Air Transport Pilot With Over 24,000 Hours Fatally Injured, Along With His Passenger

The NTSB has released a factual report on an accident that occurred June 20th of last year involving an RV-6 airplane that went down in Sauk Rapids, MN. Two people were fatally injured in the accident.

According to the report, an experimental amateur-built Brumwell RV-6, N135BB, impacted a house after a departure from cruise flight near Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, and about 6 miles northwest of the St Cloud Regional Airport (STC), St Cloud, Minnesota. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed by post-crash fire. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under 14 CFR Part 91 as a personal flight and was not operating on a flight plan. VFR conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The local flight originated from STC about 2010.

According to a transcript of STC Air Traffic Control Tower (ATC) communications, the pilot contacted STC ATC about 2011 and transmitted an initial departure heading of west/southwest.

About 2012, ATC cleared the airplane for takeoff from runway 13 and a turn to the west/southwest.

About 2016, the pilot transmitted that it would maneuver over the western part of town, then fly up the river, and contact ATC when inbound. The pilot transmitted the flight was an aerial tour of the city for the passenger aboard.

About 2017, ATC transmitted that an Airbus 319 [Allegiant Flight 108 (AAY108)] was 30 miles southwest of the airport and was inbound. The pilot transmitted, "I'll look for allegiant…"

About 2023, AAY108 transmitted that it was on a right base for runway 13. ATC then cleared AAY108 to land on runway 13. The pilot transmitted that they were over the river, by the hospital at 2,000 feet. The pilot then transmitted, "ah where's the airbus right now." AAY108 transmitted that it was 11 [miles] southwest of the airport.

About 2024, ATC and the pilot transmitted that they had AAY108 in sight. The pilot then transmitted, "and allegiant one three five bravo bravo i'm an r v six about your 12 o'clock position right over the river at two thousand feet." AAY108 transmitted that it had the airplane on its traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) and was currently descending through 3,300 feet. The pilot transmitted, "yeah we'll keep comms with you plenty of room to maneuver there."

About 2025, the pilot transmitted, "I got a camera out we're gonna take a picture of ya." AAY108 transmitted, "we have you in sight as well."

There were no further transmissions from the airplane.

A witness near the accident site stated seeing a jet flying east and a small airplane flying north. The small airplane started "wobbling and shaking" and then started "going down." The small airplane was offset from the jet about 45 degrees from the tail of the jet. The witness stated that the small airplane may have been at a higher altitude than the jet. The small airplane's wings were "rocking back and forth" before the "nose went down." The witness stated seeing a dark and a light colored object come from the small airplane.

Another witness stated that he was sitting and facing east in his house's driveway. He looked south when he heard engine noise from the accident airplane. He said the airplane was in a "nose-dive." He said that the airplane was heading north. The airplane had about a 70 degree nose down attitude while in the descent. He said there was no fire from the airplane. The airplane was not rotating while it was descending. He said the winds were from the south and that there was "not a lot of wind."

The pilot, age 60, was employed as captain on Boeing 737 airplanes at an air carrier. He held an airline transport pilot certificate with airplane multiengine land, airplane single-engine land, airplane single- engine sea ratings. He held Boeing 727 and Boeing 737 type ratings. He held a flight instructor certificate with airplane single-engine and instrument airplane ratings. He held a flight engineer certificate with a turbojet powered rating.

A pilot logbook recovered from the wreckage had a beginning entry dated April 2013 with a tachometer time entry of 1,324.7 hours and the last entry was dated June 2014 with a tachometer time entry of 1,383.2 hours. All the pilot logbook were entries for the accident airplane.

The pilot's flight experience included 24,465 total hours, of which 478 hours were in the last six months as of his last airman medical examination dated January 23, 2014. The pilot was issued a first class airman medical certificate with the following limitation: must wear corrective lenses.

The airplane was a 1992 Brumwell RV-6, serial number 20598, experimental amateur-built airplane that was powered by a Lycoming O-360-A1A, serial number L-33015-36A, engine. The airplane was built by the previous owner/builder. The airplane was equipped with an upward (tip-up) opening canopy.

On December 19, 2012, the pilot purchased the airplane from the aircraft builder. On March 5, 2013, the airplane's registration to the pilot was accepted by the FAA. The pilot logbook that was recovered from the wreckage had an entry dated August 24, 2013, for a flight in the accident airplane from JKJ [Moorhead Municipal Airport, Moorhead, Minnesota] to STC. The remarks section of this entry contained "canopy opened descending @ 120 kts STC" at a tachometer time of 1,359.6 hours. A review of the airframe logbook did not reveal a corresponding entry relating to the August 24, 2013, pilot logbook entry.

The airplane was consumed by post-crash fire and by the fire of the home that the airplane impacted. The damage precluded functional testing and examination of the airplane systems. The canopy and its latching mechanisms were consumed by fire and could not be examined.

A headset case that contained an aviation head set and white PVC material were found at a neighboring house near the accident site. The pilot's name was on materials within the headset case. The head set and PVC material did not exhibit thermal damage or soot. PVC material has been used by builders of homebuilt airplanes for wheel chocks or control locks.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov