The flight instructor and student pilot departed for an instructional flight from an airport on Catalina Island en route back to their home airport on the mainland. A review of radar data indicated that the Cessna 172 took off with its transponder in the “off” position, so no altitude information was available. The data indicated […]
NTSB Accidents
Piper prop hits tree
According to the pilot, on short final during landing, he thought he had cleared the trees on the approach end of the private airstrip in Shulin Lake, Alaska. He aimed for his landing spot, but the propeller struck a tree and the Piper PA-18 hit the ground. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the both […]
Pinched fuel line leads to forced landing
The student pilot reported that, during cruise flight in the experimental light-sport airplane, a Rans S5, he encountered moderate turbulence. The engine then experienced a total loss of power. Following an uneventful landing in an open field near Lodi, California, he found that a fuel line was pinched between his seat and the fuselage. After […]
Sightseeing flight goes awry
The pilot was conducting a local sightseeing flight near Warner, N.H., in visual meteorological conditions when the American Champion 7GCBC inadvertently entered instrument meteorological conditions. While maneuvering, he lost visual reference with the ground. The airplane entered a steep descending turn, and hit trees. Both wings separated from the airframe and the fuselage was crushed. […]
Cessna 177 bent during flour bombing contest
According to the pilot, during a flour bomb competition at the airport in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, she was making a bomb run parallel to Runway 18 and slowed the Cessna 177 to 80 knots, with zero flaps, mixture was rich, throttle was about 75%, and carburetor heat was used. About 300′ above the ground she […]
Waco pilot loses control on takeoff
According to the pilot, he was taking off from a grass airstrip near Pace, Florida, which was outlined by trees, in a tailwheel-equipped Waco bi-plane. He increased the airspeed and pushed forward on the stick to raise the tailwheel off of the ground and the airplane began to veer left. The pilot recalled he applied […]
Long cross-country ends in crash
The pilot was completing a cross-country flight from Florida to Wisconsin. He said he got a full night’s sleep before departing on the flight around 11 a.m. About 3:30 a.m., he was approaching the airport in Clintonville, Wisconsin, for the third and final fuel stop of the trip. Although the surface observation at the airport […]
Bird strike fatal for four
The purpose of the flight was to conduct low-level aerial surveying and photography. A review of air traffic radar data revealed that the Cessna 172 departed the airport in a southerly direction before turning west and then conducted two 360° turns. The airplane then proceeded northeast of the airport for about four miles before turning […]
Training flight ends with plane crashing into a house
The flight instructor was providing multiengine flight instruction to two students who were both pilots, which included simulated engine failures over the course of two flights. The Beech 76 landed at the airport in Pompano Beach, Florida, and the flight instructor told the accident pilot, who had only 2.4 hours experience in the Beech, that […]