Accident Details
On July 16, 2011, at approximately 1048 eastern daylight time, a Taylorcraft DCO-65 (registration N50408) sustained substantial damage when it struck Altair Road, a street that ran parallel to runway 27 at Boyne City Municipal Airport (N98) in Boyne City, Michigan. The pilot, who was the sole occupant and operator of the airplane, received fatal injuries. The flight was conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight, and no flight plan was filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
Witnesses reported seeing the airplane flying over the city before the accident, with nothing appearing out of the ordinary. Three witnesses standing in a parking lot south of the airport observed the accident. They heard the airplane approaching from the north and saw it flying southbound between their location and the runway. The engine sounded normal and was not running rough. The airplane's altitude was between 50 and 75 feet above ground level, not much higher than the adjacent buildings.
One witness stated the airplane began a left turn as if to circle back to the airport. He reported: "I don't think he [pilot] saw the power lines until late, so when he did, he tried to really turn the plane and pull up. The plane spun around and then the engine cut out. Then the plane nose-dived into the ground."
Another witness observed the left wing tip at a 60-degree angle to the ground and noted: "The plane continued its tight corkscrew turn toward the ground, at which time I heard the engine rev up, then cut out, and then the plane struck the ground at a 90-degree angle to the ground."
The witnesses ran to the accident site and saw fuel leaking from the airplane's fuel tanks. Emergency first responders arrived within minutes and took command of the accident site.
Aircraft and Pilot Information
The airplane was a single-engine Taylorcraft DCO-65, serial number 6257, model L-2M, manufactured in 1944. It was powered by a 100-horsepower Continental O-200A engine, serial number 275899R. The maximum gross weight of the airplane was 1,325 pounds as per Type Certificate A-746. The last annual maintenance inspection of the airplane and engine was conducted on July 11, 2011, at which time the total airframe time was 1,959.9 hours. The recording hour meter reading at the accident site indicated 48.8 hours, or 1.1 hours since the last annual inspection.
The 84-year-old pilot held a sport pilot certificate with a single-engine land rating. He did not hold an FAA airman medical certificate, which was not required for sport pilot operations. According to his flight logbook, he began flight training on June 22, 2007, and all his training and subsequent flight time were in the accident airplane. He successfully completed his sport pilot practical test on September 22, 2009, with 91.2 logged flight hours. At the time of the accident, he had approximately 146.4 total flight hours.
Wreckage and Impact Examination
The airplane impacted Altair Road in a nearly vertical attitude. The impact site was about 440 feet south of the runway centerline. Ground scars in the asphalt indicated a propeller strike in rotation. The two-bladed propeller separated from the propeller flange and was found near the nose of the airplane; the distance from the ground scars to the wreckage was about 4 feet.
The forward fuselage and engine were crushed rearward and pushed into the cockpit, with more damage on the left side. The left wing exhibited aft crushing and buckling of the outboard 8 feet. The right wing showed aft crushing of the leading edge of the wingtip. The remainder of the fuselage and empennage were intact with minimal damage. Flight control cable continuity was confirmed from the controls to their respective attach points.
Examination of the propeller revealed one blade with leading edge gouges, chordwise scratching over half its span, and tip curl. The other blade was bent aft with similar gouges, scratching, and tip curl. The fracture surface of the propeller flange showed signatures consistent with torsional overstress.
Meteorological Conditions
At 1054 eastern daylight time, the weather observation at Harbor Springs Airport (MGN), 13 miles north of N98, reported: wind 240 degrees at 5 knots, visibility 10 miles, clear sky, temperature 27°C, dew point 13°C, and altimeter setting 30.02 inches of mercury.
Medical and Pathological Information
An autopsy of the pilot, performed at Spectrum Health Blodgett Campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 8, 2011, determined the cause of death as blunt force injury to the head and chest. A forensic toxicology report by the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute showed negative results for carbon monoxide, cyanide, and ethanol. The report identified desmethylvenlafaxine (O-) in the liver and blood (cavity), flecainide in the liver and blood (cavity), and venlafaxine in the liver and blood (cavity). According to the report, flecainide is a cardiac anti-arrhythmic; venlafaxine is an antidepressant carrying an FDA warning that it may impair mental and/or physical ability required for hazardous tasks such as driving or operating heavy machinery. The pilot's past medical history included hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism, depression, and atrial fibrillation. No significant natural disease was identified.
Additional Witness Accounts
One witness reported that the pilot had flown very low over the city, just above tree tops, during a Memorial Day parade; he stated that was the only time he observed the pilot flying that low. Another witness, the pilot's flight instructor, noted that the pilot would return from Florida in the spring and fly with him to regain currency, but this year he decided not to. The instructor also stated that the pilot would take off and land downwind because it was too long to taxi otherwise.