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September 10, 2008, KLKP (Lake Placid, NY): Imagine yourself in a Cessna 310 on approach to Lake Placid at night (you could be in any aircraft). You have keyed up the lights and are following a stabilized descent path to the runway on a beautiful clear night with no wind...you end up trashing the plane! Fortunately, you and your passenger walk away with no injuries, but what caused this amazing wreckage? This is a caution for all pilots: Night flight requires thorough preparation. A disproportionate number of accidents occur at night and especially at smaller airports on dark (phase of the moon) nights.
This is how a beautiful night and a routine flight can turn into "scattered aluminum" on the runway for a very simple reason: failure to check the NOTAMS! This is a disfunctional system and you really have to dig to find everything. The PIC mandate is part of 91.103: "PIC shall obtain all available information!" This accident has not yet been examined by the NTSB and we have no reports except eye-witness accounts. We know the runway was officially closed with 12" grooves cut in the surface for repair. The twin-driver keyed up the lights, which were still operational, and landed, cleaning off the gear and trashing the plane. This trap awaits anyone that fails to fully plan and brief a flight. If this was a published NOTAM (I could not find it) it would not be required information in a standard briefing (if one was obtained). Flight-aware records show this mapping plane had used KLKP occasionally in the past. Perhaps a bit of complacency mixed with familiarity resulted in a dramatic wreck?
These are cellphone pictures courtesy of member Steve Dorsey who was flight training at this airport during the time when this crash occurred (he was training daily on the grass runway which was still open and operational in a C-150).
Another member who is familiar with the occurance reported this was a newer pilot with this mapping company "building twin time" but this is unconfirmed.
One thing we know for sure: this is now a very unhappy pilot!
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