Report: Pilot reported ‘shimmy’ before fiery Brainard plane crash
HARTFORD — The pilot who was seriously injured in a plane crash at Brainard Airport in January reported there was a “little shimmy” with the landing gear before the experimental aircraft crashed and caught fire, according to a report.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report says the pilot, who was the only person on the amateur-built Richard Brinkman Lancair 4P airplane, was seriously injured in the crash on the afternoon of Jan. 28. His condition on Tuesday wasn’t clear.
The Connecticut State Police identified the pilot as Scott Ling, 54, of East Hartford. They said he was thrown from the plane. The pilot’s name does not appear in the report, which says he aborted a takeoff before a second one ended in the fiery crash. The crash was captured on airport surveillance video.
Federal Aviation Administration records show that Ling owns the plane.
According to the report, the video shows the plane taxi from a ramp to Runway 20 and begin to take off, accelerating, but aborting takeoff before becoming airborne. A review of air traffic control communications revealed the pilot reported to the tower that there was a “little shimmy” with the landing fear, and he wanted to “check it out,” the report stated.
The pilot did a 360-degree turn and tried it again, the report stated. During the second takeoff, the plane accelerated, and after the aircraft was in the air, “a rotation was observed,” the report stated. Rotation means the nose of the plane is lifted while the tail is lowered.
The plane then entered a left roll, meaning the left wing dipped. The plane climbed momentarily, but then “entered a steep left roll and left turn toward the terrain to the left of the runway,” according to the report.
Most of the body of the plane — which was powered by a Pratt & Whitney turbine engine — was consumed in the fire, the report stated.
The charred engine was found in the debris path.