Monday, June 15, 2015

Rans S-10 Sakota, N693MP: Accident occurred June 15, 2015 near Poolsbrook Aerodrome (NY72), Manlius, Onondaga County, New York

http://registry.faa.gov/N693MP

NTSB Identification: ERA15CA242 
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, June 15, 2015 in Kirkville, NY
Probable Cause Approval Date: 10/08/2015
Aircraft: PENELL MARK A RANS S-10 KIT, registration: N693MP
Injuries: 1 Serious.

NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.

During the takeoff roll from the 1,400-foot-long runway, the airplane encountered water on the runway and "was not able to gain enough momentum." During the initial climb the airplane was unable to clear the surrounding trees. Therefore, the pilot elected to maneuver the airplane in order to avoid striking the trees. During the turn, the airspeed decreased and the pilot made an off airport landing to a nearby golf course. According to a witness, the airplane was about 40 feet off the ground when it began the turn. In addition, it looked like the airplane "turned too tight," and that the "wings never leveled out" prior to impacting the ground. During the off airport landing, the airplane incurred substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. He further stated, "it was my fault, not the [airplane's]." At the time of the accident the wind was from the northwest at 4 knots.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
Pilot's failure to maintain airspeed while maneuvering during the initial climb, which resulted in a loss of lift and subsequent off airport landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to abort the takeoff after recognizing the airplane's slow acceleration.

NTSB Identification: ERA15CA242 
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, June 15, 2015 in Kirkville, NY
Aircraft: PENELL MARK A RANS S-10 KIT, registration: N693MP
Injuries: 1 Serious.

NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.

During the takeoff roll from the 1,400-foot-long runway, the airplane encountered water on the runway and "was not able to gain enough momentum." During the initial climb the airplane was unable to clear the surrounding trees. Therefore, the pilot elected to maneuver the airplane in order to avoid striking the trees. During the turn, the airspeed decreased and the pilot made an off airport landing to a nearby golf course. According to a witness, the airplane was about 40 feet off the ground when it began the turn. In addition, it looked like the airplane "turned too tight," and that the "wings never leveled out" prior to impacting the ground. During the off airport landing, the airplane incurred substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. He further stated, "it was my fault, not the [airplane's]." At the time of the accident the winds were from the northwest at 4 knots.
  
FAA FSDO: FAA Albany FSDO-01



KIRKVILLE, N.Y. -- A single-engine plane crashed Monday evening near the second hole of a Kirkville golf course, according to Onondaga County 911.

At 7:18 p.m., someone called 911 to say a plane had crashed at Poolsbrook Golf Course, 6241 N. Poolsbrook Road in Kirkville.

Kirkville and Fayetteville volunteer fire departments and Onondaga County Air 1 responded to the scene.

The pilot, reportedly a 52-year-old man, is alive and not trapped, according to 911. The pilot complained of neck and back pain, officials said.

Story, comments and photos:  http://www.syracuse.com


Airports look to share airwaves: Private frequency proposed for North Little Rock Municipal (KORK), Camp Robinson (KRBM)

The North Little Rock Municipal Airport and the Camp Robinson airfield are considering getting on the same wavelength in the interests of safety.

One is a civilian airport and the other is an Arkansas Army National Guard airport. They have two separate and distinct missions but are separated by just 2.5 miles.

But pilots at the respective airports cannot communicate with each other because the airports use different radio frequencies. Officials at both airports believe that if the airports shared the same frequency, it would increase safety for pilots.

“Our concern is we never want to see somebody hurt,” said Maj. Stephen Brack, who is an instructor pilot for the Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters based at Camp Robinson airfield. The aircraft is a twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter.

Brack and other pilots spoke at a public hearing the North Little Rock Airport Commission held last week to allow pilots to voice their support or objection to a proposal to have both airports use a new radio frequency that only they would share. The commission is scheduled to vote on the proposal at its regular monthly meeting Thursday.

Both airports lack an air traffic control tower, unlike larger airports such as Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, which is on the south side of the Arkansas River. The controllers in the tower use vocal communication, radar and other equipment to control aircraft in the vicinity of the airport as well as on the airport’s ramps, taxiways and runways.

Most small airports, such as North Little Rock and Camp Robinson, don’t have enough traffic to warrant a control tower. Without controllers advising them of the positions of other aircraft, pilots at small airports rely on announcing their own positions and intentions on the airports’ respective radio frequencies to keep fellow pilots informed.

Special circumstances at the two small airports north of the river call for closer coordination and a radio frequency only those two airports can share, proponents of the change say.

Bob Connor, a retired airline pilot who has been flying out of North Little Rock for the past six years, said airspace restrictions often require pilots at North Little Rock to take off to the south and turn to the west.

Flying to the north often has to be restricted whenever military training is taking place on a large swath of Camp Robinson property. Last week, for instance, mortar training was conducted at the camp. Mortars fire explosive projectiles with short ranges but high arcs, with their projectiles reaching 5,000 feet or higher, well within the altitudes of the small aircraft that use the North Little Rock airport.

To the south is Clinton National airspace, which many pilots of small planes avoid because it is controlled by the Clinton National controllers.

Some aircraft based at North Little Rock that go west fly in the vicinity of the Camp Robinson airfield, where training and other missions are conducted, often right over the field.

Brack said that three times in the past year, he has been in a helicopter on final approach to Camp Robinson while practicing an emergency landing procedure using autorotation — which allows a helicopter to land without engine power — when he has had to abort the approach because of conflicts with aircraft from the North Little Rock airport.

Lesser conflicts are almost a daily occurrence, he added.

“What ends up happening, I’m standing on the ramp, as recently as today, there was an airplane that could not have been — it must have been at pattern altitude or slightly above it — but transitioned right over the center of the airfield with one aircraft getting ready to take off from our ramp and enter the traffic pattern and another a few minutes before that had departed,” Brack said.

Jerry Holmsley, who has been flying in and out of the North Little Rock airport for 30 years, agreed with Brack.

“I think as a safety issue the folks at Camp Robinson are spot on, that we absolutely without a doubt need to be on the same frequency,” he said.

Harry Barrett, the longtime owner of Barrett Aviation, which services general aviation aircraft and offers flight training at the airport, opposed changing the airport’s frequency, which is at 122.8, the common traffic advisory frequency for many small airports.

“We’ve had that frequency for as long as I can remember, and everybody in this whole area knows our frequency, and I think it’s going to lead to confusion,” he said at the hearing. “People are not going to be on it.”

When the new airport at Conway opened, it used a different frequency than the old airport.

“Right now, they are still having confusion over at Conway because they’ve changed their frequency,” Barrett said.

He also said that because other small airports in central Arkansas share the frequency, it is easy to keep track of traffic at other airports, especially when a pilot might be flying to them.

“When you take off out of North Little Rock and you can hear somebody’s traffic, if you’re going over to Bryant or to Carlisle or somewhere over there, or Stuttgart, you can hear traffic rather than have to switch later and miss a call,” Barrett said. “When you get out of here, you can hear other traffic in the area, so it kind of gives you a headsup to what’s going on at other airports.”

But to other pilots, that radio traffic they hear from other airports is a distraction.

Don Adamson, the owner of 92nd West Aviation, which is opening a flight school at North Little Rock, said that “122.8 is a very cluttered frequency.”

“Sitting on the ground … you can’t hear all of the radio calls. But at 1,200 feet in the air, at pattern altitude, you hear the whole state.

“Whoever is 122.8, you can hear them, at least on my radio, in my airplane. I say ‘hi’ to buddies in Saline County and that’s 40 miles away from Carlisle.”

The confusion at Conway is overblown, he said, adding that an official at the new airport said, “Yes, there’s some teething problems, but it’s working.”

Connor’s research shows that there were nine airports within 40 miles of the North Little Rock airport that shared the 122.8 frequency.

“On the ground you don’t hear it that much, but at pattern altitude, you hear all of the airports surrounding,” he said. “When you’re trying to make a position call coming into this airport [and] somebody else is talking in Saline County or Country Air, you can’t hardly get a word in.”

Brack said that clutter was why Camp Robinson wanted a “discreet” frequency that only the two airports would share — 123.075 has been proposed.

“We just want to see us get on the same page,” he said. “You do get a lot of traffic chatter on [122.8]. And if you’re doing flight training in a traffic pattern, teaching traffic pattern stuff, the more congestion on that radio that there is, the more difficult it makes to get good, quality training in.”

With a discreet channel, Brack added, “You can monitor the frequency so you can be prepared. You don’t have to make a radio call, but you can monitor so you know what’s going on over there.”

Source:  http://www.arkansasonline.com

Incident occurred at Oakland County International Airport (KPTK), Pontiac, Michigan





WATERFORD, Mich. (WXYZ) - A plane carrying members of the Karmanos family was forced land at Oakland County International Airport after lightning struck the plane and caused a fire.

According to Danialle Karmanos, they took the kids to New York to see the Lion King for their end of the school year tradition. She said about 15 minutes outside of Detroit, lightning caused an electrical fire.

Danialle said there were two pilots on board, along with one flight attendant, herself, her husband Peter and their four boys. Luckily, no one was injured.

According to Peter, two circuit breakers blew, and his young sons noticed a fire in the cockpit.

Source:   http://www.wxyz.com
 
Danialle and Peter Karmanos Jr.

Airbus, Boeing Open Paris Air Show Order Bonanza: Garuda Indonesia to buy aircraft from both manufacturers

The Wall Street Journal
By Robert Wall and Rory Jones
June 15, 2015 6:16 a.m. ET


LE BOURGET, France—Airbus Group SE and Boeing Co. kicked off the Paris Air Show on Monday as they combined to win more than 200 jetliner orders before midday.

With its first order, Airbus also introduced a new plane model, the A330-300 Regional, a widebody passenger jet optimized for shorter routes. Saudi Arabian Airlines said it would take 20 of the planes as part of a 50-jetliner order.

The A330-300 Regional, able to carry as many as 400 passengers on flights up to 3,000 nautical miles, is designed to allow airlines transport a large number of passengers on short routes where seating capacity on single-aisle planes isn't sufficient. John Leahy, Airbus’s commercial-aircraft head of sales, said there was “significant market opportunity” for the plane and that Chinese carriers are also likely buyers.

Director General of Saudi Arabian Airlines Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser said the plane would allow the carrier “to expand our domestic and regional network and better absorb growing passenger traffic.” The first plane is scheduled to be delivered in 2016.

State-owned airline Garuda Indonesia said Monday it would buy aircraft from both Airbus and Boeing.

Garuda Indonesia said it has struck a deal for with Boeing for 60 aircraft valued at $10.9 billion at list prices. The Asian carrier said it would buy 30 of Boeing’s fuel-efficient widebody 787-9 Dreamliner and a further 30 737 Max single-aisle jets to expand its domestic market and launch new destinations internationally.

“We are concentrating on the most efficient aircraft that can support our business in the future,” Arif Wibowo, president of Garuda, said at a news conference at the Paris Air Show.

Airbus said it also signed a letter of intent with Garuda for 30 Airbus A350 long-haul jets that compete with the Chicago plane maker’s Dreamliner.

“We are concentrating on the most efficient aircraft that can support our business in the future,” Arif Wibowo, president of Garuda said at a news conference at the Paris Air Show.

The 787 will begin delivery to Garuda in 2020 while the 737 Max will hit the airline’s fleet two years later in 2022, Boeing said.

Mr. Wibowo added that the 787-9 would be used to enter the U.S. market, without providing further details.

Boeing also announced that Taiwan’s EVA Airways plans to buy 777 cargo jets with a list price value of more than $1.5 billion, though customers generally get discounts.

Airbus’s also secured a deal from General Electric Co. ’s aircraft leasing arm GE Capital Aviation Services, or GECAS, for 60 A320neo single-aisle jets, doubling its commitment to the new plane now in flight testing.

Separately, Airbus announced that Air Lease Corp. has bought additional planes, adding three A320 single-aisle jets, one slightly larger A321 narrowbody, and one A350-900 long range plane.

Source:  http://www.wsj.com