MachFly said:
Anyone know what caused the actual crash?
The story on this link seemed to take forever to load, but sounds like one plane might have been practicing stalls:
http://www.oregonlive.com/wilsonville/index.ssf/2011/10/plane_with_student_pilot_dropp.html
Copy-and-paste of the salient portions:
Plane with student pilot dropped onto smaller craft, breaking it into pieces, investigators find
Published: Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 6:39 PM Updated: Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 7:47 PM
By
Rick Bella, The Oregonian
[...]
WILSONVILLE -- The twin-engine Piper flown by a Beaverton flight instructor and a Hillsboro student dived down on the smaller aircraft, smashing it to pieces and sending its pilot crashing to his death, police said Wednesday.
Capt. Ken Summers, Yamhill County Sheriff's Office spokesman, said witnesses to Tuesday's midair collision northwest of Aurora State Airport told investigators that the larger Piper PA-44 Seminole was executing training maneuvers in the area, making a series of rapid ascents and descents shortly after 4 p.m., when it came down upon a Beech Bonanza V35 that had taken off from the Twin Oaks Airpark in Hillsboro.
The Piper's underside then struck the Beech.
"It was literally cut in two," Summers said.
The Beechcraft -- in pieces -- then careened out of control and spiraled into ground. Pilot Stephen L. Watson, 58, of Beaverton, a retired Oregon State Police sergeant, was killed.
The crippled Piper then limped to Champoeg State Heritage area, where it made an emergency landing in an open field just west of the park. The plane, registered to Hillsboro Aviation, appeared to have damaged landing gear.
