Friday, November 22, 2019

Luscombe 8A, N71707: Accident occurred November 19, 2019 near Baublitz Commercial Airport (9W8), Brogue, York County, Pennsylvania

Additional Participating Entity:
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office;  New Cumberland, Pennsylvania 

Aviation Accident Factual Report - National Transportation Safety Board:  https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf

Investigation Docket - National Transportation Safety Board: https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms

https://registry.faa.gov/N71707

Location: Brogue, PA
Accident Number: GAA20CA090
Date & Time: 11/19/2019, 1545 EST
Registration: N71707
Aircraft: Luscombe 8
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Defining Event: Miscellaneous/other
Injuries: 1 Minor
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General Aviation - Personal 

The pilot of the tailwheel-equipped airplane reported that, while on final approach to the runway, the landing gear struck a wire and the airplane impacted the ground.

The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage and empennage.

The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Pilot Information

Certificate: Private
Age: 68, Male
Airplane Rating(s): Single-engine Land
Seat Occupied: Left
Other Aircraft Rating(s): None
Restraint Used:
Instrument Rating(s): Airplane
Second Pilot Present: No
Instructor Rating(s):None 
Toxicology Performed: No
Medical Certification: Sport Pilot
Last FAA Medical Exam:
Occupational Pilot: No
Last Flight Review or Equivalent: 02/15/2019
Flight Time:  (Estimated) 1129.3 hours (Total, all aircraft), 241 hours (Total, this make and model), 1024.1 hours (Pilot In Command, all aircraft), 3.3 hours (Last 90 days, all aircraft), 2.6 hours (Last 30 days, all aircraft), 0.4 hours (Last 24 hours, all aircraft)

Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information

Aircraft Make: Luscombe
Registration: N71707
Model/Series: 8 A
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Year of Manufacture: 1946
Amateur Built: No
Airworthiness Certificate: Normal
Serial Number: 3134
Landing Gear Type: Tailwheel
Seats:2 
Date/Type of Last Inspection: 01/24/2019, Annual
Certified Max Gross Wt.: 1260 lbs
Time Since Last Inspection:
Engines: 1 Reciprocating
Airframe Total Time: 2083.7 Hours as of last inspection
Engine Manufacturer: Continental
ELT: C91A installed
Engine Model/Series:A65 
Registered Owner: On file
Rated Power: 65 hp
Operator:On file 
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None

Meteorological Information and Flight Plan

Conditions at Accident Site: Visual Conditions
Condition of Light: Day
Observation Facility, Elevation: KLNS, 403 ft msl
Distance from Accident Site: 18 Nautical Miles
Observation Time: 1653 UTC
Direction from Accident Site: 29°
Lowest Cloud Condition: Clear
Visibility:  10 Miles
Lowest Ceiling: None
Visibility (RVR):
Wind Speed/Gusts: 6 knots /
Turbulence Type Forecast/Actual: None / None
Wind Direction: 330°
Turbulence Severity Forecast/Actual:N/A / N/A 
Altimeter Setting: 29.8 inches Hg
Temperature/Dew Point: 10°C / 2°C
Precipitation and Obscuration: No Obscuration; No Precipitation
Departure Point: Fallston, MD (W42)
Type of Flight Plan Filed: None
Destination: Brogue, PA (9W8)
Type of Clearance: None
Departure Time: 1521 EST
Type of Airspace: Class G

Airport Information

Airport: Baublitz Commercial (9W8)
Runway Surface Type:
Airport Elevation: 750 ft
Runway Surface Condition:Dry 
Runway Used: 28
IFR Approach:None 
Runway Length/Width: 2493 ft / 100 ft
VFR Approach/Landing: Full Stop; Straight-in

Wreckage and Impact Information

Crew Injuries: 1 Minor
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries:N/A 
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 1 Minor
Latitude, Longitude: 39.852222, -76.486389 (est)





It was Tuesday afternoon when the man knocked on the door of the trailer next to the grass runway at Baublitz Commercial Airport atop a hill in the rolling farmland just outside of Brogue.

He asked the woman who answered the door whether he could use the phone to call a cab, said airport partner Bruce Eveler.

"When she came back," he said, "he was gone."

Later, they found a small plane on the hill below the airport, next to an Amish farm. It was, according to Federal Aviation Administration records, a 1946 Luscombe 8A, a single-engine aircraft.

The plane lay on its belly, its landing gear collapsed. The tips of the wooden propeller were sheared off and frayed. 

Savilla Beiler, whose family owns the Chanceford Township farm, said the man had come to her farmhouse and asked for help moving his plane. Her husband and the man who drives for the Amish family had been working in the fields and came to his assistance, dragging the aircraft to the bottom of the hill, next to Warner Road, where it remained Friday morning.

The man did not appear to be injured, Beiler said. She believes the plane struck some telephone wires along Warner Road as it was coming in for a landing and crashed. A telephone line dangled from a pole at the end of her farm lane.

Since the Amish farmers did not have a phone, the man left and hiked up the hill to the airport.

And then, he seemingly disappeared.

Eveler has no idea what happened to him. The airport is an extremely rural part of York County. The closest public buildings - the post office, a school and the Brogue General Store - are a few miles up the road. Neither state police nor York County 911 have any record of a call about a plane crash Tuesday afternoon.

Federal Aviation Administration records indicated that the plane is owned by Douglas A. Jones, a lawyer from Bel Air, Maryland, about 25 miles south of the airport. Jones did not respond to message left on his law office phone.

The airport has been in operation since about 1958, Eveler said, founded by Levere Baublitz as a private airstrip. It opened for public use in the mid-1970s.

Eveler said he could recall maybe three or four crashes at the airport in the last 30 years. "It's not a common occurrence," he said.

Eveler has no idea what happened or what caused the crash. (The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.)

He did compliment the pilot's skill.

"He walked away from it," Eveler said. "That's pretty good."

Original article can be found here ➤ https://www.ydr.com



YORK COUNTY, Pennsylvania — A small plane crash in York County has Federal Aviation Administration investigators stumped after the pilot was nowhere to be found.

Officials say a 1940’s single-engine plane crashed just outside of Baublitz Commercial Airport in Brogue on Tuesday, about 300 feet away from a farmhouse with people inside.

Robert Good, who works on the farm, says the pilot knocked on the owner’s door before asking for help to move the plane down the hill, along Warner Road.

“The Amish helped pull the plane where it is right now,” Good said.

Good and others saw the man walk up the hill toward the airport to make a call for a cab, but that was it. They haven’t seen him since.

“He evidently was not hurt, I mean, obviously,” added Good.

Officials are calling the circumstance surrounding the crash “strange,” and State Police haven’t been able to confirm any records of 911 calls.

While the pilot’s identity has not yet been released, public records show the plane is owned by Douglas Jones, a lawyer from Bel Air, Maryland.

FOX43 reached out to airport officials for comment, but have yet to hear back.

For now, the Federal Aviation Administration is continuing its investigation. It’s unclear if the pilot will face any charges or fines once he is located.

Original article can be found here ➤ https://fox43.com

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