Beaver, 152 Collide: Two Lost

A student pilot and his instructor were killed Thursday when their Cessna 150 collided with a DeHavilland Beaver float plane on approach to the airport in Renton, WA. The four people on board the Beaver survived as the pilot made what witnesses called a remarkable landing, considering the damage to his floats.

"We were flying flat and level, and he passed under us and hit us. I saw it on impact," Lee McEachron, a passenger on board the DeHavilland, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It's an awful sound. You're at 1,000 feet, and your first thought is, 'We're going to crash,' and the second thought was, 'We're still flying.'"

Witnesses said the Cessna appeared to have just taken off from Renton.

"It appeared the little Cessna was making a little circle. It wasn't that far up. It must have been taking off. They always take off and circle Kennydale," Jim Blundred told the Seattle paper. "What I saw was the little plane clip the seaplane, not very much, only a little. And then it just went straight down. Boom. I mean, straight down."

The Cessna crashed into an empty school house, killing both people on board. The Beaver, its floats askew, made it back to Renton Municipal Airport where pilot Fred Barh put it down in the grass alongside the runway.

"They were off the plane, all five of them, lickety-split," one witness told the Post-Intelligencer. "It's a smooth landing given the circumstances. (Pilot Fred Bahr) did a great job. That thing could have cartwheeled pretty easily."

The NTSB is investigating.

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 66234        Make/Model: C150      Description: 150, A150, Commuter, Aerobat
  Date: 08/05/2005     Time: 0045

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: Y    Missing:
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: RENTON   State: WA   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  N741DB, A DEHAVILLAND BEAVER DHC-2 ACFT AND N66234, A CESSNA 150M ACFT
  COLLIDED OVER THE RENTON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT, THE CESSNA CRASHED INTO A
  NEARBY SCHOOL BUILDING AND THE BEAVER WAS ABLE TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT AND
  LAND IN A GRASSY AREA, THE TWO PERSONS ON BOARD THE CESSNA WERE FATALLY
  INJURED, DAMAGE TO THE CESSNA WAS DESTROYED, DAMAGE TO THE BEAVER WAS
  SUBSTANTIAL, RENTON, WA

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:   2    Fat:   2     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:    0    Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:          Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED
OTHER DATA
  FAA FSDO: SEATTLE, WA  (NM01)                   Entry date: 08/05/2005

FMI: www.ntsb.gov