19981212033249A

Pilot was practicing take offs and landings when the acft crashed under unknown circumstances. (.19)on December 12, 1998, about 1530 eastern standard time, a Taylorcraft BC12-D, N43778, was destroyed when it colided with trees during landing practice at Greenville Municipal Airport (4G1), Greenville, Pennsylvania. The student pilot received fatal injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed a the time of the accident. No flight plan was filed for the local instructional flight, which was conducted under 14 CFR part 91. According to a witness who was flying in the airport traffic pattern at the time, the accident airplane touched down in a grassy landing area to the right of paved runway 15. It then appeared to veer to the left, and crossed the paved runway, towards a large briar patch. The witness thought the airplane would hit the patch. However, the airplane cleared it, and headed for the "wide open space" of a turf cross runway. Then, instead of continuing straight toward the cross runway, the airplane made a steep left turn with a steep climb. It looked like it was in a stall attitude, and flying very slow. The witness then saw the nose drop, and the airplane "go over," but felt it may have been the result of hitting a tree. Another witness saw the accident from inside the airport office. He looked outside the window, and saw the accident airplane cross over the briar patch. He then saw it make a climbing left turn, but "not excessively steep, not like a stall climb." He wasn't sure of the angle of bank, but it was "maybe 25 degrees, it wasn't less." The airplane then leveled off and hit trees, and the witness "saw wood flying." The witness said that if the airplane had continued to climb straight ahead instead of turned, it would have avoided the trees. He also felt that the pilot did not see the trees, and that the airplane didn't stall before hitting the trees. He said the winds were calm during the event, and that it was a perfect day to fly. A third witness said she was inside the airport office, and that her attention was drawn to the accident airplane when someone else in the office said: "hope he makes it over those trees." She then looked out the window, and saw the accident airplane in a blimc, with wings level. Then, "it just hit trees." She felt the pilot probably didn't see the trees because the nose of the air plane was high in the climb. She said that the initiating event did not look like a stall - that the airplane was climbing wings level and "not so nose up that it would stall." The airplane wreckage was found at 41 degrees, 26.96 minutes north latitude, 80 degrees, 23.44 minutes west longitude, approximately 800 feet northeast of runway 15 and 200 feet northwest of runway 23. It was just inside the edge of a wooded area with 70 feet trees. There were cut tree branches, commencing about 60 feet above the ground, in a descending 45 degree path, on a heading of 030 degrees magnetic. The airplane was found on its left side, with the left wing broken upwards. The wooden propeller was shattered, still attached to the engine, and wedged up against a tree trunk. Cockpit examination revealed that the mixture knob was full rich, and the throttle knob was full forward. The magnetos had been turned off by rescue personnel. The main and left fuel controls were on, and the right fuel control was off. Control continuity was established to the rudder and elevator, and within both wings. The right wing held about 2 gallons of fuel, while the left wing held only trace amounts. When the wreckage was removed, there was a moist area underneath the left wing, with a strong odor of fuel. Engine examination revealed the presence of fuel in the strainer. All spark plugs were grayish brown in color except bottom number 2, which was saturated in oil. Throttle continuity was confirmed, and compression established in all (.4) a witness reported that the student pilot had been in the traffic pattern for 15 - 20 minutes during his second flight of the day. A second witness, who was in the pattern at the time of the accident, reported seeing the aircraft touch down in a grassy landing area to the right of, and parallel to, paved runway 15. It then veered left, crossed runway 15, and continued towards a large briar patch and an intersecting turf runway, during which the aircraft entered a steep, climbing left turn. The witness reported that he then observed the aircraft nose drop, and 'go over.' A third (ground) witness reported seeing the aircraft cross over the briar patch and make a climbing left turn which was described as 'not excessively steep', and with the angle of bank of at least 25 degrees. This was followed by the aircraft leveling off, and then impacting trees. This witness reported the winds as calm. On site examination revealed that the aircraft first encountered trees approximately 10 feet below the 70 foot high tops, and the wreckage distribution progressed toward 030 degrees magnetic to ground impact. There was no evidence of pre-impact control or engine malfunction. The student pilot had 109 total flight hours. He had some initial flight training in 1944, then began flying again in 1995.