14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, June 23, 2013 in Wolcott, CO
Probable Cause Approval Date: 06/02/2014
Aircraft: NANCHANG CHINA CJ-6, registration: N2726C
Injuries: 2 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.
The pilot flew his experimental, exhibition, high-performance airplane over friends' houses. One witness indicated the pilot flew the airplane low enough to be identified. The pilot performed a second flyby of the houses. Another witness indicated that the airplane subsequently flew south and then climbed in a counterclockwise rotation. The airplane then attempted to “go upside down” and fly to the west. It subsequently impacted terrain following the low-level acrobatic maneuver. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any preimpact anomalies.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilots decision to perform an aerobatic maneuver at a low altitude from which he was unable to recover.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On June 23, 2013, about 0811 mountain daylight time, an experimental exhibition Nanchang China CJ-6 airplane, N2726C, impacted terrain while maneuvering near Wolcott, Colorado. The private pilot and the pilot rated passenger were both fatally injured. The airplane sustained substantial fuselage damage. 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. Day visual flight rules (VFR) conditions prevailed for the flight, which did not operate on a VFR flight plan. The local flight originated from the Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE), near Eagle, Colorado, about 0757.
Witnesses, who lived near the accident site, stated that the pilot flew over their houses. One witness, who was a friend of the pilot, indicated the pilot flew the airplane low enough to be identified as the pilot. The pilot performed a second flyby of the houses. One witness indicated that the airplane subsequently flew south and then climbed in a counter clockwise rotation. The airplane attempted to "go upside down" and fly to the west. The airplane descended below the witness's line of sight. His wife call 911 and he ran to the accident site where he waited for first responders.
PERSONNEL INFORMATION
The pilot, age 70, held a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) private pilot certificate with a single engine land airplane rating. A FAA third class medical certificate was issued to the pilot on August 30, 2012 with a restriction for near vision lenses. On the application for that medical certificate, he reported accumulating 1,180 hours total flight time with 15 hours accumulated in the previous six months. The pilot reported using Tamsulosin. The pilot recorded in his logbook that he had accumulated 1,200.1 hours of total flight time, 5.4 hours of flight time in the 90 days prior to the accident, 2.6 hours of flight time in the30 days prior to the accident, and 120.1 hours of flight time in the CJ-6.
The pilot rated passenger, age 69, held a commercial pilot certificate with single and multi-engine land, and instrument airplane ratings. The passenger did not have a current medical certificate on file in FAA records.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATION
N2726C was a Nanchang CJ-6 airplane with serial number 5232007. The airplane was manufactured in 1991. Airworthiness records show that the airplane's amended special airworthiness certificate in the experimental exhibition category and purpose was issued on November 16, 2010. Records also indicated that the airplane was equipped with a M-14P radial engine with serial number KR322012, which drove a model number B530TA propeller.
The last yearly condition inspection was conducted on June 17, 2012. A logbook endorsement indicated the airplane had accumulated 2,697.18 hours total time. At the time of that inspection, the engine had accumulated 62.8 hours total time in service.
METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION
At 0750, the recorded weather at EGE was: wind calm; visibility 10 statute miles; sky condition clear; temperature 11 degrees C; dew point -4 degrees C; altimeter 30.12 inches of mercury.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
The airplane impacted terrain near the intersection of Horse Mountain Ranch Road and Elk Ridge Road. A witness mark on the ground was consistent with the airplane initially impacting terrain and sliding about 100 feet. The airplane became airborne again and came to rest about 162 feet from its first impact point. A FAA inspector examined the wreckage. The inspector indicated that all components, which were possible to examine, had their control continuity confirmed and the airplane was confirmed to have fuel on board when the crash occurred.
MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
The Eagle County Coroner's Office arranged for an autopsy to be performed on the pilot. The cause of death was listed as multiple injuries.
The FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) prepared a Final Forensic Toxicology Accident Report on samples taken from the pilot. The report indicated:
Tamsulosin detected in Muscle
Tamsulosin detected in Liver
The FAA Forensic Toxicology's WebDrugs website description of Tamsulosin, in part, indicated it was an a1a-selective alpha blocker used in the symptomatic treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.
The Eagle County Coroner's Office arranged for an autopsy to be performed on the pilot rated passenger. The cause of death was listed as multiple injuries.
The FAA CAMI prepared a Final Forensic Toxicology Accident Report on samples taken from the pilot rated passenger. The report stated that the samples sustained putrefaction and further indicated:
44 (mg/dL, mg/hg) Ethanol detected in Urine
28 (mg/dL, mg/hg) Ethanol detected in Muscle
25 (mg/dL, mg/hg) Ethanol detected in Brain
http://registry.faa.gov/N2726C
NTSB Identification: CEN13LA368
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, June 23, 2013 in Wolcott, CO
Aircraft: NANCHANG CHINA CJ-6, registration: N2726C
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 may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On June 23, 2013, about 0811 mountain daylight time, an experimental exhibition Nanchang China CJ-6 airplane, N2726C, impacted terrain while maneuvering near Wolcott, Colorado. The private pilot and the passenger were both fatally injured. The airplane sustained substantial fuselage damage. 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. Day visual flight rules (VFR) conditions prevailed for the flight, which did not operate on a VFR flight plan. The local flight originated from the Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE), near Eagle, Colorado, about 0757.
At 0750, the recorded weather at EGE was: wind calm; visibility 10 statute miles; sky condition clear; temperature 11 degrees C; dew point -4 degrees C; altimeter 30.12 inches of mercury.
Chris Hall, right, took some time for a Father's Day flight with his son, Alexander, left. Hall had a passion for flying, and spent a big part of his life restoring ultra-rare TT 1 "Pinto" training jets.
Garfield "Gar" Brown never became a pilot, but always had a passion for flight. He spent his last hours Sunday with longtime friend Chris Hall in Hall's 1950s-vintage Chinese pilot-training plane.
Chris Hall's Nanchang China CJ-6
EAGLE COUNTY — Chris Hall and Garfield “Gar” Brown had been friends and flying buddies for years. The men, and their families, grew up together in the Vail Valley. This week, the Hall and Brown families are mourning. So is the valley’s family of pilots.
On a bright, blue Sunday morning, Hall and Brown headed into the air together, flying in Hall’s 1950s-vintage “Yak,” a plane once used to train Chinese pilots. They didn’t come back.
Monday, Hall and Brown were remembered as men who, literally, helped build the valley, each in his own way.
Hall showed up in the valley, riding a Triumph motorcycle, the summer between Vail’s first and second seasons. He quickly fell in with Bob Lazier, a veteran of that first season. The two became friends, and in the mid-1960s, the pair built the first wing of Lazier’s second “Wedel Inn,” which brought 24 rooms of employee housing to the new village.
“Neither of us had built a full building before,” Lazier said, adding that the project started on Sept. 8 and finished Dec. 19.
“We did (almost) everything,” Lazier said. “Chris could work like nobody I knew.”
The 1960s and ’70s saw Brown and his family come and go, before the group settled here for good. Those years included Brown’s time in the U.S. Navy’s flight school. Although he never became a pilot, Brown always loved flying. His daughter, Lindsay Weiss, said flying, riding motorcycles and boating were her dad’s top passions. Brown spent a lot of time riding, Jeeping and exploring the mountains of his adopted state.
Through the Vail Valley years, the families spent a lot of their off-hours together.
“We were always at their house,” Weiss said.
The families also spent a lot of time on the water. Hall’s son Alexander noted the family still has a boat parked at Lake Powell.
While Hall and Brown spent a lot of their time-off together, the men had different career paths.
Weiss said her dad worked in construction and held numerous jobs with Vail Associates and, later, Vail Resorts. Most recently, he was working as a driver for Colorado Mountain Express.
“He’d complain about the traffic, but there was something about hearing people’s stories that he loved,” Weiss said.
Hall, meanwhile, became one of the most specialized mechanics in the world. Always good with his hands and tools, he spent the past 25 years of his working life rebuilding and maintaining the TT 1 “Pinto” jet trainer. Only 14 were built in the mid-1950s, and Hall had a hand in putting half of those planes back into the air.
The first Pinto Hall rebuilt was a project for Lazier and some partners. The project started as many restorations do, with several boxes and crates that someone believes might be made again into a flyable plane.
“Only Chris could have put it together,” Lazier said. “Chris was a genius that way.”
Hall also rebuilt and maintained the Chinese trainer he was flying Sunday, and his mechanical skills were legendary at the Eagle County Regional Airport.
“He was always willing to share his expertise,” longtime friend Walt Olsen said. “He really had a passion for flying.”
Hall’s passion for flight passed down to Alexander, who also has a pilot’s license. On Father’s Day, the two got up into the air, just for a quick trip up and down the valley.
“It was great,” Alexander said. “We circled over the Tough Mudder (race at Beaver Creek) a few times.”
While Hall spent much of his time on the north side of the airport — where many of the valley’s private pilots hangar their aircrafts — Vail Valley Jet Center General Manager Paul Gordon said he was well-known among the group that uses the more jet-friendly facilities on the south side of the runway. Gordon said both Hall and Brown were involved with the Eagle County Aviation Association and were well-known in that group.
“It’s just devastating when somebody you’ve known passes like this,” Gordon said. “They were part of a tight-knit flying community, and it’s hard to lose them.”
Source: http://www.aspentimes.com
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