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Highlands Today

NTSB Piecing Together Why Airplane Crashed

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: December 17, 2008

The last flight of missionary pilot James Weener was his second on Saturday, said National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson.

Highlands County Sheriff's Office Lt. Jess Purvis said pilot James Weener had taken James Ricker for a flight to thank him for service to the Sudan mission retirement home on Schlosser Road.

"He had taken someone else for a ride earlier in the day," Knudson said.

Weener and Ricker were probably in the air for 30 to 45 minutes before Dennis Norris first saw the Ercoupe 415 on Saturday.

"It was totally out of control," said Norris, a pilot himself until 20 years ago. He saw grayish-white smoke. The plane went into a spin dive, then rolled.

It was about 600 feet high when it was over the 18th hole tee box, Norris said. The NTSB says it was more like 1,200 to 1,500 feet.

But by the time the light plane reached the Golf Hammock clubhouse, it had lost 100 to 200 feet in altitude.

"That's when I saw the wing come off," Norris said. He isn't sure if it was the left or right wing. "It may have been inverted at that time."

"It was flying much too low. At first, I thought it was an aerobatic plane," Norris said. "Planes aren't built to come out of that stress."

The pilot was a 70-year-old missionary, who likely wasn't showing off aerobatic skills. So now the question is, why would the 60-year-old two-seater break into at least three major pieces, in mid air?

Why Did It Crash?

As the NTSB was investigating, locals were still puzzling over that question Tuesday.

"It's very uncommon," said Mike Willingham, executive director of Sebring Airport Authority. "We don't know what really happened, and we won't know for some time."

The National Transportation Safety Board often takes 12 months or longer to release a final report on an accident.

The plane was owned by Albert Kenneth Hannum, and hangared at Avon Park Executive Airport, said airport manager C.B. Shirey. An attempt to contact Hannum on Tuesday at his home in Sebring was unsuccessful.

If it took off from Avon Park on Saturday morning, Shirey said there would be no record, because it's a pilot-controlled airport.

Even light aircraft are required to be inspected annually by a licensed mechanic, Shirey said, but airport managers do not have copies of those reports.

Willingham said the FAA might have been copied on the report, but the only copy of the inspection may have been in the plane's logbook.

This is the third plane local crash in six months: Mason Smoak and David Maehr died in June, and another light plane went down a week ago in Wauchula, but the pilot was uninjured.

Even so, Willingham and Shirey said light planes are still safe, and that crashes are unusual.

"It's just like a car," Willingham said. "It's no safer than the person operating it. It's a very safe form of transportation.

"The Ercoupe was never known to be an unsafe airplane," said Willingham.

The Ercoupe

Ed Burkhead agrees.

"The Ercoupes are remarkably strong aircraft and have stood up very well in the 62 years since most of them were built," said Burkhead, who edited the national newsletter for the Ercoupe Owners Club.Today, he owns and manages forums for Ercoupe owners at http://ercoupe.org

He has also owned an Ercoupe for 23 years. The Aircoupe, also called the Ercoupe, was built by Engineering Research Corp.

"The Ercoupe was designed from the ground up to be an unusually safe aircraft - pioneering modern safety features now incorporated in most new aircraft," Burkhead said. "These aircraft are maintained to the same standards as if they came off the assembly line this year. The careful annual inspection program for general aviation aircraft is designed to find flaws before they become critical."

"Although designed almost 70 years ago, with the majority built more than 60 years ago, Ercoupes still have a safety record similar to newly manufactured aircraft," Burkhead said. "There have been a very, very few Ercoupes which came apart in the air associated with aerobatics - maneuvers that were legal for the original 415-C but for which the plane was not designed.

"Any structural failure not associated with aerobatics is of intense concern to owners of the flying antique Ercoupes," Burkhead said. "We will watch the FAA/NTSB investigation carefully to see what they determine."

NTSB Investigation

A factual, preliminary report could be issued before Dec. 24, said the NTSB's Knudson.

NTSB investigator Dennis Diaz flew here from Ashburn, Va., to investigate the crash.

"Seven witnesses saw the plane break apart," Knudson said.

The NTSB will be sending out the plane's parts for testing, Knudson said. They'll also look at the aircraft's records, the pilot's license, the recentness of his flight experience, his medical certificate and his background.

Gary Pinnell can be reached at 863-386-5828 or gpinnell@highlandstoday.com

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