The accident happened New Year's Day around 6 pm. According to the January 3 edition of the Massachusetts Telegram & Gazette, pilot Steven T. Fay, who owned the plane, was attempting a touch-and-go landing when the aircraft went down just outside a fence at the boundary of the airport.The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) is investigating the crash, and is speculating that the plane may have clipped the tops of some nearby trees. The landing gear was found about 100 feet away from the plane, which landed upside down in a swamp.
Fay was found by witnesses bleeding from the airplane crash, in a state of shock and calling out for his daughter. Jessica Fay was eventually found lying in the swamp, unconscious, by area residents who heard the plane go down and rushed to the area to help. CPR was performed on the stricken woman by her father, followed by a police officer. Sadly, the plane crash victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators noted that both wings had separated from the fuselage prior to impact, and an FAA spokesman suggested the plane appeared to have impacted trees. Massachusetts state police said the plane was approaching the airport southbound when it went out of control—and there is speculation that trees striking the landing gear may have caused the pilot to lose control.
An interesting sidebar is the height of trees within immediate proximity to the airport. According to the assistant manager of the facility, tree height may have, indeed, played a factor in the Airplane Accident.
"If the FAA determines the treetops are penetrating the airspace, they may determine they need to be removed," said John G. Vanbobo. "The homeowner owns right up to the fence. If the trees are in line with the main approach (to the airport), there is legal recourse for that."
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Three days before Christmas, a Spencer man was killed when the single-engine Piper he was flying apparently clipped the tops of tress as he was approaching the runway of an airport the man owned in Spencer.
The New Year's Day accident happened an hour after the airport normally closes. However, pilots have the authority and capability of engaging runway lights remotely, and have use of the facility after hours. Sadly, the New Years Day plane crash ended tragically for the plane crash victims. Steven Fay is from New Hampshire.
READER COMMENTS
Robert Scovill
on
Cessna undetectable water in the fuel tanks the pilot cannot positively detect during the preflight of the aircraft.
Read NTSB Safety recommendation A-83-6
Read FAA Safety Recomendations 91.283 and 91.284
Read SAIB CE-10-40R1 about trying to prevent water from getting into the fuel tanks. Prevention is real good, but positive detection and elimination of it during the preflight is much better just in case prevention has failed. Sabotage comes to mind.
Read WSJ Air and Water: FAA Tests Put Cloud Over Cessna's Revival Of Single-Engine Planes By Jerry Guidera April 30, 2001
Why did Cessna stop single engine production in 1986?
Why did NTSB close Safety Recommendation A-83-6 in 1986? Why did NTSB mark it as "CLOSED BUT UNACCEPTABLE"?
Why has the NTSB ignored undetectable water in Cessna aircraft for well over two decades, allowing pilots and passengers to die?
Why did Cessna come out with SEB92-25 in 1992? Was 1992 the same year Textron bought Cessna?
Why was GARA passed in 1994 limiting Cessna liability for their aircraft?
Why did Cessna then restart production of single engine aircraft in 1996?
Why did Cessna new production aircraft come with thirteen sump drains?
Could the answer lie in a simple real world test pouring red dyed water into any Cessna fuel tank in its normal ground altitude and then not positively detecting it at any sump drains?