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

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