Community Corner

Details Released in Crash of Small Plane Near French Valley

Less than four hours had been logged in the small, home-built plane when its pilot was forced to make an emergency landing.

More information about what may have caused the pilot of a small plane to make an emergency landing near Murrieta April 14 has been released.

The single-engine plane, registered to Winchester resident Douglas Stevenson, was forced to make the landing when his "kit" plane lost all power, authorities with the National Transportation Safety Board stated in a preliminary report.

two miles northeast of French Valley Airport damaged the Zenith CH-750 and left the pilot with minor injuries. NTSB's report does not cite a specific probable cause of the crash, but does allude to a fuel-related engine malfunction.

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Less than four hours had been logged in the home-built aircraft, which the pilot had flown twice before. He departed French Valley Airport the morning of April 14 and headed out over Lake Skinner to put the plane through a number of maneuvers in order to increase his familiarity "with (its) handling and operating characteristics,'' the report says.

The trip was uneventful until the pilot started back for the airport. In preparing for his descent, he reduced power about 25 percent at which point the engine sputtered and quit, according to the NTSB.

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"The pilot made three or four restart attempts; each time, the engine would catch and turn about 10 revolutions, and then stop,'' the narrative states.

Realizing he didn't have the altitude to make the airport, the man turned the high-wing plane toward a seldom-used dirt road with which he was familiar, but had to forgo landing there when he saw power lines in his path, according to the NTSB.

Instead, he landed in a nearby open field in the area of Washington Street and Benton Road, but the plane nosed over after catching on some vegetation. The pilot extracted himself from the upside-down aircraft and received treatment by paramedics who arrived moments later. He did not require hospitalization.

According to the NTSB, the aviator had not only assembled the airframe, but also installed the powerplant -- a Chevrolet Corvair engine.

"The engine was equipped with a Marvel-Schebler aviation carburetor,'' according to the narrative. "The pilot had conducted the initial ground and taxi runs with automotive gasoline, but then switched to 100LL aviation fuel for the flight test phase. The pilot was uncertain whether the automotive gas contained ethanol.''

It could take up to 12 months for a full accident report to be published.

City News Service contributed to this report.


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