Lancair Loses Clamshell Door; Pilot Makes Safe Landing
Door separated just minutes into a flight from Virginia to Wisconsin.
Police photos show the top section of the Lancair ES door is still attached to the door opening but severed partway down the door structure. Credit: Virginia State Police
Details are still sketchy on yesterday’s report of a door separation involving a Lancair ES shortly after departing from Leesburg Executive Airport (KJYO), Leesburg, Virginia. The flight was bound for Lawrence Timmerman Airport (KMWC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The pilot/owner, 63-year-old Dan O’Brien, returned to KJYO and made a safe landing.
Flight data recorded by FlightAware shows the Lancair took off at 8:46 a.m. and climbed to an altitude of roughly 4,000 feet in the next seven minutes. It then began a descent that quickly reached a rate of 846 feet per minute before stabilizing at an altitude of 2,850 feet. The last few minutes of the flight show descent rates in the normal range of 500 fpm as O’Brien executed his landing at KJYO.
State Police photos show the fuselage with the hinged section of the clamshell door still attached, but severed about 10 inches from the top hinge attach point. According to news reports, the door separated over the town of Round Hill in Loudoun County, Virginia, roughly 12 nautical miles west northwest of the departure airport, Leesburg Executive. Virginia State Troopers and the Loudoun County Sheriff’s office are searching for the door (described as 3.5 feet by 2.5 feet, white with maroon markings) and ask people not to touch or disturb it if they find it. The FAA and NTSB are aware of the incident, according to the police report.
