Feds: Pilot error to blame for two 2021 plane crashes near Warren

Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part one, with part two set to appear in Sunday’s Tribune.

———

Pilot error was the cause of two single engine airplane crashes that injured four people last summer near Warren, Idaho, according to reports released by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The accidents were the result of “decision making and judgment” errors by the pilots while taking off from the Warren Airport about 30 miles northeast of McCall, the reports said.

June Crash

Pilot Rick McCarthy, 51 and co-pilot John McClelland, 59, both of San Diego, suffered severe burns after their single-engine airplane crashed three miles northeast of Warren at about 1:30 p.m. June 21, 2021.

McCarthy and McClelland were attempting to land the airplane in Warren on a flight from Caldwell, but came in too fast and were forced to abort the landing halfway down the runway, the NTSB report said.

“The pilot’s decision to continue the approach for landing with excess airspeed resulted in an aborted landing and subsequent collision with trees,” the report said.

The airplane’s left wing clipped a tree but the plane was still able to fly, McClelland said in a written statement.

“Eventually we ran out of space,” McClelland said. “The cabin immediately burst into flames and we both were scrambling to ... exit,” he said.

McCarthy and McClelland were rescued that day by volunteers of Warren Fire Rescue and McCall Fire & EMS. They were then flown to Salt Lake City to the University of Utah Hospital’s Intermountain Burn Center.

McCarthy had logged 710 total hours flying at the time of the accident, including 175 hours on the Cessna 182 he was flying, according to the NTSB report.

September Crash

Haass, 59, and her husband, Gary, 63, were both flown by helicopter to a Boise hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after crashing their Cessna 182 about five miles east of Warren at 10:45 a.m. Sept. 27.

Haass, of Wasilla, Alaska, “failed to maintain altitude” after taking off from the Warren Airport into the wind on a flight to Boise, the NTSB report said.

“I experienced downdrafts which prohibited a turn to crosswind,” Haass said in a written statement. “I continued flight along the valley in hopes of an area to turn around.”

The airplane struck a tree and crashed. Haass and her husband escaped the burning wreckage through the airplane’s windshield, the statement said.

Haass had logged an estimated 18,000 hours flying at the time of the accident, including 1,800 hours in the Cessna 182 she was flying, according to the NTSB report.

Both crashes started small brushfires, which were extinguished by firefighters from the Payette National Forest.

— Drew Dodson, The Star-News, (McCall), Thursday

Work to start on golf course events center; Construction cost rose more than $100,000 in a year

COLFAX — The proposed golf course events center could be under construction this month.

During a city council meeting last month, events center spokesman Al Kirkpatrick said Dalco Construction is ready to begin work in June.

In 2021, the estimated price of the project was $165,000-$180,000.

The estimated price as of this year is at $300,000-plus to get the building erected.

“We may need more fundraising to finish the interior,” Kirkpatrick said.

In addition, Palouse River Rock is working on site preparation and digging a hole for the septic tank, he said.

Paulson Plumbing will be donating labor on the project, and Harrison Electic will be handling power-related work, Kirkpatrick said.

Jamie Warwick has volunteered to work on cabinetry on the 200-capacity, 50-foot by 90-foot pole building.

“The idea is to provide an events facility for celebrations of life weddings, family reunions, class, birthdays, anniversaries, retirements ... all those kinds of special events,” Kirkpatrick said.

More than $300,000 has been donated for the facility.

— Teresa Simpson, Whitman County Gazette, (Colfax), Thursday