Three people were injured Saturday, Oct. 13, when an RV-8 and a car collided at Old Boerne Stage Airfield near San Antonio, Texas, a Bexar County Sheriff’s Office sergeant reported in a story posted by the San Antonio (Texas) Express-News. The accident occurred about 10:30 am.
The driver of the vehicle, a woman, 33, was crossing a runway when she collided with a single-passenger plane that was preparing to take off, Sgt. Tom Akeroyd said. The 54-year-old pilot and the woman were airlifted to University Hospital.
The woman’s 6-year-old son, a passenger in the vehicle, was also taken to the hospital by a family member, officers said.
Akeroyd said the car’s driver lives in a house on the airfield grounds and is the daughter of its owners, identified in property records as Robert and Nancy Bruce.
An NTSB preliminary report posted on Oct 14 reads as follows:
“This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.
“On October 13, 2007, about 1045 central daylight time, a single-engine Formhals RV-8 tailwheel-equipped experimental airplane, N628RV, was substantially damaged during a collision with an automobile during takeoff from the Boerne Stage Field Airport (5C1), near San Antonio, Texas. The private pilot and the occupants of the automobile were seriously injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The local flight was originating at the time of the accident.
“According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, who responded to the accident site, approximately 555-feet along the pilot’s takeoff roll from Runway 17, an automobile attempted to cross the runway. The pilot was unable to avoid the automobile which resulted in a collision. The airplane came to rest in an upright position. A post crash fire did not ensue. The pilot and automobile driver were air lifted to a local hospital.
“Photographs provided to the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) revealed that the airplane’s wings and fuselage sustained structural damage.”