Accident Details
On May 24, 2009, at 1100 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Mileski Zenair CH701, registration N701MW, impacted trees during landing at Oakland Southwest Airport (Y47), New Hudson, Michigan. The instructional flight under 14 CFR Part 91 was not operating on a flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The student pilot and flight instructor were uninjured. The local flight had originated at 1000.
Flight Instructor Account
The flight instructor reported that he had been teaching skids, slips, glides, a simulated forced landing, and side slip techniques in the local area. The remainder of the instruction was to be conducted at Y47, where he planned to demonstrate a landing on runway 07 (3,128 feet by 40 feet, asphalt). The airplane was configured with full flaps on short final. The touchdown, described as "disturbed" by wind gusts, was "slightly hard" and in a 10-degree crab. The instructor then "reestablished" a wing-low attitude to the left with "slight" right rudder to maintain the runway centerline. After rolling 200 feet at a speed of 25 mph, the airplane "abruptly" pulled about 40 degrees to the right and departed the runway. It traveled an additional 150 feet before impacting a bush. The instructor suspected the nose wheel may have been bent to the right during touchdown.
Student Pilot Account
The student pilot stated that during landing, they experienced "some fairly strong" turbulence, resulting in an altitude loss of about 10 feet and placing the airplane in a "slightly" southeast crab relative to the runway centerline. The airplane touched down in the crab, which he thought was a "pretty hard landing." The airplane bounced, turned left, touched down again, turned right, and veered off the runway, impacting small trees. The student pilot thought the nose landing gear was bent during the first touchdown.
Aircraft Damage
Damage to the airplane included buckling of the inboard wing sections and fuselage skin at the wing roots.
Weather Information
The flight instructor reported the wind from 040 degrees at 8 knots with gusts to 15 knots. Three weather observing stations 13 and 17 miles from Y47 recorded no wind gusts.
Pilot Medical History
Review of the flight instructor's FAA medical records indicated a history of metastatic malignant melanoma diagnosed in March 2005, with surgical removal of the middle and lower lobes of his right lung in May 2006 and the upper lobe of the left lung in January 2007. He had since participated in a clinical study in which some participants received vaccine-based therapy and had "no evidence of disease recurrence" since that time. His most recent application for an airman medical certificate, dated April 3, 2006, was denied due to the history of metastatic melanoma. The Federal Air Surgeon indicated in March 2009 that he was "willing to reconsider" the pilot's "request for airman medical certification after January 2010" with submission of additional follow-up information. An FAA Flight Standards District Office inspector interviewed the pilot by telephone in August 2009, at which time the pilot did not note any additional indications of melanoma recurrence and indicated that he continued to swim and run regularly. The FAA medical records also noted a history of diabetes mellitus type II requiring medication (metformin), high blood pressure requiring treatment (lisinopril), high cholesterol requiring treatment (simvastatin), and benign prostatic hypertrophy requiring treatment (tamsulosin). The flight instructor received his last flight review in October 2006.