News we never like to hear. Yesterday Oct 8th a Piper Pacer crashed shortly after takeoff from the Skagit Bayview airport here in WA, a strip I go into frequently. The lone pilot was killed. A local at the airport who was well liked, (they always are). The report was that he had just done some work on the plane and was going for test flight. From looks of the photo's (engine shoved into cockpit) he most likely stalled the aircraft after experiencing some problems. Another reminder (whether that's what got him or not),.. anything is better than a stall/spin when the engine craps out. Be careful out there.

Sad story. That is where I bought all my fuel when I was flying off my 40 hours on my sportsman. Be interesting to know what happened. There are a ton of fields to land in there! And even a bunch of grass strips at alot of the farms in the area.

It was a PA12, not a Pacer. Crashed on takeoff for the first flight after a rebuild. The owner & pilot, Bruce Heiner, had rebuilt a bunch of airplanes over the years, including more than one PA12. Some folks are speculating an elevator problem, either the controls hooked up wrong or a malfunction. Given the guy's experience and expertise, I find it more likely that it was caused by something like a heart attack. Either way, unfortunately, another of us airplane nuts is gone now. My condolences to his family and friends.

Eric