Saturday, June 26, 1999
Plane crash spares pilot's life
Bainbridge man flying in home-built plane
BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer contributor
Mark Zinn's home-built plane crashed into a hangar at Hmailton-Fairfield Airport.
(Dick Swaim photo)
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HAMILTON — Witnesses say a Bainbridge, Ohio, man was fortunate to escape serious injury after the experimental plane he was piloting crashed while landing at the Hamilton-
Fairfield Airport Friday. But his home-built airplane is in ruins.
Mark A. Zinn, 53, was treated at Mercy Hospital in Hamilton and released after the 12:43 p.m. accident.
Witnesses said they first saw the airplane at a 45 degree angle about 25 feet off the ground. The wing then touched the grass next to the runway and the plane skidded about 200 feet before crashing into a hangar.
“I knew he was going to crash as soon as I'd seen him,” said Mark Hancock of Fairfield, who ran to the crash site. “I was worried about it exploding because aviation gas is highly flammable.”
Mr. Hancock grabbed a fire extinguisher and pulled Mr. Zinn from the wreckage. The victim was conscious, but fuel was leaking around the crash site.
“I just grabbed him and picked him up,” Mr. Hancock said. “I carried him quite a ways. He's just lucky to be walking away, though.”
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the accident and took control of the wreckage, said Martha Lunken, safety program manager for the agency's Cincinnati office.
Visibility, wind and air traffic control concerns are not expected to be factors in the crash, Mrs. Lunken said.
“This was either mechanical or (human error),” she said.
If investigators determine the accident was a pilot error, the FAA could require Mr. Zinn to take a practical retest.
Mrs. Lunken was at the Hamilton-Fairfield Airport for a weekend safety seminar when the accident occurred.
Home-built airplanes are marked as experimental and cannot be used for commercial purposes.
They must be licensed by the FAA before they can be flown, Mrs. Lunken said.
“These are built by individuals,” she said. “They are high-performance, fast little airplanes. These are challenging airplanes to fly.”
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