Oshkosh Crashes

[PHXPhlyer]

NTSB investigating dual plane crashes near Oshkosh, Wisconsin; recovery search for 2 people underway
One crash occurred Saturday morning near Oshkosh. A separate mid-air collision between two aircraft also occurred near the city.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nt ... -rcna97079

A recovery search is underway near Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for two people aboard a small aircraft that crashed Saturday into Lake Winnebago officials said.

The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office began receiving multiple 911 calls just after 9 a.m. about the crash, a spokesperson for the Experimental Aircraft Association said.

There was a total of two people on the plane, which the National Transportation Safety Board said was a North American T6 aircraft.

The EAA said that "recovery efforts for the occupants and also the plane are ongoing."

Multiple agencies including the Winnebago County Marine Units, the Calumet County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Coast Guard, all responded to the scene to help with the rescue.

The NTSB is investigating that crash as well as a separate mid-air collision that occurred near Oshkosh Saturday just before 12:30 p.m. between a Rotorway 162F aircraft and an ELA Eclipse 10 aircraft.

The collision happened at the south end of the EAA AirVenture flight line at Wittman Regional Airport.


PP

[PHXPhlyer]

Two dead, two hurt in crash at EAA AirVenture

https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/29/reports-crash-eaa/

OSHKOSH, Wis. (WBAY) -

UPDATE-Sunday the names of victims in this crash were released. They are identified as pilot 68-year-old Mark Peterson of Foley, Alabama and passenger 72-year-old Thomas Volz of Amelia, Ohio.

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Two people lost their lives when a helicopter and gyrocopter crashed in the air near the Ultralight Runway at EAA AirVenture just before 12:30 Saturday.

The collision sent both aircraft to the ground and one landed on a parked plane. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office tells EAA two more people are hurt, but stable, right now.

“Obviously somebody was in the wrong place at some time and that will be part of the investigation,” EAA Spokesperson Dick Knapinski said.

The National Transportation Safety Board reported the aircraft involved were a Rotorway 162F and an ELA 10 Eclipse. Neither aircraft was involved in an airshow. Both belonged to AirVenture attendees.

The crash closed Wittman Regional Airport for close to two hours as emergency crews stepped in.

“People were there willing to help and people stepped in immediately trying to help even before the fire department and first responders arrived,” Knapinski explained.

Knapinski told Action 2 News EAA, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office and Oshkosh Fire Department responded. United States Air Force firefighters extinguished fire coming from the helicopter.


The aviation community is reflecting on losing two of their own.

“Well you know that stuff happens. You know that you have to be careful and you know the unexpected does happen,” Pilot Bob Payton expressed.

“It’s always tragic when you do lose aviators. Certainly it’s one of those things you take a look at. We are one family,” Knapinski said. “It’s always a sad day especially for those aviators and their families.”

Pilot Payton said a lot of pilots fly using visual flight rules, meaning they must maintain a clear space and are responsible for constantly looking out for other aircraft.

“The primary thing about flight is it’s a 360 degree 3D environment. It’s not just like on the road when you’re looking down the road. You’re looking all over for other aircraft,” Payton said.

He describes pilots as very proactive:

“You need to get as much background as you can. You’re addressing multiple situations at the same time and you just work from that standpoint.”

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, putting together the pieces to figure out how the crash happened.

“The investigators will take a look at that and see what the causes may be and from that other aviators may learn something,” Knapinski said.

The names, ages and where the victims flew in from haven’t been released yet.

Plane crashes into Lake Winnebago - two people are dead

https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/29/plane-c ... s-unknown/

OSHKOSH, Wis. (WBAY) -

UPDATE-Sunday the names of victims in this crash were released. They are identified as 30-year-old Devyn Reilly of Guadalupe, Texas and 20-year-old Zach Colliemoreno.

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On Saturday, July 29, 2023, at around 9:07 a.m. the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center began receiving multiple 911 calls about an airplane that had crashed into Lake Winnebago near the northern edge of the Oshkosh City Limits. First reports from the US Coast Guard indicate that it was a T-6 Texan aircraft.

The two people deceased are one man and one woman, according to the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. The man is believed to have been in his 20s and the woman in her 30s. No other identifying factors about the victims are being released at this time. Right now one body has been recovered and divers are still working on recovering the other body, as well as retrieving the wreckage of the plane.

Both victims are not local residents, according to authorities.

The Winnebago County Marine Units with Dive Rescue/Recovery Team members, along with the Oshkosh Fire Department, Winneconne Fire Department, Neenah Menasha Fire Rescue, Calumet County Sheriff’s Office, Wisconsin DNR, US Coast Guard, and the US Coast Guard Auxiliary all responded to the scene to immediately begin an emergency rescue response.

The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that there were 2 total occupants aboard the plane and that recovery efforts for the occupants and also the plane are ongoing. They are working closely with EAA, the NTSB, and the FAA.

The US Coast Guard also confirmed seeing an oil slick and debris floating in the water.

“We heard a big bang, I got turned around at the time, I did not see anything, so I took off with the rest of the boats. When we got on the scene, all we really saw was just a lot of debris floating in the water, aviation fuel and stuff. We were not able to find anybody,” said Scott Vanasten, a witness.

The plane is described as fractured and completely submerged underwater. It is unclear how long it will take divers to extricate the wreckage.

“The position of the plane is making it difficult to recover the second body. Our dive team is working diligently to try to get into the plane to find the second body,” said Lieutenant Darin Rice from the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, adding: ““Initial responders were unable to get to the aircraft immediately and recovery efforts have been ongoing throughout the day.”

The Coast Guard had tweeted that the plane was “rapidly maneuvering before rapidly descending from about 3,000 feet altitude.”

“Obviously our condolences go out to the families who are impacted by this,” Lieutenant Rice said.

Please continue to avoid the area of Asylum Bay Boat Launch so that recovery efforts may continue safely.

PP

[OneHungLow]

Another non fatal crash at Oshkosh 4 days ago.

[PHXPhlyer]

Aircraft lost power on way to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, flipped upon impact with cornfield

https://wgntv.com/news/wisconsin/aircra ... cornfield/

BROOKLYN, Wis. (WFRV) – The Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office has released more information on the single-engine aircraft that crashed into a cornfield on Thursday.

According to deputies, a pilot and a passenger were on their way to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh from South Bend, Indiana, when the aircraft lost power. The pilot attempted an emergency landing in the cornfield.

Authorities say that the aircraft flipped upon impacting the corn while attempting to land, causing injuries to both occupants.

The Green Lake County Sheriff’s Office says they’ve been informed that both occupants were treated and released at a local hospital.

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[OneHungLow]

Have you ever flown into Oshkosh for the EAA Airventure PHX? I imagine that ATC must have a torrid time what with all those aircraft coming in! Really sorry to hear about these accidents.

[PHXPhlyer]

Been there twice, both times via rental car out of ORD.
Flying there myself has always been on my list but kids, job, life, etc. got in the way.
Getting there from here would be as much about the journey as the destination, especially that if I were ever to get my plane flyable it only has a 100 kt cruise speed.
Not off my list though.

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[OneHungLow]

Authorities have released the names of four people killed in two fatal accidents within three hours of each other at AirVenture 2023 Saturday. The first involved a T-6 Texan that went down in Lake Winnebago under unknown circumstances with two people on board. Dead are Devyn Reiley, 30, of New Braunfels, Texas, and her passenger Zach Colliemoreno, 20, whose hometown was not released. Reiley was co-founder of the Texas Warbird Museum. The accident happened just after 9 a.m. and EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski said at least one body has been recovered.

About 12:30 p.m., a Rotorway 162F helicopter and an ELA Eclipse 10 gyrocopter collided somewhere over the field, and two people in the helicopter were killed. They were 69-year-old Mark Peterson of Foley, Alabama, and his passenger, 72-year-old Thomas Volz from Clermont County, Ohio. Two others in the gyrocopter were taken to a local hospital and their names have not been released. The gyrocopter crashed on top of a Mooney parked on the field.

Debris landed on a parked airplane. One of the aircraft involved in the collision caught fire and it was put out by airport firefighters with help from a military firefighting helicopter, according to Fox11News. That crash closed the airport for two hours, but it opened in time for the afternoon airshow to go on a little later than scheduled. EAA Chairman Jack Pelton offered condolences to the victims’ loved ones.

https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/ ... -collision

ADS supplied apparent groundspeed drops to 15 knots with rapid descent rate.

Watching the video makes me wonder if this was an airfield, arrival/approach, low airspeed, stall and then spin event now? Highly unlikely that the T6 would have been indulging in aero's in that location so close to the approach to the airfield. Possible that the proximity of the other aircraft below the T6 distracted the pilot.

[OneHungLow]

I think Dan Gryder has the T6 accident well summed up here. Slow climbing turn, wing low, stall, spin with no evidence of recovery attempt.

[PHXPhlyer]

Devyn Reiley Dies at 30 in Plane Crash; Daughter of Super Bowl Champion Bruce Collie

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/100 ... =editorial

Devyn Reiley, the daughter of former NFL player Bruce Collie, died Saturday in a plane crash in Wisconsin, per Richard Pollina of the New York Post.

She was 30 years old.

Reiley and co-pilot Zach Colliemoreno died in an accident at an airshow, per Pollina. They were flying a World War II-era T-6 Texan, and the plane crashed into Lake Winnebago after reaching approximately 3,900 feet in the air.

Mark Peterson and Thomas Volz also died in a separate crash near the airshow that day when an ELA 10 Eclipse gyrocopter collided with a RotorWay162F helicopter, according to Pollina.

Pollina noted Reiley was the oldest of Collie's 13 children and became a certified private pilot in 2017. She also co-founded the Texas Warbird Museum with her husband, Hunter, and her family.

The museum was founded in an effort to preserve retired World War II-era military aircraft.

Collie played seven seasons in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles. San Francisco selected him out of Texas-Arlington with a fifth-round pick in the 1985 NFL draft, and he played his first five years in the league with the team.

The offensive lineman won back-to-back Super Bowls with San Francisco during the 1988 and 1989 seasons before playing the following two years with the Eagles.

PP

[OneHungLow]

I think Dan Gryder has the T6 accident well summed up here. Slow climbing turn, wing low, stall, spin with no evidence of recovery attempt.

Dan Gryder is a very controversial commentator, and in truth I would rather quote somebody like Blancolirio, Juan Browne, who, IMHO, is about as good as it gets out in the internet wild west, but for all his ambulance chasing etc. Gryder does call things right sometimes although he is not to everybody's taste, and I must admit, I am often more likely to want to turn him off than listen to him, but I grit my teeth and then learn something useful. At the very least he does play the guitar very well.

His summation of the likely cause of T6 accident seems to be on the money, although of course we must await the FAA and NTSB reports to be sure.

https://www.dangryder.com/about-us/

Pilots of America

[Karearea]

AT-6 Crash OSH 29 July 2023 [15:55] - Blancolirio's perspective:

[OneHungLow]

AT-6 Crash OSH 29 July 2023 [15:55] - Blancolirio's perspective:

As ever, an excellent video from Blancolirio. Thanks for posting. He strikes me as a very decent, respectful human being.

[PHXPhlyer]

Video of Gyro - Helicopter Midair at OSH



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[OneHungLow]

Video of Gyro - Helicopter Midair at OSH



PP

A hard landing? I don't think so?

The guys that run the radio at Headcorn manage this kind of stuff every Saturday, what with parachutists, nincompoops in helicopters (i.e. me), warbirds, aerobatics, historic aircraft (Spitfires etc.), wingwalkers, general traffic and even some commercial traffic coming in.

Something was rotten in the state of control at Oshkosh this year. The FAA needs to look at this.

Dan Gryder says the stuff that nobody wants to say, and, yes, he does give some folks the pip, including me, but he know his stuff!

I see that Dan's comment's on the Texan crash have been pulled. No doubt the lawyers have been on the line, but he was bang on the money on that one. He just didn't pussyfoot around. Watch the Blancolirio clip for the more politically correct but equally accurate, take on that one.