Tuesday, June 07, 2016

Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage, N112HD: Incident occurred June 04, 2016 at Luminati Aerospace - Calverton Executive Airpark (3C8), Riverhead, Suffolk County, New York

http://registry.faa.gov/N112HD


The Piper PA-46 on the runway at the Calverton Executive Airpark.


Update: Luminati executive responds to trespassing incident

Responding to criticism over the arrest of two men who were charged with trespassing after landing a plane at Luminati Aerospace in Calverton, the company’s chief pilot offered a statement Monday detailing the events that led to the arrest.

Robert Lutz said the landing was not an emergency situation, as he believes media reports indicated it was. Mr. Lutz said no emergency landings have occurred on the runway since Luminati began leasing it last year.

Read Mr. Lutz’s statement as well as the original News-Review story below:

At approximately 6 p.m. Sunday evening two men were arrested and charged with trespassing after landing at Calverton’s private airpark unauthorized for a country club weekend.

The pilot and owner of the 2000 Piper Meridian aircraft N112HD, Larry Dale Jackson from Orlando, had attempted a flight from Fishers Island on the Connecticut shore to West Hampton Beach airport Saturday evening for personal engagements when the fog began to creep in from the south. The pilot took it upon himself to make an unauthorized landing at the Calverton facility potentially conflicting with the current test flight program being conducted by Luminati Aerospace. Thankfully, the landing was uneventful and test aircraft were safely on the ground. The Instrument rated pilot failed to contact the Town of Riverhead or Luminati Aerospace of his intentions. Additionally, the pilot took it upon himself to remove some fencing rope on the Luminati property to tie down his airplane.

On Sunday, when Luminati’s machinist showed up to finish a project, the plane was spotted parked and tied down next to the building. I was called and then notified Luminati’s CEO. While company personnel were securing the illegal aircraft to prevent departure prior to resolve, two gentlemen showed up acting in a cavalier manner.

When questioned by myself in the presence of the police, the pilot, Mr. Jackson, admitted to having at least one hour of fuel remaining in his Piper. That equated to roughly 200 miles of range left to pick a more suitable airport open to the public. At the time of landing, airports all along the Connecticut shore, as well as inland, were clear of clouds with good visibility.

When questioned about the choice of runway to land on Mr. Larry Jackson replied that he landed the way the wind favored. Notably disturbing about the response is had the wind been favoring the inactive runway, which tends to have people and vehicle activity on it regularly, he would have landed on the closed runway without reservation.

During the conversation with police an attempt was made by the pilot to pay Luminati for the unauthorized landing and overnight. Luminati cannot and will not accept ramp or landing payments as they respect the wishes of the town to not operate as an FBO.

This is the third event of unauthorized fly-ins at the Calverton Airpark which resulted in trespass filings, the previous of which involved a botched landing accident totaling a historic Stinson aircraft.

Read more here: https://riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com

Stinson 108 Voyager, N8660K: Incident occurred April 30, 2016 at Luminati Aerospace, Calverton, Suffolk County, New York.  The large X on the runway indicates it is closed to general aviation. 



 Police investigated an incident on the active runway at the Calverton Enterprise Park on April 30. 


ORIGINAL STORY

Riverhead police: Two Florida men arrested on trespass charges for use of runway at Calverton Executive Airpark

Riverhead Police report the arrest of two Florida men on trespass charges for landing an aircraft on the active runway at the Calverton Executive Airpark Saturday night and parking and leaving the plane on property owned by Luminati Aerospace LLC.

The arrests were made by the owner of Luminati Aerospace, police said.

Charged in the incident were Larry D. Jackson, 53, of Orlando, Florida and Robert Riley, 53, of Naples, Florida.

It was not immediately clear why the arrests were “made by the owner” of the aerospace company rather than Riverhead Town Police. Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller could not be reached for comment and Supervisor Sean Walter said this morning he didn’t know.

“I’m assuming Luminati swore out a trespass affidavit,” Walter said.

Police were called to the enterprise park by employees of Luminati Aerospace yesterday. A company representative told police the plane had landed on the runway without permission on Saturday evening and was parked and left on Luminati property without permission.The plane, a Piper PA-46 Malibu Mirage, was manufactured in 2000 and is registered to Jackson.

Luminati Aerospace has the exclusive right to use and control the active 10,000-foot runway at the former Grumman site, pursuant to a license agreement entered between the company and the Town of Riverhead, which owns the runway, last year.

The runway is clearly marked with large Xs to indicate that it is closed and the site is listed as “private” on aviation maps. That means the runway can only be used by aircraft without prior permission of Luminati in the event of an emergency. Use of the runway by motor vehicles is not permitted at any time.

Nevertheless, unauthorized use of the runway — by both aircraft and vehicles — has been an ongoing problem at the enterprise park, Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller acknowledged in a May 2 interview, following an April 30 aircraft incident on the runway.

Luminati Aerospace has summoned police to the site multiple times on calls reporting unauthorized runway use, according to police records.

“This is the third event of unauthorized fly-ins at the Calverton Airpark which resulted in trespass filings,” Luminati’s chief pilot Robert Lutz told RiverheadLOCAL. Prior trespass complaints filed by Luminati include the April 30 landing that damaged  a 1947 Universal Stinson 108.

“We are actively conducting flight tests for our UAV program,”  Lutz said last month.

In the April 30 incident, the pilot of a small aircraft told police and the FAA he was forced by engine trouble to land on the runway but got caught in a cross wind after landing and ran off the runway, according to a press release issued May 1.

But Lutz, who said May 1 he was first on the scene following the incident the day before, contradicted that account based on his conversation with the pilot on April 30. Lutz alleged that the pilot was conducting unauthorized landing practice at the site that morning.

“Weather conditions were good and what most would consider benign,” Lutz said. Lutz said the pilot “simply changed his story” to police.

Asked if Riverhead officers initially heard a different account, Hegermiller said he didn’t know, but “that’s what the pilot told the FAA.”

Luminati did not respond to a request for another interview about the April 30 incident and the pilot involved in the incident could not be reached for comment.

Read more here: http://riverheadlocal.com

NTSB Identification: ERA16LA173
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, April 30, 2016 in Calverton, NY
Aircraft: UNIVERSAL STINSON 108, registration: N8660K
Injuries: 1 Uninjured.

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 April 30, 2016, at 1000 eastern daylight time, a Universal Stinson 108, N8660K, was substantially damaged during a runway excursion while landing at the Calverton Executive Airpark (3C8), Calverton, New York. The private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight that that was conducted under the provisions of Title14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The flight departed Lufker Airport (49N), East Moriches, New York at 0930, destined for Westmoreland Airport (49NY), Shelter Island, New York.

The pilot stated that during climbout at an altitude of about 1,200 feet mean sea level, the engine began to "miss" as though it had a "partially fouled spark plug." He decided to perform a precautionary landing at 3C8 and attempt to remedy the problem on the ground. During the rollout after landing, a wind gust lifted the right wing and the airplane ground looped and came to rest in the grass on the left side of runway 32.

Brookhaven Airport (HWV), Shirley, New York, was located about 7 miles southwest of the accident site. At 0956 the reported weather at HWV included wind variable at 5 knots, clear skies, with 10 statute miles of visibility.

An examination of the wreckage by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the left wing strut was bent, the left main landing gear was folded under the fuselage, the left wing tip was damaged, and the fuselage floor structure sustained substantial damage.

The pilot indicated that the engine had performed similarly on previous occasions, and he was able to correct it by performing an engine run-up. The airplane was fueled with automotive gasoline, for which it was approved; however, the applicable supplemental type certificate specifications did not permit the use of automotive fuel containing ethanol. The FAA inspector reported that the pilot had been purchasing automotive fuel that contained ethanol, and employed a "water shake" method in an attempt to remove the ethanol from the fuel before transferring it to the airplane fuel tanks.

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