Cirrus SR22 Crashes in Maryland

N8163Q - Pilot crashed on 2nd attempt to land
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N8163Q/history/20060711/1259Z/26N/KANP

I’ve saved the track log in case it gets wiped (if anyone cares).

Story from The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/11/AR2006071100424.html

ANNE ARUNDEL PLANE CRASH
Small Plane Crashes in Anne Arundel, Pilot Hurt

By Shearon Roberts
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 12, 2006; Page B03

Mark Cole, 16, a senior at Broadneck High School in Annapolis, was driving down Route 2 about 9:30 a.m. yesterday when he saw a plane coming in too high for a landing at Lee Airport, southwest of the city. Cole pulled over to watch as the pilot made a second attempt to land and crashed into a soybean field behind several hangars.

Cole, an aspiring pilot who said he trains with the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol’s Annapolis squadron, put his emergency services skills to the test, jumped a fence and, with help from another man, pulled the pilot from the plane.

The pilot’s legs had been pinned underneath the dashboard, Cole said. “He was unresponsive, he made a few noises and he was just trying to get air.”

The second rescuer, who had been nearby tending to his plane, declined to give his name to a reporter.

Emergency units from the Anne Arundel, Annapolis and U.S. Naval Academy fire departments arrived shortly afterward, said Lt. Frank Fennell of the county’s fire department.

Fennell identified the pilot as Ralph Dilks, 64. Fennell said the plane was owned by Dilks’s brother, Donald Dilks, and based at a hangar in Ocean City. A Maryland State Police helicopter transported Dilks to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where he was in critical condition.

Rescuers tore away parts of the fence to gain access to the mangled single-engine Cirrus SR22, its wings and tail torn off, facing a canopy of trees at the edge of the field and about 300 feet from the runway.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators were looking into a possible cause for the crash.

“This is the first incident in three-plus years,” said Van Lee, who owns and runs the general aviation airport with his sister, Beth Shimer, and her husband, Jamie Shimer. “This is an extremely safe airport.”