He idled the plane at an altitude of 450 feet to “simulate an engine failure,” but then experienced aerodynamic stall about 15 to 20 feet above the ground before hitting the private island “nose low and left wing down,” the NTSB’s “factual report” recounts. The pilot reported “that he misjudged the wind speed and did not realize he was completing the simulated training maneuver with a tailwind.”
The pilot and a passenger in the back seat were uninjured. The report indicates neither occupant was administered a toxicology test. The Piper PA-11 plane, built in 1947, had substantial damage.
The NTSB report describes September 19 as a clear day. The plane departed from the Allenholm Airport in South Hero around 11:20 a.m. before crashing on Savage Island, east of Grand Isle, around noon.
John Rahill, a lieutenant colonel and F-16 pilot/instructor in the Vermont Air National Guard, owns the plane. The pilot isn’t identified in the report but several sources said it was Rahill who crashed. The report says the pilot, age 50, possesses a certificate for “airline transport, instructor, military” with 8,346 hours of flight time.
Rahill did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The factual report is one in a series that will be issued by the NTSB, spokesman Eric Weiss told Seven Days. It’s followed by an “analysis phase, which will culminate in a finding of probable cause,” he said.
The factual report lays out what happened while “probable cause tells you why it happened,” Weiss explained. “We can make recommendations to any entity as a way to prevent these sorts of accidents from happening again.”
Allen reached the site and was unhappy to find out that the pilot and his passenger had left. Reached Wednesday, Allen said he wanted to see what action the feds would take before deciding whether he would attempt to have Rahill pay for the unneeded emergency response.
“It is a possibility,” said Allen. “I have to do some research and work with state aviation on what my authority would be on that and what laws Vermont has that would be applicable.”
The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating the incident and looks into “any violation of FAA regulations that may have taken place in an accident,” a spokeswoman said.
“The FAA has the regulatory authority to suspend or revoke pilot licenses and levy civil penalties,” according to the agency. It issues a report separate from the NTSB’s.
The Vermont National Guard declined to comment on any specifics surrounding the case.
“This is a civilian matter being handled by civilian authorities at this time,” said Capt. Dyana Allen, the guard’s public affairs officer. “And we wouldn’t want to be looking into the matter until their investigation has completely closed.”
Members of the Riehle family own the island. Dunlap Riehle oversees the airstrip and said that several small planes use the “north practice area” airspace around the 207-acre island.
“In hindsight, some communication would have gone a long way,” Riehle said. “But no one was injured; there was no equipment failure and that’s the circumstance you normally contact the FAA. None of those occurred.”
Riehle said he’s friendly with Rahill, and helped disassemble and store the wrecked plane after the crash. A few days later, they loaded the plane onto a barge to be taken for repairs.
Riehle does not expect Rahill to face punishment for the crash and said he was relieved no one was hurt.
“There’s an expression that goes, ‘Any landing you walk away from is a good landing,’” Riehle said.
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Hopefully, someone, some agency, will hold these air jockeys accountable for their failure to follow federal rules and regulations. It appears that VANG pilots think they are above the law. Are these the pilots we want flying war machines over the most highly populated area of Vermont?
Not good when a military pilot ‘screws the pooch’ and crashes.
No wonder he attempted to slip away quietly
The pilot reported that he misjudged the wind speed and did not realize he was completing the simulated training maneuver with a tailwind.
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Something about this excuse sounds, I dunno, exceptionally lame? Made up?
I’m not a pilot but aren’t things like wind speed and wind direction fairly basic (and essential) concepts when you are piloting an aircraft?
This whole story has not added up from day 1, and the above explanation — from a military pilot who flies F-16s — does nothing to add clarity to the situation. Especially when combined with the fact that the pilot and his buddy took off from the crash site without notifying anyone, which they had to have known was a clear violation of the law.