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Two men die in airplane crash at Willcox's county airport
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| Two men from San Diego were killed when this small two-seater Finney Thorp T-18 experimental aircraft crashed after attempting to land at Cochise County Airport in Willcox. (Dave Brown/ARN) |
By Ainslee S. Wittig/Arizona range news
An experimental home-built aircraft crashed killing two people at the Cochise County Airport in Willcox Thursday morning at about 9:20 a.m.
Airport manager Louise Walden said the Finney Thorp T-18 two-seater plane was not registered.
The victims have been identified as Glen Slagoske, 47 and Shawn Muscat, 27, both of San Diego, according to the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
It was unclear Thursday which of the two was piloting the plane when it spun out of control after what witnesses described as an aborted landing attempt, although Slagoske was the only one listed to have a private pilot's certificate since 2002 and a mechanic (airframe and powerplant) certificate since 1988 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Sheriff's office personnel responding to the scene said that both occupants were deceased, suffering from significant trauma, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
Both bodies were removed from the wreckage and transported by Westlawn Mortuary to the Medical Examiners Office for the completion of an autopsy. The subjects had identification indicating that they were from out of state, both males, one 27 years old and one 47 years old, Capas said. The Law Enforcement agency in that out of state jurisdiction was notified and requested to attempt contact with next of kin.
Phil LeRoy, a local flight instructor, was in line to land after the plane, and said it looked as if the pilot came in too high and too fast to touch down, and he turned around to do it again. On the pilot's second run he was also going really fast and "banked at too high of an angle and pulled too many g's (gravitational pull) and he lost lift. It's called a stall, although it has nothing to do with the engine, and the plane spiraled twice and went down. Hearing the pilot screaming to his death over the radio was horrible."
"It was a text-book accident. As far as accidents go, it is very common," LeRoy said. "After we saw the accident, I took control of the plane to land it. I had my student radio Louise (Walden) at the airport and call 911."
Bonnie Reid, who lives on Quail Road, said she saw it's wings "rocking back and forth - wobbling, like a kid pretending to fly" and heard the plane buzzing in intermittent short bursts as it "nose-dived straight down."
Reid said she could not see it land, so it likely spiraled after she lost sight of it.
Jim Walden, airport manager, said, "The plane didn't burn, it just crumpled. You can tell it hit very hard."
Commander AV Reid of Willcox Rural Fire said he was not immediately called out, as the 911 call went to the city, and the city fire department was on-scene when he arrived.
"The response time was really fast (for city fire, police and sheriff's deputies)," said Jim Walden.
"There were about 12 police and sheriff's vehicles here. The response time was great and has been every time we have called them to the airport," airport manager Louise Walden added.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the crash Thursday afternoon.
Capas said the sheriff's office will "parallel the investigation", with the FAA completing the aircraft accident report and the Sheriff's Office completing the accidental death report.
FAA records show the plane was built in 1980 and was involved in a non-injury crash at Montgomery Field Airport in San Diego on Oct. 13, 2006, when the pilot failed to compensate for a crosswind during landing. No name was given for the pilot or the plane's owner at that time.
While the Willcox airport has had its share of accidents over the years, this was the first fatal incident that Louise Walden could recall.
"My husband, Jim, and I have been managing the airport here for almost 20 years now, and this is the first fatality we've ever had," she said.
This incident remains under investigation.
Stutesman accident report
On Aug. 12, the NTSB released the determined cause of another aircraft accident, which occurred on April 4, 2010 in Balmorhea, Texas, killing pilot Charles Lee Stutesman of Bowie.
The report said: "The pilot was enroute to an unknown destination and was overflying a lake. The airplane was observed flying from the west at a low altitude and slow airspeed before beginning a left-hand turn toward the north. Witnesses observed the airplane descend in the left turn until the left wing tip contacted the water; the airplane subsequently impacted the lake. The airplane's right wing was not recovered from the lake. All other flight control surfaces and the engine were recovered and examined. No pre-impact anomalies were detected with the airframe or the engine."
The NTSB determined the probable cause of this accident as "the pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the lake while maneuvering at low altitude."
Stutesman, 77, was flying an RV-6 experimental plane.
(Derek Jordan of Wick Communications also contributed to this article.)
Airport manager Louise Walden said the Finney Thorp T-18 two-seater plane was not registered.
The victims have been identified as Glen Slagoske, 47 and Shawn Muscat, 27, both of San Diego, according to the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
It was unclear Thursday which of the two was piloting the plane when it spun out of control after what witnesses described as an aborted landing attempt, although Slagoske was the only one listed to have a private pilot's certificate since 2002 and a mechanic (airframe and powerplant) certificate since 1988 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Sheriff's office personnel responding to the scene said that both occupants were deceased, suffering from significant trauma, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
Both bodies were removed from the wreckage and transported by Westlawn Mortuary to the Medical Examiners Office for the completion of an autopsy. The subjects had identification indicating that they were from out of state, both males, one 27 years old and one 47 years old, Capas said. The Law Enforcement agency in that out of state jurisdiction was notified and requested to attempt contact with next of kin.
Phil LeRoy, a local flight instructor, was in line to land after the plane, and said it looked as if the pilot came in too high and too fast to touch down, and he turned around to do it again. On the pilot's second run he was also going really fast and "banked at too high of an angle and pulled too many g's (gravitational pull) and he lost lift. It's called a stall, although it has nothing to do with the engine, and the plane spiraled twice and went down. Hearing the pilot screaming to his death over the radio was horrible."
"It was a text-book accident. As far as accidents go, it is very common," LeRoy said. "After we saw the accident, I took control of the plane to land it. I had my student radio Louise (Walden) at the airport and call 911."
Bonnie Reid, who lives on Quail Road, said she saw it's wings "rocking back and forth - wobbling, like a kid pretending to fly" and heard the plane buzzing in intermittent short bursts as it "nose-dived straight down."
Reid said she could not see it land, so it likely spiraled after she lost sight of it.
Jim Walden, airport manager, said, "The plane didn't burn, it just crumpled. You can tell it hit very hard."
Commander AV Reid of Willcox Rural Fire said he was not immediately called out, as the 911 call went to the city, and the city fire department was on-scene when he arrived.
"The response time was really fast (for city fire, police and sheriff's deputies)," said Jim Walden.
"There were about 12 police and sheriff's vehicles here. The response time was great and has been every time we have called them to the airport," airport manager Louise Walden added.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the crash Thursday afternoon.
Capas said the sheriff's office will "parallel the investigation", with the FAA completing the aircraft accident report and the Sheriff's Office completing the accidental death report.
FAA records show the plane was built in 1980 and was involved in a non-injury crash at Montgomery Field Airport in San Diego on Oct. 13, 2006, when the pilot failed to compensate for a crosswind during landing. No name was given for the pilot or the plane's owner at that time.
While the Willcox airport has had its share of accidents over the years, this was the first fatal incident that Louise Walden could recall.
"My husband, Jim, and I have been managing the airport here for almost 20 years now, and this is the first fatality we've ever had," she said.
This incident remains under investigation.
Stutesman accident report
On Aug. 12, the NTSB released the determined cause of another aircraft accident, which occurred on April 4, 2010 in Balmorhea, Texas, killing pilot Charles Lee Stutesman of Bowie.
The report said: "The pilot was enroute to an unknown destination and was overflying a lake. The airplane was observed flying from the west at a low altitude and slow airspeed before beginning a left-hand turn toward the north. Witnesses observed the airplane descend in the left turn until the left wing tip contacted the water; the airplane subsequently impacted the lake. The airplane's right wing was not recovered from the lake. All other flight control surfaces and the engine were recovered and examined. No pre-impact anomalies were detected with the airframe or the engine."
The NTSB determined the probable cause of this accident as "the pilot's failure to maintain clearance from the lake while maneuvering at low altitude."
Stutesman, 77, was flying an RV-6 experimental plane.
(Derek Jordan of Wick Communications also contributed to this article.)
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