2016 APA SCHOLARSHIPS JimTimm
by Jim Timm

Early each year, for the past few years, The Arizona Pilots Association has made a couple of scholarships available to qualified and deserving aviation program students at the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) location at Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa to assist the students in pursuing their aviation careers. This year’s program resulted in ten applying for what was initially going to be two scholarships. When the scholarship selection committee started to review the applications, everyone was amazed at the high quality of the applications, and that many of them were deserving of being chosen. It was evident that the selection task was not going to be very easy. Very early in the task it was decided that we needed to request additional funding to permit increasing the number of recipients from two to three, which was unanimously approved by the APA board. After much discussion and debate the three finalists selected were: Dylan Hicks, Avery Nelson, and Baby Kaithe Tampos.

Dylan will be starting at the Chandler Gilbert Community Collage flight program this fall and wants to be a flight instructor.

Avery wants to get his pilot’s license thru EVIT, then go on to college and become a professional pilot.

Kaithe will be starting Embry-Riddle this fall, getting her pilots license, and study engineering with the long term goal of being a flight test engineer.

We want to wish all the applicants and EVIT success in their pursuit of a career in aviation. We would like to suggest that any members that would like to assist aviation career students with their education to please send their tax deductible donations to the APA with a memo denoting the Scholarship Fund.

(Avery Nelson wasn’t able to be present when the scholarship checks were presented, but he was proudly represented by his father.)

scholarships 1

The 2015 year ended with a total of 38 NTSB reported aircraft accidents occurring in the state of Arizona. In the reporting of this number of accidents, keep in mind that an incident such as a gear up landing, which can be very financially devastating, but when no one was injured or structural damage as defined by the NTSB did not occur, these incidents are not included in this accident number.

Unfortunately, when this report was prepared in mid-February, there were two reported accidents for the year that were still devoid of detailed information. First was a Cessna 172 on November 7 in Mesa, and a Lancair 360 on December 13, at Rimrock. The number of persons involved and the extent of their injuries, if any, is unknown. Most likely there were no fatalities. (These two are included in the reported accident numbers.)

The thirty eight accidents that occurred in 2015 are as follows and are compared to the sixty one that occurred in 2014.

2014

2015

Certified Powered Fixed Wing Aircraft

20

37

Experimental Fixed Wing Aircraft

10

10

Rotor Wing Aircraft

5

9

Gliders

1

2

Balloons

2

3

Of the people that were involved in these reported accidents in 2015, there were 3 fatalities, 9 received serious injuries, 7 received minor injuries, and 68 persons involved were uninjured.

YEAR 2015

ACCIDENT INJURY

BREAKDOWN

There were 87 persons involved in the 38 accidents that occurred in 2015 while there were 120 persons involved in the 61 accidents occurring in 2014. A breakdown of the 2014 injuries for aircraft class was not available.

AIRCRAFT CLASS

None

Minor

Serious

Fatalities

Certified Powered Fixed Wing

29

2

4

0

Experimental Fixed Wing

14

3

2

0

Rotor Wing

5

2

1

2

Glider

0

0

0

1

Balloon

20

0

2

0

Part 135/137 Operations (Included in above) 1 Serious injury, 2 fatalities.

SYNOPSIS

OF

2015 FATAL ACCIDENTS

The following are the fatal aviation accidents that occurred within the state of Arizona as reported by the National Transportation Safety Board. In 2015 there were two accidents involving 3 fatalities, as compared to ten accidents involving sixteen fatalities in 2014. The phase of flight/operation and aircraft type is listed and a description of each of the two accidents are also provided.

LOSS OF CONTROL ON TAKE OFF

Schempp-Hirth Standard Cirrus (Glider) 1 Fatal

LOSS OF CONTROL ON LANDING

LOSS Of CONTROL IN FLIGHT

CONTROLLED FLIGHT INTO TERAIN

Airbus Helicopters AS350-B3 2 Fatal

FATAL ACCIDENT SUMMARIES

Accident Date: Saturday, April 11, 2015 Report Dated 4/23/2015

Title 14 CFR Part 91

Location: Prescott Valley

Aircraft Type: Schempp-Hirth Standard Cirrus (Glider)

Injuries: 1 Fatal

LOSS OF CONTROL DURING WINCH LAUNCH

About 1525 MST, a Schempp-Hirth, Standard Cirrus glider, sustained substantial damage after impact with terrain following a winch-tow-launch and initial climb at the A.C. Goodwin Memorial Field Gliderport (AZ86), Prescott Valley. The certified private pilot, the sole occupant, sustained fatal injuries.

Witnesses reported that they observed the glider being launched from a winch tow line to the southwest. During the initial climb at an altitude of about 500 feet above ground level, the left wing dropped, followed by the glider descending in a steep nose-down attitude prior to impact with terrain. A post accident examination of the glider revealed that all components necessary for flight were accounted for at the accident site. It was also reported that the glider had been winch-tow launched three times that day prior to the accident.

Accident Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2015 Report Dated 1/4/16

Title 14 CFR Part 135

Location: Superior

Aircraft Type: Airbus Helicopters AS350-B3

Injuries: 2 Fatal, 1 Serious

CONTROLLED FLIGHT INTO TERRAIN

About 1723 MST, an Airbus helicopter, AS350B3 was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain while maneuvering near Superior. The commercial pilot, and flight nurse sustained fatal injuries and the flight paramedic sustained serious injuries. The cross-country positioning flight originated from the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (IWA) at 1705 with an intended destination of Globe, Arizona.

According to the operator, the air ambulance helicopter had transported a patient from the Cobre Valley Community Hospital, Globe, to the Baywood Heart Hospital in Mesa. The flight originated from their base in Globe, with a planned return to their base at the conclusion of the operation. After transporting the patient, the helicopter was repositioned to IWA for refueling. It subsequently departed IWA for the return flight to its base in Globe. The flight was being tracked by satellite at the company's national communication center, AIRCOM, in Omaha, Nebraska. The company's operations control center (OCC), located in Denver, Colorado, was monitoring the flight on their Flight Management System. At 1723 MST, satellite tracking of the helicopter was lost. AIRCOM notified the OCC and a search was conducted by a company aircraft. The wreckage was located as a result of an aerial search at about 2054.

Examination of the accident site revealed that the helicopter impacted mountainous terrain about 10 miles north-northwest of Superior. All major structural components of the helicopter were located within the wreckage debris path, which was about 380 feet in length, and oriented on a heading of about 200 degrees magnetic.

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