Twin Couldn’t Maintain Altitude Before Freeway Crash Landing

A Tecnam P2006T was unable to maintain altitude on one engine when a flight instructor tried for a freeway landing in Larkspur, Colorado, last June 16, according to a preliminary report from the NTSB. The instructor and student took off just after 6 a.m. in the four-place twin, which is powered by 100-horsepower Rotax 912 engines, from Centennial Airport in Englewood. They did five full-stop landings there before heading to Perry Park Airport in Larkspur to practice single-engine procedures.

"The pilots shut down the left engine, then struggled to restart the engine," the prelim said. "After the second attempt the engine restarted, and they decided to return to the departure airport." The left engine continued to be troublesome and the instructor took control and feathered it. He told the student he wasn't sure it fully feathered. He headed for Perry Park, but the aircraft was in a descent and he determined it wouldn't make the field. The instructor headed for I-25, aiming to set down with the flow of traffic. The left wing hit a sign and the aircraft ended up in a swamp. Both pilots were seriously injured.

The preliminary report didn't comment on the conditions at the time of the accident, but Colorado was in the middle of a heat wave and by the time of the accident at 7:41 a.m. the air temperature was already 78 degrees. Perry Park's elevation is 6700 feet so the density altitude was well north of the little twin's published single-engine ceiling of 7500 feet. The final report is not expected for at least a year.