Lancaster Mid-Air collision during Young Eagles Day

[Eclipse]

LANCASTER, NY - A 78-year-old pilot and his 14-year-old male passenger both died when their plane collided mid-air with another small airplane not far from the Buffalo-Lancaster Regional Airport Saturday morning.

The plane crashed a little before 10:30 a.m. in a wooded area just west of Town Line Road in the Town of Lancaster. The deceased are Anthony Mercurio, 78, and James Metz, 14.

Not far away, the second plane made a harrowing emergency landing in a field on Kieffer Road in the Town of Alden. That pilot -- Kevin D'Angelo, 59 -- and a nine-year-old girl who was flying with him were able to walk away from their plane with minor injuries. (Her name will not be released.)

http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/local/lancaster/2014/09/27/breaking-two-plane-crash-on-alden-lancaster-border/16332859/



2 fatalities, 78 year old Pilot and 14-year old passenger.

[nomiddlemas]

That is to bad.  I was once part of EAA until I heard about CAP.  RIP to all those who did not make it down safely. 

[Eclipse]

http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/2014/09/29/lancaster-plane-crash-victims/16409763/

This is the Sea-Ray which survived the collision.

[nomiddlemas]

Wow how did they land it with no wings? Im guessing they were taken off before the picture?

[a2capt]

Trailerable aircraft, the wings come off quickly.

[Al Sayre]

 When I read the title of this thread I had visions of a Lancaster bomber with a plane load of kids... Sad for all involved.

[PHall]

When I read the title of this thread I thought you were talking about the RAF BBMF Lancaster.
A bit more clarity please...

[a2capt]

That's what the headlines say.

[Eclipse]

Many things ran through my mind when I saw this, not the least of which was the statistical probability
this could involve CAP members.

That a Lancaster Bomber might be involved in an EAA Young Eagles day literally never crossed my mind.

[NIN]

Trailerable aircraft, the wings come off quickly.

Something tells me the trailerability of the aircraft was only a small factor in the wings not being present in that photograph.

[JacobAnn]

So sad.  My son who is a Life Member of EAA regularly flies Young Eagles.  It is one of the things he loves most about flying.

[LSThiker]

A reminder of the possible dangers. We could easily have an accident during an O-flight, transport, IACE, or military flight.

[Eclipse]

^ And something to bear in mind when discussing safety procedures and being in a hurry.

[NIN]

A reminder of the possible dangers. We could easily have an accident during an O-flight, transport, IACE, or military flight.

People shuck and jive about flight manifests sometimes, but they're a real live no kidding document that operations folks need to pay attention to.  I have been standing there when the statement "I need the manifest for the aircraft laying burning in the field over there" was uttered. It was a real, live no kidding moment.

We (the CAP we) can certainly encounter this kind of problem which just highlights the need for planning, solid briefings, common procedures, heads on a swivel, cockpit sterility, etc. 

I've run wing-level fly days that were easily as busy as most EAA Young Eagle events, and we had nary a problem.  But our pilots briefed their sorties together, and flew as briefed.  Deconfliction was part of the brief.

[Panzerbjorn]

I have no words.  That poor poor family.  My deepest condolences to that family.  My deepest relief to the families of the survivors. 

I also truly hope that the EAA doesn't overreact and regulate the Young Eagles program into non-existence over the incident.

[a2capt]

I think you mean the FAA in that one. As for the wings, if that thing had lost wings in the air, it would have not "landed", but more cratered. Witnesses said they saw it flying low, fast and it went over the tree line and disappeared. A glimpse of a photo showed a mostly intact aircraft on the ground beyond the vegetation.

Based on the bits shown on the ground, I'd have to figure it suffered some kind of chopping by the prop from behind, and if the 172 broke a prop because of it, that would have sent that thing shaking apart at the front, with basically pattern altitude .. you're not going to get much time to deal with it. 

I can't see that flying boat becoming a lifting body...

The NTSB will tell us what they think.

[Eclipse]

That's uncontrolled airspace, right?

I always find it amazing how quickly aircraft converge in "empty" air.  One second there's nothing there,
the next you're changing your shorts.

It also freaks me out on the rare occasion that we land without a tower - you get used to that in an urban area.

The preliminary report still says "unknown circumstances".

[JeffDG]

That's uncontrolled airspace, right?

Looking at the chart, Lancaster Regional (KBQR) is just outside Buffalo's Class C surface area (actually they made a little cutout for them).  Looks like the shelf for the Class C starts about 1,500' AGL (2,200 MSL), but it's Class E starting at 800' AGL in that area. 

So, surface to 800' is Class G (uncontrolled), rest is various levels of controlled airspace.

[a2capt]

When my aircraft was at a controlled airport, the percentage of operations with/out control were biased towards the controlled side, but if I left the home field out of the equation the percentage was probably 10% controlled.

[JeffDG]

When my aircraft was at a controlled airport, the percentage of operations with/out control were biased towards the controlled side, but if I left the home field out of the equation the percentage was probably 10% controlled.

Most folks forget that Class D fields don't have radar control, they rely on pilot position reports and the Mark 1 eyeball of the controller...