CHAPEL HILL -- Excessive speed may have caused a pilot to bounce his Cirrus SR20 on the runway and crash into trees at Horace Williams Airport last week, according to pilots and witness statements in a federal investigator's preliminary report.
Rick Beach, a volunteer safety liaison with the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association, said the number of times pilot Thomas Pitts' plane touched the runway was a "troubling detail" in the National Transportation Safety Board report released Saturday.
"These types of accidents happen because it wasn't the standard and normal way of coming in," Beach said.
Adding a power climb to re-land the plane during a difficult landing is common, but witness statements appear to describe a case of "pilot-induced oscillations" where the plane bounces because of the pilot, Beach said.
"The advice in a training scenario would be don't do that," he said.
When a plane continues to bounce, it eats up runway, leaving less pavement to lift off of or to apply the brakes on, he said.
"You don't have too many good options left," Beach said. "If you're going to brake, you need the wheels on the ground."
Chapel Hill pilot and businessman Jim Heavner said from reading the report it is clear the pilot was "not following some procedure correctly."
"You can guess that he was either too high or too low or a combination of both," he said. "It may have been a distraction."
Three witnesses of the fatal July 12 crash at the UNC-Chapel Hill airport said the aircraft was running at full power when it veered off the runway, hitting pine trees and a fence, according to the NTSB report. One unnamed witness estimated the plane was traveling 60 to 70 mph when it left the runway. Another said the nose of the craft was in an upward 45-degree angle as the pilot was trying to land.
"The airplane appeared to be coming in faster than usual for a small plane, and according to the windsock beside the runway, the plane was landing with the wind, not against it," the report quoted a witness.
"The initial landing was pretty hard, and there was a small bounce, and all three wheels left the ground. When the plane came down the second time, the front wheel hit first, and there was a bigger bounce. The plane bounced a third and fourth time, each time the front wheel hitting first and each bounce getting more pronounced.
"At this point it seemed like the airplane was out of control," the witness said.
The plane crash killed Pitts, the 66-year-old pilot, and injured two others. The flight originated at Sussex County Airport in Georgetown, Del., between 12:30 and 12:45 p.m.
According to the report, there was evidence of three tail strikes in the grass and propeller "V" cuts were present on separated tree branches. The NTSB reports no mechanical problems with the plane.
