14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, September 01, 2015 in Jerome, ID
Aircraft: EXTRA FLUGZEUGBAU GMBH EA 300/L, registration: N4BM
Injuries: 1 Serious.
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 September 1, 2015, about 1940 mountain daylight time, an Extra Flugzeugbau GMBH EA 300/L, N4BM, was destroyed when it impacted terrain near the Jerome County Airport (JER), Jerome, Idaho. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The private pilot, sole occupant of the airplane, was seriously injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight. The local flight originated from JER about 5 minutes prior to the accident.
Information provided by local law enforcement revealed that witnesses located near the accident site observed the airplane flying around the general area and descend towards the ground.
Examination of the airplane and accident site by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the airplane impacted a corn field about one-half mile southeast of the approach end of runway 27. All major structural components of the airplane were located at the accident site. Wings, engine, and empennage were separated from the fuselage and located within the wreckage debris path. The wreckage was recovered to a secure location for further examination.
FAA Flight Standards District Office: FAA Boise FSDO-11
JEROME • The pilot of a plane that crashed Tuesday evening in Jerome County is Kelly Fairbanks, whose wife, a popular Twin Falls business owner, died last week after a motorcycle crash.
The plane crashed about 7:40 p.m. at U.S. 93 and 100 South near the Giltner Dairy.
About an hour later, a helicopter arrived to take to Fairbanks to St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. Fairbanks, 42, was conscious, but deputies did not know the extent of his injuries, said Lt. Dan Kennedy of the Jerome County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said it was too early to tell what caused the red Extra EA-300L plane to crash. Jerome County Sheriff’s Office, paramedics and Jerome Rural Fire Department responded. The National Transportation Safety Board will arrive Wednesday morning to begin investigating.
Bill Erich saw the plane crash from his house.
“I was across the highway in my yard and I saw a plane coming down and I thought ‘Oh wow, that’s not normal.’”
The plane plunged straight down, he said.
“It just didn’t look right.”
Lisa Paige Fairbanks died Aug. 22 from injuries she suffered a few days earlier after falling off a motorcycle driven by her husband. Her death was widely mourned by public officials and members of the Twin Falls business community.
“The fact is, she touched so many lives and it’s crazy things like people I haven’t seen in 20 years coming into the store to express how sorry they are,” said Michelle Hamilton, Fairbanks’ best friend of 35 years.
Fairbanks co-owned Scrappin’ Girlfriends at 123 Maine Ave. with her sister-in-law and Hamilton since 2005. Before that, Fairbanks opened the Country Gift Garden with her mother in 1987.
“She believed in downtown. This is where her heart is,” Hamilton said. “She had lots of opportunities to move her store, but she never would.”
Kelly Fairbanks suffered minor injuries in the crash that led to his wife’s death. He has been a stunt pilot for years, flying both model and full-scale aircraft.
The plane he was flying in the crash was an aerobatic monoplane, capable of speeds up to 250 mph. Some countries use the same model in military operations, and the Extra 300 is often flown in air shows.
“Honestly, I’d rather fly the models,” he told the Times-News in 2012. “You get to spend the day out in the sun and enjoy the camaraderie with all the other guys, BSin’ and just having a good time.”
Story, comments and photo: http://magicvalley.com
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