"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
. ..
A Lancair was involved in a fatal accident near Dalton, GA yesterday. It
crashed in the median of a divided 4 lane highway. The airplane had engine
problems and had time to radio distress calls. Depending on the news
source, it appears that there might have been as much as 10 to 20 minutes
between the first distress call and the crash. One story indicated that
the aircraft crashed almost 10 minutes after emergency crews had been
notified of a plane in distress.

Apparently the pilot was trying to reach the Dalton airport, which was
about 3 miles from the crash scene. The airplane didn't make the airport
and the pilot was almost certainly trying to land on the road. Having
seen pictures of the aftermath, it appears that the aircraft was not under
control when it hit the ground. Perhaps the pilot stalled trying to avoid
landing in traffic (this is a busy road), clipped a utility wire, or lost
control trying to avoid wires.

Plane crashes in north Georgia, kills 1 - Examiner.com

Fixed Link:
http://www.examiner.com/a-382498~Pla...kills_1.htm l


http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/sha...06/109692.html
(may require registration)

Anyway, the point that this accident brings home is that unless you have
the opportunity to land on a road that is free of vehicular traffic and
which you know to be free of utility wires, land the airplane in a field
if you have the chance. Even more important is that you need to fly the
airplane all the way to the ground and touch down as slowly as possible.
Losing control at 50' almost guarantees a bad outcome.

I fly over the crash area all the time and can tell you that there is a
fair amount of open land nearby. That pasture (or whatever) may not look
as airplane friendly as a paved road, but for a deadstick pilot a road is
like a sucker hole for a VFR pilot. It can be a killer when something that
looked good from afar goes to you-know-what when you get a look at it up
close and personal.

KB