Time change, setting sun may have factored in Thursday plane crash

GILFORD — Anyone who’s ever had to drive into the setting sun knows just how blinding it can be. Now imagine trying to land an airplane under those same conditions. That might just be what caused last Thursday’s plane crash at the Laconia Municipal Airport, and it wasn’t the first. 

The cream-colored seaplane clipped the roof of a local business in the shopping plaza next to Patrick’s Pub & Eatery during an attempted landing. The plane tumbled forward and smashed into the parking lot.

The pilot, Bob Welch, was transported to Concord Hospital—Concord, where reports indicate he was treated for facial lacerations and head trauma. Welch is expected to recover, and was reportedly conscious Thursday night.

Welch's crash occurred exactly two years after a similar incident at the airport. On Nov. 10, 2020, just before 4 p.m., another single-engine plane flew over the shopping center during its descent and clipped a maple tree, “causing the aircraft to flip over and crash upside down with its tail toward the main runway,” according to an article in The Daily Sun about the crash. Last Thursday, Welch’s seaplane was in an almost identical position: tail toward the runway and upside down. 

According to Laconia Municipal Airport Manager Marv Everson, the 2020 crash and the 2022 crash might have had the same cause.

“With the time change, the angle of the sun at approximately 4 p.m., if you're flying in on Runway 26, you're looking directly into the sun,” Everson said, indicating that the sun could be a factor. “That's where two years ago almost to the day we had another aircraft that had a similar problem and he landed in the trees on airport property.”

In the 2020 crash, Everson was quoted explaining that the sunlight disoriented the pilot, causing him to think his aircraft high enough to clear the tree line. Both the pilot and his passenger survived the crash, but the question remains, what can pilots do to safely land in blinding conditions?

“Be aware that if you're coming in and got the sun in your eyes, power up and pull out. Don't try to land,” Everson said. "If you go around and try again, be aware of it, and be aware of your gauges so you can land properly.”

Everson added that just 15 or 20 minutes later, the sun will set to a level where it should no longer be a problem.

“Power up, pull up, get out and go around,” Everson said. “That's what most pilots do and they don't have a problem. That's why it's so seldom that it happens.”

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the basic facts of Thursday's incident, but declined to confirm the pilot’s identity in a statement to the Sun. The aircraft is registered to Moosehead Industries, a company affiliated with Welch. 

“A single-engine Cessna 175 crashed while the pilot was attempting to land at Laconia Municipal Airport in Gilford, around 4 p.m. local time Thursday,” The FAA wrote. “Only the pilot was on board. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates.”

The FAA added that the investigation could take several weeks to complete.