Witnesses Describe Apparent Attempt To Return To Airport
Two people were killed when their Cessna 206 apparently lost
engine power shortly after takeoff from Merrill Field (PAMR) in
Anchorage, AK Wednesday, and impacted a one-story building just
west of the airport.
The Anchorage Daily News reports the aircraft took off from
runway 25 just before 11:40 am Wednesday morning. The plane's pilot
radioed the tower immediately afterward with an engine problem, and
the plane was cleared to land on any runway.
The plane collided with the roof of a one-story office building
at the corner of 8th Avenue and Orca Street, adjacent to the
north-south runway at Merrill. Witnesses said the plane fell from
the sky in a nose-down attitude, after attempting a very steep turn
back towards the airport.
"The wings were 90 degrees to the ground and then it just
pointed straight down," said Steve Fox, who witnessed the accident
while eating lunch at a nearby fast food restaurant.
Anchorage Police Sgt. Ted Smith, a pilot for over 30 years, was
working on his personal plane at the airport at the time of the
crash. He says the aircraft climbed about 400 feet when the
Stationair's engine made an "ugly noise."
"My guess is that what he was trying to do was bank left real
hard and try to put it down on or adjacent to the north-south
runway," Smith told investigators. "When he started to bank left,
he overshot the runway, so he increased the angle of bank and
eventually got into an accelerated stall.
"At that point, I surmise, he was thinking more along the lines
of not crashing into someone's home or hurting people on the
ground."
The unoccupied building the plane impacted is owned by City
Electric Inc, a local utility contractor. Company president Gabriel
Marian -- a self-described 'layman' -- said it appears the
plane's pilot made a "...cardinal mistake, in that he turned and
tried to return to the airport."
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 29109
Make/Model: C206 Description: 206,
P206, T206, TP206, U206, TU206, (T
Date: 10/01/2008 Time: 1940
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury:
Fatal Mid Air: N Missing:
N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: ANCHORAGE State: AK Country:
US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT ON TAKEOFF, VEERED AND CRASHED OFF THE RUNWAY, THE
TWO PERSONS ON
BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, ANCHORAGE, AK
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 2
# Crew: 1 Fat:
1 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Pass: 1 Fat:
1 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: 1950Z 34003KT 10SM CLR 07/M02 A2978
OTHER DATA
Activity: Pleasure Phase:
Take-off Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: ANCHORAGE, AK
(AL03)
Entry date: 10/02/2008