Pilot killed in glider crash as transcontinental race begins

Antelope Valley Press ^ | June 21, 2003 | JULIE DRAKE

[BenLurkin]

Photo: Return to Kitty Hawk Web site

FATAL CRASH - Eugene LANO - The first day of a transcontinental glider race brought tragedy as one of several dozen pilots was killed Thursday when he crashed in the Angeles National Forest.

Eugene Carapetyan, 61, of Corona del Mar was one of about 45 pilots competing in the Return to Kitty Hawk transcontinental glider race commemorating the centennial of Orville and Wilbur Wright's first flight.

Carapetyan was killed when his craft crashed in the San Gabriel Mountains. The pilot, who delivered aircraft parts for Beechcraft before retiring two years ago, is survived by his wife, Louanne Peck, and two adult children.

Larry Tuohino, a race spokesman, said he has no specific knowledge of the crash but estimated it occurred shortly after Carapetyan left the Crystalaire Airport around 1 p.m.

"My gut feeling is it happened near the time he launched," Tuohino said, adding that if Carapetyan had remained in the air or had trouble getting up in the air he believes "we would have heard it on the radio."

The gliders took off about noon from the airport and landed hours later in Jean, Nev., said Dale Masters, a flight instructor with the Great Western Soaring School, which hosted the takeoff.

"He (Carapetyan) was a very experienced pilot," Masters said.

Apparently, no one knew Carapetyan was missing until the pilots landed at the Nevada location.

"They tried to reach him by radio but couldn't contact him," Masters said. "No one had noticed he wasn't there."

Carapetyan's wife, who served as his ground crew, and didn't know he hadn't reached in Jean until after she arrived at the Nevada site.

Tuohino, a close friend of Carapetyan's, described the pilot as a "great, fun guy" and "one of those guys that steps forward to volunteer."

"This is really, really just a tragedy," he added.

Tuohino said Carapetyan has flown "his entire life," beginning at about 15.

Jim Payne, the Return to Kitty Hawk West Coast coordinator, described Carapetyan as a "local who knew soaring in the California mountains very well."

"Gene was a wonderful man, one of soaring's unsung heros," Payne wrote in a tribute posted on the race's Web site at hssaregion12.org/rtkh/index.html.

Carapetyan and about 50 other pilots from around the world were taking part in Return to Kitty Hawk in honor of the Wright brothers' first flight in December 1903 at Kitty Hawk, N.C. The pilots are schedule to make 10 stops across the nation before arriving in Kitty Hawk, hopefully on the Fourth of July.

The race was delayed on Friday to give the pilots a day for reflection, Tuohino said.

"All these guys have got a tremendous amount of guts to do this event," Tuohino said. "They understand the risk. It's an extremely sad way to start the race."

The cause of the crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Tuohino said mountain flying "is a bit more dangerous but a lot more rewarding."

Cindy Brickner, a licensed pilot and flight instructor with Caracole Soaring in California City, does not have specific knowledge of the crash but said Thursday's weather conditions included a "fairly strong south flow from aloft" which could have reduced Carapetyan's altitude "suddenly away from the hill."

"It's a terrible thing," Brickner said. "It's not anything any of us wanted." Carapetyan, 61, of Corona del Mar died Thursday when the glider he was piloting crashed in the Angeles National Forest. He was participating in the Return to Kitty Hawk transcontinental glider race when the accident occurred, and had just taken off from the Crystalaire Airport.

[Parley Baer]

Story is a little unclear but I assume they found the crash site and the body in the San Gabriel Mountains???