Plane crash near LITH airport

I've been following the reports about Thursday's crash of a Beech Bonanza near the Lake in the Hills airport. As a small-plane pilot myself, I am interested in how and why small planes crash and hope my curiosity will help me, should I ever take up flying again. Most of the time, I think that I won't but, if I happened to buy the right Lotto ticket yesterday, I just might.

So, what happened on Thursday?

We'll never know from the "news" reporting in the Northwest Herald, and that's too bad. With a little help from the many pilots around McHenry County, the Northwest Herald could gather some professional opinions and better inform its readers.

An early and important clue came from Steve Szeszel who, the Northwest Herald reported, observed a small plane with a V-tail and red striping flying west near Randall Road and Ackman Road and make a "u-turn" to head back east toward the airport. Supposedly he said "Everything seemed normal" except for low altitude and a "hard bank." All right! #1 How low? Expand on "hard bank".

FAA regulations suggest a minimum altitude above ground level (AGL) when flying in populated areas and flying near airports. Hugh Clark, 65, and Paul San Filippo, 82 and owner of the Bonanza, were both experienced pilots. They would know to establish the correct minimum and safe altitude after take-off. Were they experiencing an in-flight problem at that time?

What was Szeszel's estimate of the plane's altitude? The FAA might have to take him back to the corner and fly a Bonanza past him a few times to get a good guess from him.

A "hard bank" could be a controlled turn, which a pilot might make if he had full control of his aircraft's power. Winds can affect aircraft stability. Experienced pilots (and novices, too) might "push the envelope" in a hurry to return to the landing pattern.

If Clark and San Filippo were making a fast return for a landing, they might have had their hands full with the aircraft and didn't use the radio. Sometimes, pilots don't report in-flight emergencies to avoid embarrassment. Sometimes, they just don't have time or don't divert their attention from flying the plane.

An important factor for the FAA will be the amount of fuel in the plane's tanks. If you make a couple of "hard" banks, you might interrupt fuel flow to the engine. Or maybe they were still using the tank with the least fuel (or no fuel). It's on the checklist. Sometimes, experienced pilots don't use checklists.

Stories have mentioned winds at the airport that day. A crosswind of 10-15MPH (wind is usually reported in Knots, not miles) probably wouldn't be that big of a problem for experienced pilots in a Bonanza. For students? Yes. For Clark and San Filippo, probably not. If they were having an emergency, could they have landed eastbound, with the wind, instead of circling to land into the wind? What were the winds and from what direction?

Were they in radio contact with LITH? I don't think there is full-time radio service, but somebody pays attention to the base station radio on the ground. Even without radio contact on the ground, other pilots monitor the frequency. The two pilots would have been aware of anyone else using the airport at the moment, such as another pilot reporting an approach for landing or a pilot on the ground taxiing into position for take-off.

First rule is to gain altitude. Then you have some choices about where to land. And keep up flying speed. That is, if you can. If you can't, then you pick your spot where you are going to put it down.

Were both pilots qualified to fly the Bonanza? Clark would have held an endorsement for "high-performance" aircraft, meaning landing gear and variable-pitch prop. (Reminder: my terminology is 30 years old.) So would have San Filippo. Was Clark getting checked out in the Bonanza? One article said San Filippo was a flight instructor (CFI). Or were the two men just out for some fun in the air?

But at age 82 did San Filippo have the correct medical certificate to go with his pilot's license? Was he "current" medically? Was his CFI current and in good standing?

Legally, I'm a pilot. I have my commercial pilot's certificate and my instrument flight rating. And, legally, I cannot fly, because I haven't held a current medical certificate for 30 years. Obviously, I haven't had a bi-annual checkride to confirm my proficiency. I don't fly, anymore. But I "could" say I am a pilot. I don't. I say, "I was a pilot."

No pilot hates to give up flying, especially when you own your own plane. So the FAA should be examining the flight currency of both pilots. The FAA will examine maintenance logs and recent hours in the air. And by whom.

Why is Clark's family so quick to say that Clark wasn't at the controls? They would have absolutely no way of knowing that, so why would the Northwest Herald even print it. Why could it be important? If at the point of impact, Clark was "just" a passenger, life insurance policies will pay accidental death benefits. The insurance company(ies) won't miss that one.

I knew a pilot who crashed on a freeway near an airport in Miami. He said he was only 1/4-mile from the airport and ran out of gas. When I said, "You almost made it," he said, "No, I had just taken off." The line boy had not fueled the plane, as directed. More importantly, the pilot had not visually checked the fuel level (it's on the checklist) before taking off.