Two Experienced Pilots Perish In Pontiac Pattern

It was a routine training flight, with two experienced pilots on board. And training is, statistically speaking, the safest of all GA operations. But something went tragically awry on approach to Runway 9 Left at Michigan's Oakland County International Airport (KPTK) Friday morning, leaving an airplane destroyed and pilots Gene Hammond and Thomas C. Bailey dead.

The Bellanca Citabria hit hard and skidded across a road before coming to rest in a field at 9:26 AM. There was no fire. According to witnesses, it was making a base to final turn for runway 09L when it dropped. Any comment on he accident at this early date is raw speculation, but these reports and the location and condition of the wreckage are consistent with a stall and a partial recovery that could not be completed before impact with terrain. (A stall without recovery normally shows little horizontal speed at impact and does not leave a long impact trail).

The crew of the aircraft had been in regular communication with the control tower as they flew the pattern; their last transmission was to acknowledge clearance to land.

"We believe he was practicing touch-and-go landings," said airport official David VanderVeen to the Detroit News. "It appears the pilot attempted to land on an alternate runway, called 9-left at the airport, because a Lear jet was departing on the airport's main runway. It appears he turned it too tight, perhaps stalled, and then went down."

FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said he agreed with VanderVeen's assessment.

The accident, of course, will be investigated by NTSB with assistance from FAA and such parties as may be needed. An initial report should be available from the FAA on Monday; a final report will be months in the making, and will come from the National Transportation Safety Board (see links).

The crash also comes at a time when airport officials, like the rest of Metro Detroit, are gearing up for Super Bowl XL. As many as 150 aircraft related to the Super Bowl are expected at Oakland International Airport in the next week.

Eugene A. Hammond Jr., 51, was instructing the 34-year-old Bailey in the fine art of flying taildraggers -- a specialty of Hammond's and, according to Detroit's WXYZ, a strong desire of Bailey's. According to FAA records, both men were accomplished pilots. Hammond held Commercial ratings in single and multiengine landplanes, single engine seaplane, and gliders, and was certified flight instructor in single and multi-engine airplanes and gliders, as well as an instrument instructor. Bailey was commercial-rated in single and multiengine airplanes and had an instrument rating.

Oakland County, in the suburbs of Pontiac, is the second busiest airport in Michigan, with cargo traffic and lots of GA activity, including plenty of corporate and charter flying.

Citabrias are popular with flight schools because they can be used as tailwheel and aerobatic trainers. While tailwheel planes were once called "conventional" landing gear and trained generations of primary flight students, since the 1960s more students have trained in tricycle-gear airplanes which have more forgiving handling. Since 1991, FAA regulations have required pilots to get flight and ground instruction and an instructor's signoff for proficiency in order to act as pilot in command of tailwheel aircraft. (FAA has also separated tailwheel currency for carrying passengers from general currency; you're only current in tailwheel aircraft if you meet the requirements in a tailwheel aircraft).

The airplane was owned by Sutton Aviation, which is based at Dupont-Lapeer Airport (KD95). The Pontiac-based Citabria may have been a recent addition to Sutton's very comprehensive fleet, as it is listed in their rate schedule online and no photograph is on the company website (www.sutton-aviation.com). The Citabria photo below is Sutton's other one, based at KD95.

An email to Sutton Aviation did not receive a reply by deadline; however, the email was sent very late, and the company can be expected to have had a deluge of other media enquires.

Gene Hammond was the only one of Sutton's instructors who was based at PTK. A statement of the company's philosophy on CFIs on the web page says: "Flight instructing is arguably the most important job in aviation. The future of the industry, and the safety of the skies, depends upon the people who train the pilots."

Amen.

Aero-News extends our condolences to Sutton Aviation and to the friends and families of Hammond and Bailey.

FMI: www.faa.gov/data_statistics/accident_incident/preliminary_data/, www.ntsb.gov