The pilot was providing airplane rides to family and friends who had assembled at a dry lakebed near El Mirage, Calif., in his American Aviation AA-1A.
He completed two uneventful flights and then departed for a third flight from the lakebed.
According to witnesses, he had planned to perform a low pass over the group, and he did so just after takeoff, passing within about 50 feet directly overhead.
The entire accident sequence was captured on video. The airplane dipped its right wing as it passed over the camera position and, after the pass, continued in a climbing right turn, which progressed rapidly to almost 90° of bank.
The excessive bank angle resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and experiencing an accelerated stall at an altitude too low for recovery.
The airplane then entered the initial stages of a spin before striking the ground in an almost vertical attitude. Both people aboard were killed.
Although the reason for the aggressive turn could not be determined, the pilot’s overflight of the group while maneuvering at low altitude is consistent with an intentionally-performed ostentatious display.
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the pilot’s loss of airplane control while intentionally maneuvering close to the ground, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack in a steep bank and entering an accelerated stall.
NTSB Identification: WPR14FA239
This June 2014 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
A shame part of licensing sequence is not a test for stupidness!
The fact that you are a pilot it is sufficient reason to be proud of, because you belong to a very exclusive kind of people. There is no need for buzzing or mess up with your plane or people. There is something called briefing that it is not only for the cockpit but outside the plane. You, as A pilot, have to explain to non pilots around you, what can or not be done, in, out or around. You are the pilot in command, enough said.
The whole situation was a setup for disaster from the very start. So a low time pilot in an aircraft that requires good piloting skills is taking family for demonstration rides off of an airport with very little control or oversight for poor behavior. Of course he felt the need to WOW the spectators with his airmanship skills and there is really not that much you can do with an AA-1 but buzz the crowd and give them a nice zooming climb and turn. As said my others the wing is not tolerant of low speed and the stall is not all that gentle. So this was his third time around and maybe he felt pressured to put on a good display, maybe a few remarks from the spectators that the aircraft did not seem very impressive despite its fighter like looks with the sliding canopy and all. We all know how that stuff goes and it would have just been best to take one person out for a sight seeing flight and leave the audience behind. This is all speculation on my part but after 40 years in aviation I know how the scenario plays out all too often.
I had a friend that was learning to fly and all the FBO had at first was an AA-1B for training. They later got a C-150 to which he transitioned and he could not begin to say enough about how much easier it was to fly. They tried to sell those aircraft at one time looking like military type aircraft to appeal to the more adventurous pilot.
Yes that AA-1 is a BEAR. hates to leave the ground,struggles to fly. VR is close to 70kts with poor acceleration,approach is 80,touchdown bout 79.5 :} flaps? yes they are there somewhere, not worth looking for.
Yes by what is reported here it looks like an accelerated stall. The infamous Bede 2 Yankee that is the American Aviation AA-1A. Short wing and high wing loads in steep turns do not make safe for flyers.
When you set the flaps all it does is change the pitch angle of the nose.
And no one should ever take people for rides without a thorough checkout of themselves and the equipment.
It would be helpful to view the video. Is it public?
STUPID – ok to kill yourself, not others