator said the NTSB would have an update on its investigation in about a week.
An official from the Federal Aviation Authority was at the crash site this morning.
Officials have not given a reason for the crash that occurred about 3:20 p.m. The plane crashed into a field about 100 yards from homes near the airport. It broke into at least two pieces.
Schmitt took flying lessons at Madison County Executive Airport in Meridianville and took his first solo flight earlier this year.
Renja Schmitt, who owns and operates Schnitzel Ranch restaurant on University Drive, said her son took control of logistics after the deadly tornadoes last year that left North Alabama without power.
Renja said once she decided to cook all the food she had in stock to give to victims, her son took it from there.
"Chris was the first one, he was the organization," his mother said. "How long will it take to cook? How many cars do we need? He was the organization manager of the tornado victims to feed them. That's just him."
Chris moved to the United States from Germany in 2008 when he was 12 along with his mother, father Joachim Reinig and sister Jackie. Renja said Monday Chris would entertain friends by translating German comedians.
"He made everybody happy," she said. "He watched Germany comedians a lot and he could do the accents. And just by listening he could turn around and translate it in English and make 50 people laugh. He could make you laugh."
"He was always doing for others," said Gordon Seuell, a close friend of the family. "He had a passion for life."
Mike, the JROTC instructor, said Chris was a tireless volunteer -- spending time at Special Olympics events and visiting nursing homes as well as taking part in the Honor Flight program that took World War II veterans on daytrips to Washington, D.C.
Chris made it a habit to flatter his mother, she said. It was routine, in fact, for Chris to say to his mother, "Do you know how beautiful you are?"
Renja said that friends who visited Sunday night said that's one thing they will always remember about Chris, "How many times he would say you are so pretty."
Chris didn't just say kind words to his mother, he did kind things as well, she said.
Renja said that when they were living in Germany and she was hospitalized, Chris worried about how to make her feel better.
"We just got a baby cat a few weeks before," Renja said. "He was thinking, 'What can I do to make my mom laugh?'
"He put the cat in a bag and brought it to the hospital."
MADISON CO. (WAAY) - George Myers loved to fly. It was his life. WAAY 31's Kalie Lanford learned that first hand today when he took her up in his plane. Just an hour later George was piloting another flight when it crashed.
“Its tragic I’ve known George for many years…him and his wife,” said Myers friend Jerry Sanderson
George and his passenger Chris Schmitt, 17, were flying in a Russian Yak at the Annual Moontown Fly-In. They were flying in a formation with four other Yaks when suddenly their plane snapped out of formation and crashed. Those who knew George respected him as an excellent pilot and local legend.
“His influence on aviation was impeccable. He was an impeccable pilot and he was the previous owner of moon town airport and had it for years and this airport is known nationally," said Myers friend, Bill Perry.
Myers’s passenger Chris Schmitt was an aspiring pilot. He was in flight school in Madison to get his license. He told me he loved to fly because of the freedom he felt when he was in the air. Both men said some of their happeist moments were in a plane. Now, friends are taking some comfort knowing they died doing something they love.
“He’s been such a great influence on so many people that enjoy flying, and hes going to be very missed,” Perry said.
MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) – The Madison County Sheriff’s Office confirms that two people died Sunday afternoon in a plane crash at the Moontown Airport. The airport is located just off of Highway 72, east of Huntsville.
Just before 3:30 Sunday afternoon, a call went out over police and emergency radios of an Alert III at the airport. An Alert III is the most severe type of aircraft emergency.
Witnesses tell WHNT News 19 that the plane appeared to be a Yak. It’s a single-engine plane developed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s.
According to the airport’s website, their annual fly-in was taking place this weekend. There were dozens of small planes and even helicopters at the event.
Brownsboro, Ala., (WAAY) - Two people were killed in a plane crash Sunday afternoon at the Moontown Airport near Highway 72 and Moontown Road in Madison County. Witnesses say the plane went down around It happened around 3:20.
The airport is hosting its annual Fly-In this weekend featuring vintage and experimental aircraft.
MADISON COUNTY, AL (WAFF) - Two people were killed in a plane crash in Madison County. The plane went down around 3:30 p.m. Sunday on Airport Drive. Officials said it was a small plane that crashed near the Moontown Airport. The crash may be associated with the annual Moontown Grass Field Fly-In. Three planes were in the air and one of them banked just before crashing.
Authorities have not identified the victims. No other injuries were reported. The Federal Aviation Administration has been notified.
