Accident at KEIK in Colorado

Hmm.

Registration Pending?

And is serial number 1001 the first production Evektor Sportstar?

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denverpilot said:
Registration Pending?

And is serial number 1001 the first production Evektor Sportstar?

4b94241c-2dae-82b5.jpg
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It may be the first 2007 SportStar produced, but not the first one ever. The LSA version goes back at least to 2005; it was the first model to receive light-sport approval in the US.

This one is operated by Skyraider Aviation, a sport pilot flying club based at EIK. The main FAA registry page shows it owned by Tag Air in Broomfield, with no changes pending.
 
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Yeah, know Skyraider well... they've actually "merged" with Aspen Flying Club at KAPA, but probably not fully business "merged"...

I was more curious that the database has those words as the owner, more than not knowing who owned it... everyone 'round here knows that airplane. It flys a ton. I think only the Gobosh flies more.
 
denverpilot said:
Yeah, know Skyraider well... they've actually "merged" with Aspen Flying Club at KAPA, but probably not fully business "merged"...

I was more curious that the database has those words as the owner, more than not knowing who owned it... everyone 'round here knows that airplane. It flys a ton. I think only the Gobosh flies more.
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I've heard that N1277K has some serious hours on it now. I flew it from APA to MLI ahead of Oshkosh 2008 when it was brand new.

I know Chris Dillis, and I hate to see things like this happen to his club. This is their second accident; as you probably know, the other was also a SportStar, that unfortunately was a dual fatal.
 
I believe it's the house at Cessna Dr and Beech Ct here http://goo.gl/maps/xSJx These are airport/airpark houses.

Edit: Duh! 2nd news report said exactly that ...
 
Cessna and Beech require an LSA sacrifice be laid at their feet from time to time. Keeps their wrath away. ;) ;) ;)

At least he came to a full and complete stop at the stop sign! :) :) :)

Bad day for Chris... agreed. He's been so busy lately, I haven't seen him in well over a year...
 
Another friend just pointed out that Chris lost some aircraft at Aspen to the hail last week too... what a sucky week.
 
flightwriter said:
Ugh... yeah, I heard about that. Any idea of how many were hit?
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I didn't hear details on specific clubs. I heard both "40" and "60" while I was away at Gaston's... haven't been hanging around the airport enough yet to talk to folks and see what's really up. I'm sure that's a conglomerate number from all the clubs, and probably indicates "damaged" not "totaled"... but now the number crunching starts... and the insurance companies come to call.

I do know one of our CAP birds that was under the shelters (not full hangar) got its spinner beat up, but that turned out to pretty much be a wash, since the aircraft right next to her didn't, and was already timing out for an engine change... so the spinners got swapped, I hear.

And, of course, the B-17... which has already been up flying with new control surfaces, I believe. And one of our members here on PoA's Cherokee Six was... totaled... ouch.
 
Update - This appears to have happened in the pattern, and not right at takeoff.

There's a radar track near EIK starting at 0822 local that appears to be the accident aircraft. The track shows a plane taking off on 33 and making left traffic. Once the plane is at midfield on the downwind, however, the plane turns back towards the field on a short base leg. That path, before the radar info stops, essentially lines up with the accident site.
 
Can I speculate? Fuel starvation. I'm only saying that because I flew that plane when I first started and I just knew one day I'd forget to switch tanks. Anyway, it's a bit of a strange feeling seeing a picture of a plane I trained in all bunched up at a stop sign.
 
I've never seen that website until now. That's pretty impressive you found that. Watching that one take off at 8:22am and then turn into midfield from the pattern is odd. I wonder if the pilot was trying to make an emergency landing on the closed runway. I know we'll find out soon enough.


flightwriter said:
Update - This appears to have happened in the pattern, and not right at takeoff.

There's a radar track near EIK starting at 0822 local that appears to be the accident aircraft. The track shows a plane taking off on 33 and making left traffic. Once the plane is at midfield on the downwind, however, the plane turns back towards the field on a short base leg. That path, before the radar info stops, essentially lines up with the accident site.
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pilotod said:
I've never seen that website until now. That's pretty impressive you found that. Watching that one take off at 8:22am and then turn into midfield from the pattern is odd. I wonder if the pilot was trying to make an emergency landing on the closed runway. I know we'll find out soon enough.
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I can't take credit for the link; a Skyraider member posted it to a thread on their Facebook page. I wish ABQ had something like it!
 
That website is the City of Denver's answer to noise complaints. Denver and the State are paying for it. Tax money.

The little company that set it up, I hear, is making pretty good money on the contract.
 
Well one positive out of the crash is that the local media mentioned the city's closure of the crosswind runway during interviews and live shots tonight.

Made it clear that even the non-pilot homeowners would prefer it be open and not used by the city for other development.
 
I thought I heard something last year that it was re-opened ... did it open and then close again, or am I just mis-remembering continuing requests to open it?
 
flightwriter said:
I've heard that N1277K has some serious hours on it now. I flew it from APA to MLI ahead of Oshkosh 2008 when it was brand new.

I know Chris Dillis, and I hate to see things like this happen to his club. This is their second accident; as you probably know, the other was also a SportStar, that unfortunately was a dual fatal.
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They also had a Gobosh run off the runway at EIK which resulted in an extended stay at Beegles. I believe no other club or school has had as many accidents in the past five years as Sky Raider.
 
We'd have to see if other clubs are flying as much as they are to determine if that's a fair statement. Especially student pilots. It's rare to see the Gobosh not in the pattern at KAPA.
 
denverpilot said:
We'd have to see if other clubs are flying as much as they are to determine if that's a fair statement. Especially student pilots. It's rare to see the Gobosh not in the pattern at KAPA.
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Do you really think I didn't consider utilization? I've flown with Skyraider and I've flown with Western Air at BJC.

How many airframes have been destroyed in the same time frame by other flight schools in the Denver area? I know of one at BJC and the mid-air over by Longmont. That's it. Skyraider appears to have had half of the training fatalities and airframe losses in the region.
 
I didn't really know if you did or not. ;) Just a conversation point.

None of the others are flying LSAs really, are they? It may not be evidence that something's wrong with Skyraider as much as evidence that LSAs aren't suited all that well for high-DA environments or windy environments. Or the rigors of the training environment? I don't know.

There is one other type that's been wrecked as much as Skyraider's stuff in the area over the last few years, but spread out over multiple clubs. Cirrus. Some wrecked in other States but rented here, and three others destroyed under the chute... Pilots walked away of two of those, the other was the mid-air over Boulder with the glider tow.

Rumor is on this one is that there was a power loss. Might be a sign that a really high-time Rotax flown by renters at full rental power isn't a good thing?

The fatal was pilot error in the other Evektor, wasn't it? Trying to remember...

I can't figure out if Skyraider is just having a run of bad luck, or if it's caused by the fact that they're flying a lot of LSAs pretty hard with lots of students, or if there's overall some problems with flight training in the area.

I do know that only a few names come up when one asks about "good CFIs" around here and the name list hasn't changed much in ten years. There's got to be some new CFIs who are Sierra Hotel, but somehow that doesn't seem to be the case.

For Skyraider, the Evektors seem to be the common denominator. Their Goboshes seem to be flying their tails off.

Definitely something weird going on. We're having way too many fatals around here lately and even a DPE with a mid-air on a CAVU day...
 
denverpilot said:
Rumor is on this one is that there was a power loss. Might be a sign that a really high-time Rotax flown by renters at full rental power isn't a good thing?
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More likely the aircraft just had it's 5-year rubber hose replacement completed and stray bits of rubber found their way into a carb. This has happened *way* too often, with a good friend coming about 5 seconds from pulling his chute...

If this is the case, it will be pretty obvious when the accident investigators take a look at the carb bowls.
 
I read an article in the Daily Camera and it looks like the new owner in the leaseback to Skyraider only owned the plane for less than 2 weeks. Bummer. And the instructor in the plane was Matt Korn.
 
I'm thinkin' it's a problem with the responsiveness of the LSA's. I'm checked out in the Remos & have flown the GOBOSH. Fingertip control is all that's needed, unlike the more positive effort to fly the cherokee. It's a deliberate effort to get the cherokee to 45-60 deg bank, yet in the Remos, just the fingertip holding the yoke. I was very surprised at the difference in response.

It may be that beginners/low-time pilots aren't used to this level of response and tend to over control and get into trouble easier/faster than in something like a C172? And because it happens faster, the student doesn't have time/muscle reaction to recover?

I'm just thinkin...
 
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