Rantoul - Urbana

On April 29, 2000 at 01:15 PM, Rantoul - Urbana experienced a crash involving Beechcraft C-45 Expeditor, operated by Brutlag Aviation, with the event recorded near Urbana-Day Aero Place Illinois.

The flight was categorized as private and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

3 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 3 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 2, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The pilot said he performed three-point touchdown, landing to the east on a grass airstrip. He said, '... as we landed, the tail wanted to come up, so I pulled the stick all the way back and held it back ... while I was reaching to lift the flaps off.' The pilot said that before he got the flaps retracted, he noticed the tail was coming up again. He ensured that the power was off and his feet were off the brakes. 'The airplane came up on its nose. We were almost stopped before we flipped on our back over the nose.' The pilot said that when he later returned to the airplane, he noticed the 'T-handle brake lever was 3/4 engaged.' Examination of the airplane revealed heavy longitudinally running grass rubbing on both tires. The brake discs were free and the wheels rotated freely. An examination of the field showed a pair of parallel-running tire marks moving toward the north side of the landing strip, and 11 succeeding slashes in the ground running perpendicular to the parallel tire tracks on the airplane's left side. An examination of the remaining airplane systems revealed no anomalies. Wind conditions, reported 14 minutes after the accident, were 010° at 7 knots.

Aircraft reference details include registration N3482, MSN 7073, year of manufacture 1944.