A Previous Owner Had Been Involved In A Runway Excursion

A Lancair 4 that lost power and wend down near the Albany, GA airport late last month had been involved in a previous incident in Utah.

The Georgia accident resulted in the fatal injury of all three people on board. Local authorities say the plane departed from Southwest Georgia Regional Airport, but barely reached an altitude to clear the trees before it began to descend. Television Station KALB reports that the plane was on a local flight at the time of the accident.

According to the report, the NTSB said that the airplane, which was manufactured in 2002, had been involved in a previous accident in 2007. In that event, the airplane lost power due to inlet icing and made a power-off landing. The airplane exited the runway and impacted a fence. The two people on board were not seriously injured, but the airplane was substantially damaged.

The current owner of the aircraft, Britt Knight, was one of those fatally injured in the accident. He reportedly purchased the airplane in December. Also fatally injured were Brittany Kerfoot and Kevin Coalson, a retired pilot for the Georgia State Patrol.

NTSB mechanical engineer Doug Brazy told the television station that the investigation is focused on "all of the different aspects of the flight to figure out what happened. So we're looking at the airplane, we're looking at the weather, the experience of the crew. All the doors are still open at the moment."

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov