Monday, July 25, 2022

Beechcraft A35 Bonanza, N8466A: Fatal accident occurred July 23, 2022 near Centralia Municipal Airport (KENL), Illinois

National Transportation Safety Board - Accident Report Number: DCA22FA157 

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Springfield, Illinois 

Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances.


Date: 23-JUL-22
Time: 17:00:00Z
Regis#: N8466A
Aircraft Make: BEECH
Aircraft Model: 35
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Total Fatal: 1
Flight Crew: 1 Fatal
Pax: 1 Serous Injuries
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: UNKNOWN (UNK)
Operation: 91
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: UNKNOWN
City: CENTRALIA
State: ILLINOIS

Those who may have information that might be relevant to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation may contact them by email witness@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov. You can also call the NTSB Response Operations Center at 844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290.


Glen Rassi and Cheryl Monceret LaGreca 
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April 2022
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CENTRALIA, Illinois (AP) — An aircraft passenger who died last weekend when a small plane crashed into a swimming pool in southern Illinois has been identified as a 56-year-old woman from the Peoria area.

Centralia police said Cheryl Monceret LaGreca of Lacon, Illinois, died on impact when the Beechcraft A35 Bonanza crashed Saturday less than a mile from the Centralia Municipal Airport. She was the plane’s only passenger.

The plane’s pilot, Peoria-area resident Glen Rassi, was airlifted to a nearby hospital after firefighters, police and others freed him from the plane’s wreckage, KTVI-TV reported.

Centralia police responded to the crash scene Saturday afternoon after receiving a call from a resident who said a small plane had crashed into their backyard swimming pool.

Marion County coroner Troy Cannon said the conversation between the first responders and Rassi suggested that the plane lost power and started to lose altitude. Neighbors said they witnessed the plane descending without engine power.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident and the cause of the crash. Centralia is located about 60 miles (96.6 kilometers) east of St. Louis.


   




CENTRALIA, Illinois — One person died and another was injured after a small plane crashed into a pool Saturday in Centralia, Illinois.

According to Flight Aware, a flight tracking app, the Beechcraft A35 Bonanza took off at 11:20 a.m. from Marshall County Airport in Lacon, Illinois, and was heading for Centralia Municipal Airport.

It crashed on Wood Lane just north of the airport at 12:37 p.m.

According to the Centralia Fire Department, the passenger died and the pilot was airlifted to a St. Louis-area hospital with injuries.

The homeowner, Brian Hutchinson, told a 5 On Your Side photographer he heard a loud crash and ran outside to find the plane in his pool. He then called 911.

"It was dead silent and then a big boom," Hutchinson said.

That big boom was a Saturday morning he said he would never forget.

"I looked over and saw a plane sitting in my swimming pool," he said.

Hutchinson said for whatever reason he and his family were not in the pool Saturday, and that 'thankful' doesn't come close to describing the feeling that they weren't. He said this left him with too many terrifying thoughts of "what-ifs."

"I still can't believe it, I'm in shock right now, I'm just glad that my kids weren't swimming or I didn't have family over," he said.

It is unclear what caused the crash. Officials have not released the name of the person who died.

The FAA and NTSB are investigating the crash.

13 comments:

  1. From the track, i tlooks like they had some sort of engine failure and then circled back to land at KENL runway 36 and just ran out of altitude energy:
    https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ab994e&lat=38.516&lon=-89.085&zoom=13.9&showTrace=2022-07-23&trackLabels&timestamp=1658597834

    METARs at KENL where they were presumably landing:
    KENL 231735Z AUTO 20008KT 10SM CLR 33/26 A3002 RMK AO2 T03340258
    KENL 231715Z AUTO 20007KT 10SM CLR 33/26 A3003 RMK AO2 T03290256

    They should have either accepted the 8 knot tailwind and landed runway 18 or kept that downwind much closer to the airport. Also, not sure what the winds aloft were, but their ADS-B ground speed looks well below the best glide speed for a Bonanza, particularly right after the engine failure.

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  2. I thought exactly the same, with the clarification that they were cruising southbound at 6,500 and KENL just happened to be there - I do not think it was part of the planned flight at all.

    One complication, though, to landing 36 is that there was a Skyhawk departing runway 18 at about the time they were abeam the *departure* end of 18 on the downwind. That said, 27 could have been a possibility, and yes, getting so far away on the downwind is an obvious factor (without any other info).

    Going through the scenario - I’d think it would have taken a few minutes to find and get oriented to KENL, get on CTAF, maybe find out the runway is occupied, but by then you’re struggling with energy and maybe you’re not going to make it around the pattern, so you start looking at landing out - that could be the reason for flying so far to the NE - maybe setup for ditching in the lake? But now the Cessna is out of the way, and mayyybe you can stretch the glide. But without the energy, you need to do a gentle-banked turn, which eats up more glide distance, and now you’re turning into a headwind and you realize you’re not going to make the runway…

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  3. This article published the name of the pilot
    https://www.aol.com/news/id-woman-killed-plane-crashed-183941230.html

    The only pilot matching this name had a student pilot certificate and medical from 1998:
    GLENN JOHN ROSSI
    County: BOLIVAR
    Country: USA
    Medical Information:
    Medical Class: Second Medical Date: 11/1998
    BasicMed Course Date: None BasicMed CMEC Date: None
    Certificates
    STUDENT PILOT
    Certificates Description
    Certificate: STUDENT PILOT
    Date of Issue: 11/9/1998

    Similarly, the only pilot matching the registered owner of N8466A only had a student cert and also an expired medical:
    RICHARD DEAN CARLSON
    County: WOOD
    Country: USA
    Medical Information:
    Medical Class: Third Medical Date: 4/2015
    BasicMed Course Date: None BasicMed CMEC Date: None
    Certificates
    STUDENT PILOT
    Certificates Description
    Certificate: STUDENT PILOT
    Date of Issue: 4/1/2015

    Limits:
    CARRYING PASSENGERS IS PROHIBITED.

    So someone who became a student pilot for 7 years ago and never got his license lets his buddy who's became a student pilot for 24 years ago and never got his license illegally fly his airplane with a passenger? I'm constantly surprised at how many pilots are flying around uncertificated and/or with expired medicals, and often carrying innocent passengers who have no idea of the risk they are taking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Could easily be a misspell of Pilot Glenn Rassi, whose pilot registration address is just 8 miles south of Marshall County Airport where the flight originated. His Washburn, IL address is very much "Peoria area", as noted in news articles.

      Aviationdb.com shows that back in 2003, pilot Rassi owned N9261L, the AA-1B of the Cleburne, Texas crash. Rassi is ASEL, AMEL, Instrument certificated with valid 3rd class medical dated Feb 2022.

      None of the above came from Facebook, and the above was not posted by that commenter. If Pilot Rassi turns out to be more than a just a coincidental similar named pilot who lives by the origin airport and spells Glenn with two N's, letting loose the dogs of scorn will lead to regret. Let's hope he survives and recovers.

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  4. Found the fb accounts of the two folks involved. Won’t post them here, but the names are spelled differently than in the article and how they were entered into the certificate search. Try again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your point? If the FAA databases and news articles all match on the spellings, but you found some account on Facebook that has a different spelling, you either found the wrong account, a bogus account, or someone spelled their name differently on Facebook because it's freaking Facebook which no one cares about. Facebook is not and never has been a reliable source of truth.

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    2. This retort didn’t age very well…

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  5. BeechTalk forum entries about an A35 in Illinois found using the duck go search engine match Airmen registry's Pilot Rassi, spelled with "a", not "o".

    Searching on Glenn Rassi Bonanza returns summary text from BeechTalk:
    - May 3, 2022 Glen Rassi wrote: Can anyone tell me the best Glide speed and ratio for the '49 Beech A35 Bonanza?
    - June 29, 2022 Glen Rassi wrote: I'm thinking of installing the D'Shannon Tip Tanks and an Alternator on my A35 Bonanza. Is there any good mechanics around central Illinois that have experience in installing these?

    Accident aircraft registration shows 1948 A35. Pilot Rassi cert address is 8 miles from origin airport of the accident flight. Hoping the pilot can make a full and speedy recovery from his injuries.

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    Replies
    1. what do u make from this prior discussion on tank switch issue, "I was on the left tank, on departure. At the 10-gallon used point, we always switch tanks. (Right tank was full to the cap) I switched to the right tank, and at 3-seconds after switching, all fuel flow stopped! I was reaching for the electric fuel pump switch, when I notice a spike on the fuel flow followed by a restoration of full fuel flow!" https://www.beechtalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=95350

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  6. Glen Rassi wrote: "Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. My Daughter Tonya Lynn just brought me my phone. I will give you a quick update as to what happened. On Saturday morning, Cheryl Monceret and I were heading down to Tennessee on a Pilot's and Paws flight to rescue two dogs that were scheduled to be euthanized. We had just flown over Centralia Airport at 6500' and switched fuel from the left tank to the right tank. Everything was fine. About 4 minutes later, we had a drastic drop in power. Since we had an airport close to us, I turned around and declared an emergency. I was turning base for the runway about a mile out. We crashed into a swimming pool. My best friend and someone planned on spending the rest of my life with Cheryl Monceret LaGreca, who lost her life on impact. I suffered multiple broken bones in both legs, a broken jaw, and a fracture in my back.. as well as many other injuries. But I did survive. I ask that you pray for Cheryl's children and grandchildren as they lost the most amazing woman. I have more surgeries scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, and next week. I am in great hands here at SSM hospital in St.louis." Glen Rassi

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    Replies
    1. Heartbreaking :( Condolences for your loss Mr. Rassi and best wishes for your speedy recovery.

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    2. Mr. Rassi, My wife and I are so sorry for the loss of Cheryl. We wish you a speedy recovery and are praying for the healing of your and Cheryl's family. God bless. RDC

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