The fatal flight was an instructional flight in Flushing, Mich., with a student pilot and a flight instructor onboard.
Video evidence from a ground-based source indicated that the Taylorcraft BC12-65 was in a nose-high left turn at a moderate bank angle.
As the turn progressed, the plane appeared to pitch down, and the left bank steepened before the airplane left the frame of the video.
The location of the camera indicated that the plane was making a turn in the traffic pattern from the base leg to the final approach.
Based on the available evidence, it is likely that the airplane’s airspeed diminished during the turn to a point where the airplane stalled and entered a spin.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the student pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed during the landing approach, which led to a stall/spin, and the flight instructor’s failure to monitor the approach and provide remedial action before the stall.
NTSB Identification: CEN13FA416
This July 2013 accident report is are provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
An old pilots’ rules for a short life.
“Fly low, slow and keep the nose up in the turns.”
Remember people the wing won’t stall itself, you have to do it. When you’re low and slow and the nose wants to drop on it’s own, LET IT!
How sad. You must have asked yourself a million time, “How could he have allowed that to happen?”
I’m sorry for your loss.
The flight instructor was my flight instructor years prior. He was a fantastic man and is deeply missed by more people than I can count. I fly with every time I go as I keep a picture of him on my IP. He was my friend.
Nose high turns in the traffic pattern has killed hundreds of pilots. Keep that nose down kill your excess speed on the straight final approach.