Plane in Wednesday’s crash involved in 2012 hard landing

The single-engine plane that crash-landed Wednesday evening near Cold Creek was involved in a November accident at Sacramento Executive Airport in California, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Investigators determined that the student pilot in the Nov. 4 incident raised the plane’s nose too high in a landing attempt, causing the Remos GX aircraft to bounce as it touched down at the Sacramento Executive Airport, resulting in a 22-inch tear in the fuselage.

“The student pilot aborted the landing, performed a second touch-and-go landing, and noticed that it did not feel right,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board report on the Nov. 4 landing.

Authorities did not release the name of the pilot in that incident or in Wednesday’s crash.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the same plane crashed into a field near Cold Creek about 6 p.m. Wednesday after the pilot tried to make a precautionary landing on a dirt road because of a low fuel warning.

The pilot, who was the only person on board, suffered minor injuries, said Ian Gregor, the FAA spokesman.

A flight-tracking website showed the plane left Sacramento Executive Airport about noon Wednesday destined for the North Las Vegas Airport but, according to the FAA, a low-fuel warning light forced the pilot to attempt a landing 50 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The plane was damaged as it landed on U.S. Forest Service land on the outskirts of the Cold Creek community, said Randy Swick, Forest Service Area Manager for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.

FAA records show the small aircraft with tail number N110GX is registered to Greg Thomas Group Inc. in Sacramento.

A call to the company was not returned Thursday.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.