20130717016529A

On Wednesday, July 17, 2013, at 0802 eastern daylight time (EDT), a Taylorcraft BC12-65 series aircraft, N36466, impacted the ground in a wooded area located approximately .34 nautical miles east-southeast of the approach end of runway 27 at the dalton Flushing airport (3DA) in Flushing, Michigan. The aircraft was approaching to land on runway 27. The two occupants of the aircraft, a flight instructor and a non-certificated student pilot, were both fatally injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The aircraft was registered to the father john 77 flying club in Flushing, Michigan. The flight was being operated under 14 code of federal regulations, part 91, under visual flight rule (VFR) conditions, without a flight plan, as an instructional flight. The flight had departed the dalton Flushing airport at 0750 EDT that morning and was not in radio communication contact with air traffic control at the time.

Security camera video footage from two nearby locations to the crash site captured portions of the accident. A hangar video from the dalton Flushing airport captured video of the aircraft as it taxied, performed pre-takeoff checks, departed runway 36 and headed north away from the airport. The same camera source captured video of the aircraft a short time later making a low pass eat to west across runway 27 and then brief images of the aircraft immediately prior to the accident landing approach. In a second surveillance video from a nearby business, the aircraft is captured entering the video heading east, then turning left (north) for a left base leg to runway 27, before turning left again to a northwesterly direction towards what would be a final leg to runway 27, in a nose-high attitude with a moderate-bank left turn before the aircraft appears to pitch down as the left turn bank angle steepens. The aircraft then appears to begin a rapid descent before leaving the frame of the video.

The right seat occupant of the aircraft, an 82 year old male flight instructor, possessed a commercial pilot certificate with airplane single engine land, multiengine land, airplane single engine sea and instrument airplane ratings at the commercial level. He also possessed a glider rating at the private pilot level. He was issued an faa-second class, limited medical certificate with a limitation to possess glasses for near/intermediate vision. He possessed a statement of demonstrated ability (soda) for defective color vision.

The flight instructor had logged 9,853.6 hours of total flight time, of which 245.6 hours was in the past year. He had logged 221.6 hours of flight instruction given and 83.6 hours of total flight time in the accident aircraft. His logbook contained an endorsement for successful completion of a 14 CFR 61.56 required fight review on may 19, 2012.

The student, occupying the left seat, was a 20 year old male with no faa-issued certificates or medical. He had not been issued a student pilot certificate. The student?s logbook indicated that his first flight training lesson was on June 25, 2013 and he had logged 6.7 hours of total flight time prior to the accident flight, all from a flight instructor (dual-received). The student had not operated an aircraft by himself (solo) prior to the accident flight.

The accident aircraft was a 1941 Taylorcraft BC12-65 series airplane, serial number 3288. It was a two-seat, high wing, single engine, piston-powered aircraft with conventional (tailwheel) landing gear. The aircraft was constructed of a welded-steel tubular frame throughout the fuselage and tail surface with wood-framed wings and fabric skin covering. The engine was a 65 horsepower, Continental motors A-65-8 designation, serial number 4964668, four cylinder, piston, reciprocating engine equipped with a two bladed fixed-pitch propeller.

The airframe had 4,278.7 hours total time in service at the time of the accident. The engine had accumulated 2,476.7 total hours and 1,245.7 hours since the most recent overhaul. Airc