DeFuniak Springs -- We now know what caused a deadly plane crash in DeFuniak Springs that killed a pilot. The National Transportation Safety Board released its final report on the 2012 crash that killed Pablino Gutierrez shortly after take-off.
77-year old Pablino Gutierrez took off from the DeFuniak Springs airport around 11:00 a.m. on May 9, 2012. The plane crashed moments after takeoff. Now federal investigators say they know why.
Pablino Gutierrez was an experienced, having flown in the Air Force and as a commercial pilot after leaving the service. On the day of his death, he was flying a Hummel Bird, an experimental plane he built himself.
According to the accident report, Gutierrez took off from the DeFuniak Springs airport, and climbed to a height of 300 feet. The plane then plunged to the ground, killing Gutierrez.
Pilot/Witness Michael Murphy said, “Trying to make a decision to get some altitude to turn and land or possibly lost control all together. The plane went into a nose up attitude pitched hard to the left rolled and kind of in an adverted dive, just went into the ground.”
Investigators say the reason the plane crashed is because there was too much weight on board, as much as 58 lbs. more than the plane was capable of carrying.
In fact, Gutierrez had reported a recent weight gain, which he said made it difficult to control the small aircraft. His daughter calls the new information shocking.
"Knowing who he was or how he was, he would not have taken, he would not have taken a risk like that,” said Mary Gutierrez.
The irony is Federal Aviation Administration officials were a day late with an action that could have saved Gutierrez's life.
They decided to revoke his pilot's license because of medications he was taking for high blood pressure. The certified letter arrived at Gutierrez's home on May 10, 2012, the day after the crash.
His daughter says if Gutierrez had known about the letter, he would not have flown.
"My dad was very by-the-book, very meticulous and things of that nature. He was retired Air Force he's very structured,” she said.
The report says the doctor and some of Gutierrez's friends told him to get a larger plane that he could safely fly.
Investigators say they did not find any mechanical problems with the aircraft.
Story, video and photo: http://www.wjhg.com
NTSB Identification: ERA12FA326
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Wednesday, May 09, 2012 in DeFuniak Springs, FL
Aircraft: GUTIERREZ PABLINO HUMMEL BIRD, registration: N9001N
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
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.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On May 9, 2012, about 1110 central daylight time, an experimental, amateur-built, Gutierrez Hummel Bird airplane, N9001N, registered to, and operated by, the commercial pilot, impacted the ground in a nose-down attitude at the DeFuniak Springs Airport (54J), DeFuniak Springs, Florida. The pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The personal flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, and no flight plan was filed. The flight was originating at the time of the accident.
According to eyewitness reports, the pilot was observed performing maintenance to the airplane prior to the flight. One of the witnesses stated that he observed the pilot conduct a lengthy preflight before starting the engine by hand, followed by a ground engine run-up, and then taxi to runway 27. Witnesses observed the airplane accelerate, roll down the runway, rotate, and climb about 30 to 40 feet above the runway when the airplane started varying its altitude. They watched as the airplane porpoised a few times as it continued to climb. When it reached an estimated altitude of 300 feet above ground level (agl), it pitched nose high and rolled to the right. The airplane nosedived and collided with the ground in an approximate 80 degree nose-down attitude. The airplane came to rest on its main gear in the upright position facing 120-degrees from the departing runway.
PERSONNEL INFORMATION
The pilot, age 77, held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine and multi-engine land, and instrument airplane. He held a flight instructor certificate for airplane single-engine land. He was issued a third-class medical certificate on April 10, 2012, with the limitation of a special time limited; however, in a letter mailed to the airman on May 5, 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) withdrew his medical certificate. A review of his pilot logbook revealed the most recent entry was dated March 15, 2012 and at that time he had 527.5 total hours of flight experience, of which 0.3 of those hours were in the accident airplane make and model. The most recent recorded flight review was dated August 22, 1997; however, in February and March of 2012, there were three entries with a flight instructor signature associated with them that listed a variety of training, including; "takeoff and landings, emergency procedures, failures" to list a few.
http://www.ntsb.gov
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