Well-known Glasair III builder Terry Morris and his passenger,
Erin Bartone, both of Tamarac, FL, survived a mishap at Sun-n-Fun
without serious injuries. Nonetheless, it was a close call that
left Ms Bartone slightly injured. Terry's award-winning Glasair,
"Jawbreaker," wound up inverted and leaking fuel, "substantially
damaged" according to the NTSB investigator.
We first learned about the accident when our photographer Tyson
Rininger was stuck at Bartow Airport by the closure of Lakeland
Linder Field. At first, Sun-n-Fun officials and Lakeland police
were not immediately forthcoming about the mishap, but later they
conducted an unscheduled press conference and released more
information.
Tim Manville from the Miami office of the NTSB will be
investigating the incident. He described his information as
preliminary and said that his initial report of factual information
would likely be released in about five business days.
The Mishap Flight
Bear in mind that this is preliminary information and that
investigation is ongoing. The flight originated at Ft Lauderdale.
The pilot reportedly told NTSB in an interview that he has landed
on Runway 9R six times previously at this annual event. This time,
the controller directed him to land on Runway 9L. He didn't hear
any instruction addressed to him, and continued an approach to 9R.
However, the controller called him as "low wing aircraft" (the
standard wording in NOTAMs for large airshows is that controllers
will call airplanes by type if possible, description, and color).
There was naturally some confusion over which low wing aircraft the
controller had in mind.
When Morris realized that the 9L calls were for him, he
sideslipped to runway 9L and landed there. He touched down right on
the edge of 9L and caught the grass. He rolled about 500 feet,
diverging into the grass until his nose wheel struck the concrete
base of a taxiway light. The wheel departed the nose gear and the
Glasair went up and over its own nose.
According to police, they responded within minutes, as did other
emergency services. The crash victims Morris and Bartone were
quickly examined and, as necessary, treated, and a contractor took
quick action to control an estimated 40 gallons of 100LL that had
spilled from the wreckage and prevent environmental damage.
The airfield was closed for 1.5 hours and the runway remained
closed longer than that, but operations remained on the other
runway.
The Accident Airplane
The mishap aircraft is a Glasair III that was built by Terry
Morris and received its initial Certificate of Airworthiness on
March 9, 2002. Lots of people know it because it's a highly unusual
machine. For one thing, it has a monster Lycoming IO-720 engine, an
eight-cylinder behemoth that also has been modified for
higher-than-stock performance (450 horsepower). For another, the
workmanship on the machine is simply stunning - it won a Bronze
Lindy at Oshkosh, 2003.
One of the freelance photographers remembered the plane as
having competed in the Sport Class at Reno. We were unable to
confirm this information by deadline.
The pilot reportedly told NTSB investigators that there were no
mechanical problems with the machine prior to the accident. After
the accident the plane was removed and will be secured until
released by NTSB, to the frustration of the media. Of course, we
have images.
Serious Accident in Paradise City?
The news from the other accident is sketchy, but apparently a
powered parachute or paraglider had an inflight collision with a
tree. The ultralight area, Paradise City, was shut down while a
medical evacuation helicopter came in and removed the injured pilot
to hospital.
UPDATE: by the end of the day, the Paradise
City area had been swept by the rumor that the mishap pilot had
been treated and released at the hospital -- and was in a cab on
his way back to the airfield. We'll keep looking into it for
you.
And the usual Hangar Rash and Runway Rage…
Ah, what a week. Before today's mishaps there were several other
"events" as Sun-n-Fun officialdom refers to mishaps. Here are some
of them:
"On Friday, a pall of black smoke rose from the area underneath
the approach path into the ultralight area. The area that might be
well used as a safety zone is part of the parking lot. The cause of
the smoke turned out to be a hot Fiero parked on tall grass. By the
time the fire department arrived, the Fiero was fully involved and
the fire had spread to an adjacent truck. It was bad news for the
owners of the incinerated vehicles, but no one was hurt and the
firemen kept the fire from spreading further. This time, it was not
an aircraft or ultralight. Perhaps it was a warning.
"The same day a beautiful AT-6 was seriously damaged in a
groundloop accident. The left leg of the landing gear along with
the spar, wing skins, and propeller were obvious write-offs, but
again no one was injured.
"Saturday a taxi accident took Randy Henderson out of the
airshow lineup. Stories disagree about whether the car leading the
conga line of show planes merely stopped, or actually reversed; but
the consequence is the same: Randy's propeller struck the trunk of
the car, stopping his engine abruptly. The good news is that, once
again, no one was harmed. All of us at Aero-News wish Randy the
best of luck for speedy repairs, positive results of the necessary
inspections, and a rapid return to the airshow circuit.
Summing Up
Considering the number of operations at Sun-n-Fun, an occasional
groundloop or taxiing mishap is all but inevitable. The important
thing is that no one received serious, permanent injuries. We
salute the efforts of the pilots, controllers, and countless
volunteers that made this year's show one of the safest in
memory.
Could it be safer? Of course it could; it's an event run by
humans and, like all human efforts, imperfect. But let's not lose
sight of what has gone right just because we strive to fix what
went wrong. The reason we study accidents, is so that we don't
repeat them.