Student Pilot Crashes Into 3 Parked Planes
A student pilot making touch-and-go landings at Van Nuys Airport crashed his rented plane into three aircraft on the ground Wednesday, but no one was injured, airport officials said.
Airport spokesman Bob Hayes said Jeff Schulte, 33, of Encino was flying solo in a Piper Tomahawk. Schulte was practicing a landing-and-takeoff exercise when the 8:30 a.m. accident occurred, Hayes said.
“Apparently his aircraft drifted out of control and then he collided with some aircraft parked on the ground,” Hayes said.
Officials said the single-engine Tomahawk’s left wing clipped two parked Cessnas. Neither of the Cessnas was seriously damaged.
The Tomahawk then struck the mid-section of another parked plane, a Piper Aztec, Hayes said. The Tomahawk and the Piper sustained heavy damage, he said.
Hayes said Schulte had rented the plane at the airport from Bud Walen Aviation.
The accident is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, authorities said.
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