Fourth Fatal Accident Involving Type In Three Months

A Florida doctor was the sole casualty in the takeoff crash Monday of a homebuilt Lancair IV-P... the fourth fatal accident involving the popular single-engine aircraft type in three months.

Dr. Douglas Pohl's plane went down in takeoff from the North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, FL Monday night. A witness told WPTV-5 the plane climbed about 50 feet in the air, before it rolled left and impacted the ground.

Officials haven't determined any possible causes for the accident. Pohl also owned Silver Wings Aviation, a fixed-base operation located at Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport in Maine.

The Lancair IV-P (type shown below) is an extremely popular, high-performance aircraft, available with either reciprocating engine or turboprop "PropJet" powerplant configurations. Pohl built his V-8-powered Lancair IV-P in 2000.

Larry Cappolino, a mechanic at Tailwinds Airpark -- Pohl's home airport -- told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel the plane was powered by a Corvette V-8 adapted for aviation use, and he had consulted with Cappolino a couple months ago about a fuel-delivery problem.

Pohl experienced an inflight engine failure in the accident aircraft in July 2001, during a trip to Oshkosh. The NTSB determined the cause of that failure -- which resulted in an off-field landing -- was paper towels left on top of the converted V-8 powerplant, remnants of which had been sucked into the engine's turbocharger.

Over 200 Lancair IV-Ps are registered with the FAA, according to a search of the agency's online database. The type has been involved in three other fatal accidents since April, claiming six people.

One of those accidents, on April 23, involved a Lancair IV-P that experienced a loss of control during takeoff. As ANN reported, the plane impacted into a orange grove near Falcon Field Airport (FFZ) in Mesa, AZ, killing the three persons onboard.

David Bjellos, described as an "aviation expert" with WPTV-5, cautioned people not to jump to conclusions about the safety of the Lancair IV-P, or other homebuilt planes.

"Probably the most important thing is to separate 'experimental' from 'dangerous,'" he said. "They belong in two separate paragraphs."

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 488SD        Make/Model: EXP       Description: LANCAIR IV-P
  Date: 07/07/2008     Time: 2155

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: PEMBROKE PINES              State: FL   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT ON CLIMBOUT, VEERED AND CRASHED OFF THE DEPARTURE END OF THE
  RUNWAY, THE ONE PERSON ON BOARD WAS FATALLY INJURED, PEMBROKE PINES, FL

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   1
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: CLEAR 10SM 090/10 A3007

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Climb      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: SOUTH FLORIDA, FL  (SO19)             Entry date: 07/08/2008

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.lancair.com