Two die in small plane crash near Albany
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ALBANY, Ore. – Two people died Monday after their small plane crashed near Albany, according to Linn County sheriff's deputies.
Timothy Dean Carter, 46, of Portland and Jeff Earl Kropf, 45, of Halsey were the only occupants on the plane, Linn County Undersheriff Bruce Riley said.
Kropf was a cousin of former state lawmaker Jeff Kropf.
The plane crashed in a field near Brewster Road and Highway 226 at around 3:30 p.m., deputies said. Both men died on impact.
Carter was the owner of the two-seat experimental RV6, Riley said. Investigators think the plane took off from the Lebanon Municipal Airport just before 3:30 p.m. on a pleasure flight and crashed minutes later.
According to Riley, witnesses said the plane was banking left when part of one of its wings fell off and landed on the highway. The plane crashed several thousand feet south of Brewster Road and Highway 226 in a cow pasture.
The rural area is located about nine miles east of Albany.
The FAA and the NTSB are investigating.
Debris from the crash closed Highway 226 south of Scio until about 8:30 p.m.
The pilot maintained this plane to the fullest. He was extremely careful every time he flew this plane. Love and prayers to the families of both who were lost yesterday. This was a very sad accident.
I have always wanted to build an RV6 great looking and great flying plane I hear. Sounds like it may not have been maintained correctly...
@FreedomRocks They are fantastic little airplanes but unless I was a machinist I wouldn't trust my own work, and if somebody else built it privately, I'd want to know a lot about how they built it. The RV planes get a lot of crash publicity because there are a great number of them in the region and some people who fly them... well.. There's a local term for them, which is "RV pilots."
Home built kit planes (generally) are a LOT more inspected than some of the factory built Cessna's and Pipers that have one inspector in each plant. Homebuilts are inspected at every stage, and have to have a final inspection before first flight, and have to fly 40 hours before carrying a passenger. The article did not say how old or new it was...RV6's have been around for about 20 years...so maintenance could be a problem...or a mistake when it was built and not caught in many inspections or ??? FAA will investigate the accident, but cause will probably not be known for several months, and by that time most will have forgotten it even happened.
 @flyingtime KGW said it was built in '96.
Very sad. How does a wing just fall off a plane? That's disconcerting.
@medborgare this is a kit plane. So, the culprits are going to be improper maintenance, improper construction, or excessive G-forces (wing loading) due to extreme maneuvering. Short of striking another object midair, that's about it.
 @Playanekes Thanks, makes sense. Personally can't imagine the compulsion to build something from a kit that you then trust to take you into the air, but to each their own.
@FreedomRocks @medborgare the General Aviation industry uses hard statistics and accident histories to resolve its risk management questions. Politics is not a factor. 80% of GA accidents are related to pilot error. Structural failure is exceedingly rare. Cessnas made by union workers are still statistically about the safest aircraft made.
 @medborgare  @Playanekes So having a bunch of union factory workers that may or may not even like their job or may not be competent but are protected by the union gives you more confidence what your are flying in?
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Really?
@medborgare @Playanekes Along the lines of improper maintenance, the spar bolts that hold or mount the wing to the fuselage may have corroded suffinciently to fail, or the nut securing the bolt came off and the bolt was able to work out of it's hole. It may also be noted that if the whole wing did not detach, that a portion, sometimes the flap, or aileron control surfaces may have detached. In either case, craft control is compromised. Any of the above mentioned problems could have, should have been noticed during pre-flight inspection, which was a requirement when I learned to fly. If the inspection didn't occur, then human error is a major factor here.
RIP to the victims and condolences to the family.II was brought up around small planes and experiment aircraft and I understand when you get the flying bug.That being said,I've experienced way to many close calls to ever get in one again.
We had a friend out flying this afternoon and can't get a hold of him or his family.... yikes.....
 @Amber I hope its not your friend.
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@Dolly Ferrier@Amber
Our friend it okay, it wasn't him! Â Whew! Â But our hearts still go out to those who have lost loved ones today. Â I can't imagine what they must be feeling. Â Thank you Dolly, for your concern. Â
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hey there youall i just live a mile from the crash site and didn't hear a thing except for the county sherifs go screaming by
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We live in Lebanon and heard the plane fly over..Husband commented the plane was running rough...then I looked up when I didn't hear the engine....It stalled I thought but the engine started again...He was pretty high up..if this is the same plane...the time frame would be right...