Several of you have brought this too my attention today. Time to report some sad news. Looks like another stall/spin.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A small home built airplane carrying two passengers crashed Thursday morning near the Cochise County Airport in Willcox.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the single engine Thorp T-18 crashed under unknown circumstances at 9:20 a.m. in southeastern Arizona.
Both men onboard were killed.
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor in Los Angles says members of the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA will investigate the crash.
The names of the crash victims has not been released.
WILLCOX, AZ (KOLD) - A small homemade airplane carrying two people has crashed about a half-mile from the Cochise County Airport at Willcox, officials said.
A Cochise County Sheriff's spokesperson said the two men onboard were killed.
The aircraft, a single-engine Thorp T-18, crashed at about 9:20 a.m., a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.
Cochise County Airport Manager Louise Walden told KOLD News 13 that the plane attempted to land, but went around to try again.
She said it crashed on the second landing attempt.
Walden said the plane was not from the Willcox area.
Witnesses saw the plane fall "straight down" just northwest of the airport, Cochise County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Carol Capas said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane's tail number is N467JF.
National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration investigators are en route to the scene of the crash.
An online record search shows the last registered owner of the aircraft was in Oklahoma.
It also revealed a craft with the same tail number was involved in an accident in October 2006 in San Diego.
Those records indicate the aircraft had since been sold.
http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=76510
A personal note ...
I saw a Thorp go in at Oshkosh years ago (I was about 10) ... another classic stall spin, right in front of ~10K people ... I was right on the line watching planes land and he went in right in front of me. Didn't scare me away from the Thorp but it taught me to respect the bank angle close to the ground. I fly the Thorp no different than I do a King Air or Lear ... nice steady constant rate turn from (downwind or whereever) to final ... still don't understand why private pilots are taught the "box" approach ...
