14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, July 21, 2013 in Mill Creek, IN
Probable Cause Approval Date: 03/17/2015
Aircraft: COOPER, DAVID W. CHALLENGER II, registration: N1519
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.
The accident airplane and another airplane were en route to an airport as a flight of two airplanes. When the accident airplane did not arrive at the destination airport, a search was conducted, and it was subsequently found in a cornfield. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuel tank and carburetor fuel bowls were empty. No evidence of fuel spillage was found at the accident site. Examination did not reveal any evidence of preimpact mechanical anomalies. The pilot did not hold a pilot certificate but had received flight training. He had an instructor's solo endorsement and had soloed; however, he had not received instruction or an endorsement to solo in the accident airplane model. Based on the available evidence, it is likely that the airplane's fuel supply was exhausted, which resulted in a loss of engine power. Subsequently, the pilot lost control of the airplane during the ensuing forced landing due to his limited experience in the airplane model.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The noncertificated pilot's improper fuel planning, which led to fuel exhaustion and a loss of engine power. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to obtain adequate instruction or an endorsement to solo in the accident airplane model, which led to his loss of airplane control during the forced landing.
On July 21, 2013, about 0700 eastern daylight time, an amateur-built Cooper Challenger II airplane, N1519, impacted terrain near Mill Creek, Indiana. The non-certificated pilot was fatally injured and the airplane was substantially damaged. The aircraft 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 for the flight, which operated without a flight plan. The flight originated from the Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport (3TR), Niles, Michigan, about 0630 and was en route to the Plymouth Municipal Airport (C65), Plymouth, Indiana.
The airplane departed 3TR along with another airplane en route to C65. When the accident airplane did not arrive at C65, a search was conducted and the airplane was found in a corn field near Mill Creek Indiana. There were no known witnesses to the accident.
Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that there was no fuel in the fuel tank and no fuel was found in the carburetor bowl. No evidence of a fuel spill was detected at the accident site. Further examination of the airplane did not reveal any pre-impact anomalies.
The pilot held a second class medical certificate issue on March 27, 2013. The limitations section of the medical certificate noted that the pilot must wear corrective lenses. There was no record of the pilot having been issued a pilot certificate by the Federal Aviation Administration.
A pilot flight logbook was recovered and indicated that the pilot had received flight training in Cessna 172 airplanes between March 14, 2013 and April 27, 2013. During that time the pilot had accumulated 14.1 hours of flight time in Cessna 172 airplanes and had soloed a Cessna 172 airplane on March 30, 2013. The logbook also indicated that the pilot had flown the accident airplane about 11 hours between May 5, 2013, and May 25, 2013. The May 25, 2013 entry was the most recent completed entry in the logbook. The logbook contained an instructor's endorsement for solo operations in Cessna 172 airplanes, but no endorsement for solo operation in the accident airplane was found. There were no logged flights indicating that the pilot had received any flight training in the accident airplane or in a like model airplane.
http://registry.faa.gov/N1519
NTSB Identification: CEN13LA428
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, July 21, 2013 in Mill Creek, IN
Aircraft: Cooper, David W. Challenger II, registration: N1519
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 July 21, 2013, about 0700 eastern daylight time, an amateur-built Cooper Challenger II airplane, N1519, was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground near Mill Creek, Indiana. The pilot was fatally injured. The aircraft 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 for the flight, which was not on a flight plan. The flight originated from the Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport, Niles, Michigan, about 0630.
Benjamin Hubbard
La PORTE — "As a pilot, we know the risks, but we do what we love."
That's what recreational pilot Phil Knox, who discovered the wreckage after an airplane crash near La Porte on Sunday, said about his passion of taking to the skies.
Knox, who resides in the Mishawaka area and has been flying planes for years, said that while he only met pilot Benjamin Hubbard once — a few weeks ago at a pancake breakfast — he thought he was a nice guy.
Hubbard, 36, of South Bend, left Niles, Michigan, early Sunday morning and was flying to Plymouth to have breakfast with a fellow pilot.
Hubbard's plane was found in a field approximately 2,100 feet east of 600 East, south of Division Road. Officers found Hubbard, the lone occupant of the single-engine plane, dead at the scene.
"I think it is terrible," said Knox about the accident. "I feel sad that I found the site but at the same time, I would want people to look as hard as they could for me as we have done."
According to Knox, he arrived Sunday at the Niles airport and was informed a plane was missing.
He said Hubbard had been flying behind a Cessna plane, which was being flown by the pilot Hubbard was set to have breakfast with. When the Cessna pilot landed in Plymouth and Hubbard did not arrive, the pilot called the Niles airport to see if Hubbard had turned around.
Knox and another man piloted a plane across the area for hours, searching for Hubbard's plane. Then Knox heard a crop duster crash was reported near La Porte. Knox and the other pilot went back to the Niles airport and made calls to the La Porte emergency departments and received a general location.
Once again, Knox got into a plane and went looking for Hubbard's plane. What he saw was "a red airplane against the green corn."
"I then called for rescue and had to explain where the plane crashed specifically. The corn was so high that you could not see the crash from the road," Knox explained.
Knox called the La Porte County Regional 911 at around 11:50 a.m. Sunday and described for rescuers on a map where the ultra-light plane was located in the 10-foot-tall corn stalks.
Officers had originally been dispatched at 7 a.m. Sunday to Division Road and 600 East where a local resident told officers a small aircraft had crashed. The La Porte County Sheriff's Department report stated the resident said at approximately 5:30 a.m. he began hearing and seeing a crop duster flying low to the area when he heard a loud popping noise.
The incident is still under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and officials with the National Transportation Safety Board are still investigating why the plane crashed.
