Kreindler Investigating Crash of Cirrus SR-22 at Falmouth, Massachusetts

On September 1, 2012, at about 11:00 a.m., a Cirrus SR22, FAA Registration No. N221DV, crashed during a landing attempt at Falmouth Airpark-5B6 in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The flight was an instructional flight that left the Tweed New Haven Airport in New Haven, Connecticut, earlier that morning to practice landings at Falmouth. Falmouth is a relatively short and narrow runway and is part of a flying community. Witnesses observed the plane come in “unstabled” and then power was added apparently to execute a missed approach. The aircraft rolled towards the left and veered into trees on the left side of the runway. The flight instructor, Aaron Mentkowski, from Wallingford, Connecticut, was killed. The aircraft owner and student pilot, Albert Rossini, and his wife, Dianne Palmeri, who was a passenger, were seriously injured and taken by medevac to Massachusetts General Hospital. Rossini and Palmeri lived in Guilford, Connecticut.

Palmeri is the chief financial officer and associate dean for finance and administration at the Yale School of Management.

Mentkowski, who was engaged to be married, was employed by Robinson Aviation of East Haven as an instructor and was rated as a Cirrus standardized instructor pilot (“CSIP”). A CSIP means that Mentkowski received special training from the aircraft manufacturer, Cirrus, in how to train pilots to fly the Cirrus aircraft.

The Cirrus SR22 has been involved in a spate of similar landing crashes where pilots have attempted to execute a missed approach and have lost control of the aircraft. This has raised questions about the ability to control the Cirrus SR-22 during a missed approach attempt when the aircraft is at a relatively slow airspeed (high angle of attack) and a lot of engine power is being added rapidly causing a left yawing moment of the aircraft. See Dan Rose’s Blog

Kreindler partner Dan Rose, who has flown the Cirrus SR-22 into Falmouth, is investigating this crash and can be contacted at drose@kreindler.com

Photo Credit: Cirrus SR 22 plane, Josh Beasley