Witness Says Aircraft Was Landing When Accident occurred

A P51-D has gone down on landing at Stellar Airpark in Chandler, Arizona, killing the pilot and causing a fire at an airport hangar. The FAA says the circumstances of the crash are still unknown.

The accident occurred about 1320 PST Thursday. The Phoenix newspaper East Valley Tribune reports that the airplane was registered to Hirani Oil Arizona. The name of the pilot is being withheld.

Bob Gottlieb, who owns multiple hangars at the airpark, said the accident happened on the east side of the runway. He said it looked like a normal landing, but "(t)he airplane just got away on landing. So he wasn't in distress. There was no emergency, there was no mechanical failure. This is just one of those freak accidents." Gottlieb said he saw the plane cartwheel into the building and explode.

Gottlieb, who said he knows the pilot but would not disclose his name, said he was very capable, but that the accident occurred due to a "chain of events" that were out of the pilot's control.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov