The San Diego County Medical Examiner announced on Thursday, August 5, 2010 that Austin Crane, age 8, of Mesa, Arizona has died at Rady Children's Hospital from injuries he sustained when the Velocity XLRG-5 kit built experimental aircraft (N444YP) piloted by his father, Gregory B. Crane, crashed on Monday, August 2 at 12:45 p.m. near the 11th hole of the Admiral Baker Golf Course, two miles after taking off from nearby Montgomery Field (MYP) in San Diego, CA. The child had been in a coma and was previously declared brain dead.
CAPTIONS: (ABOVE LEFT) A family portrait of the Crane family (Courtesy, KPHO-TV, Phoenix, AZ); (BELOW RIGHT ONE) Velocity XL RG at Frederick, Maryland Municipal Airport (FDK) on March 7, 2010, Note open gull wing door (Airliners.net/Mark Carlisle); (BELOW RIGHT TWO) Velocity XL RG at Vero Beach, Florida Municipal Airport (VRB) on January 2, 2009, Note open gull wing door (Airliners.net/ Bjoern Venghaus); (BELOW LEFT) Crashed Velocity XLRG-5 (Getty Photos/Fox 6); (BELOW RIGHT BOTTOM) Attorney Mike Danko (Photo courtest Mike Danko)
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Austin becomes the second fatality of this accident. His mother, Lori Orner Crane, age 47, suffered massive head trauma, and was pronounced dead at the scene. The three surviving victims, sisters Summer and Tia, ages 11 and 10, and their father Gregory, age 45, remain hospitalized. Their last reported conditions were listed as critical.
The pilot had reported that a door had come open after takeoff, and radioed that he wished to return to the airport. Witnesses on the ground had reported seeing white particles, later reported as fiberglass pieces, falling from the plane, before it hit a power line. A door from the plane was found in a ravine about half a mile from the crash site.
A pre-flight check could have determined if the door was unlatched prior to departure. It is also possible that the latch mechanism or another part failed, or the door was improperly installed. According to Duane Swing, co-owner of Velocity, Inc. of Sebastian, FL, Mr. Crane had taken two years to assemble the home built, high performance aircraft, from a kit the company supplied. Family members said he had flown it for about one year prior to the accident, without incident. The FAA gave the plane an airworthiness certificate on October 9, 2007.
Tom Little, an air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board in Seattle, stated that NTSB investigators will examine the wreckage later this month and try to determine if the door might have hit the plane's rear engine and propeller when it separated. Little added that investigators also will examine the door's hinges and latch mechanism to see if something kept it from being secured, and will try to determine whether the loss of the door in flight may have affected the aircraft's aerodynamics.
The kit manufacturer states that the gull-wing door has four pins in the side and bottom and is designed to require two hands to open. A red warning light on the instrument panel would have indicated if the door was not properly latched, according to Mr. Swing. "We have about 800 Velocities out there," Swing said. "This isn't the first time a door was left open. Usually it stays on, and the pilot lands and latches it. In this case, the door left the airplane."
According to a previous telephone interview with Mike Danko, a lawyer practicing aviation law in San
Mateo, CA not far from San Francisco International Airport (SF0), "The builder of such aircraft is the person who assembles it, and not the kit manufacturer. The buyer of the kit has to assemble 51% of the aircraft. That is a significant amount, and can take anywhere from 3 to 10 years to complete, involving between 3,000 to 10,000 hours of labor. Since it is an experimental aircraft, the person building it may make design changes in routing oil lines, for example, and other configurations, which may cause future chaffing and leaks. Each plane is unique and reflects its owner's idiosyncratic choices. There are also maintenance related issues. The builder has great latitude in assembling these aircraft."
While both the FAA and NTSB are investigating this accident, there in lesser oversight into kit plane assembly. Again, according to attorney Danko, "The FAA regards these projects as educational. You don't even need a pilot's license to buy and build one of these kits. There is only about a 20% completion rate. Often, these high performance planes, such as the Lancair IV-P and others, are too much aircraft for most pilots. But once a person has invested so much effort and time, they naturally want to fly it, and will complete flight training if necessary."
Mr. Danko continued, "There are FAA inspections during the construction phases. The first 40 hours that the aircraft actually flies, must be over desolated, unpopulated areas. Annually, there are condition inspections made by the owner, provided with an airframe and engine repairman's certificate by the FAA."
While the public and aviation professionals may speculate on the cause of the Velocity XLRG-5 San Diego crash, it is certain that this tragedy has shattered a family and the lives of their friends, associates and loved ones. We also mourn their loss and offer our heartfelt sympathies.
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Comments
I do not think the words children and experimental aircraft should ever be used in the same sentence. The only reason I am guilty of such is due to the irresponsibility of the pilot father.
It's just sad. I am happy that the two other children and the father have survived- but that doesnt do much for the little boy and the mother. Sad.
Joel---Thanks for another detailed report.
As a pilot who often flies with my wife and son, I don't lose sleep over an emergency. I've been sufficiently trained to handle the things that can go wrong. I also fly a much more conventional Cessna. But seeing a beautiful family hurt so badly has me praying this never happens to me. This is just horrible. May God help the survivors.
Thanks for the update. So sad about the little boy. It looks like if the plane was approved...well, I guess one can't be to careful with these experimental plane kits!
That's so sad... hope the rest of the family pulls through.
I get so tired of seeing this aircraft referred to as "experimental;" it wasn't. It was an FAA certified, general aviation aircraft. It's illegal for non-pilots to go up in experimental aircraft. It's amazing how many people who should know better, keep perpetuating this myth of it being experimental.
Regarding a comment below by Randy, to quote from Velocity, Inc. president Scott Swing, in discussing the Fast Build kit option, "It makes the experimental amateur-build aircraft a viable choice for those who would otherwise not even consider building their own plane."
Quoting from a Wikipedia article, "In the eyes of the FAA,and CASA in Australia, an Experimental Homebuilt Aircraft is not constructed by a licensed aircraft manufacturer. Instead, at least 51% of the aircraft is constructed by a private individual; the remaining 49% can be purchased from a kit manufacturer."
This article continues, "This category of aircraft can be built and flown by any licensed pilot, although an examiner must certify the aircraft for flight. Most nations' aviation regulations require new designs and amateur-built aircraft to be physically marked as experimental, and extra flight testing is usually required before passengers (who are not pilots themselves) can be carried."
through the lost there has also come great blessings. Austin's organs' were donated and now seven more children are able to continue living. the girls and dad are healing physically, but continue to pray for them as they go through the grieving process.
This tragic accident, like most aviation accidents, was a result of pilot error, not the aircraft. As a Velocity pilot and builder, I am quite familiar with this aircraft. Like all aircraft, there are things that you must do and things that you must not do. And you must not fail to latch the doors on a Velocity, and more than you would fail to secure the canopy on a jet fighter.. The checklist and the warning light are designed to prevent this, but a distracted pilot can omit things, and one error leads to another.
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