Pilot had gone down in same aircraft before, last year in Concord

LACONIA — A representative from the National Transportation Safety Bureau confirmed yesterday that the man who was killed in a crash of his "trike" aircraft had crashed the same aircraft in Concord in April of last year.

A report completed on July 9, 2014 said William R. Panuski, 69, who the NTSB classified as a student pilot, was landing at Concord Airport on August 20, 2014 when he realized that his Evolution REVO was to the right of the center line of the landing strip.

The REVO is a light aircraft with a fixed wing below which hangs a small pod where the pilot sits.

Panuski told investigators that he tried to reposition the REVO to the left but because of a crosswind he corrected more to the left than he needed. He said when he finally centered the aircraft, it was aligned with the left side of the runway and he was about 25-feet from the ground.

He said he discontinued his landing and initiated a go-around maneuver, however the plane "dropped 12 to 15 feet," hit the ground and the nose gear — or front wheel of the trike landing assembly — collapsed before coming to rest on the runway.

The NTSB reported substantial damage to both wings and Panuski reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that precluded normal operations. Presumably he had the REVO repaired because the serial number for both crashes is the same.

Panuski died this weekend after he crashed the Evolution REVO into the top of a rock wall on 86 Lucerne Avenue and landed in the property owner's back yard. He was extricated and transported by ambulance by the Laconia Fire Department to the former St. Helena Church and airlifted to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

Multiple witnesses said they saw the REVO flying very low over the Weirs Channel heading initially toward Paugus Bay. They said the craft banked sharply to the left, hit the top part of the brick wall and came to a stop on the lawn.

The NTSB is just beginning its investigation.