While practicing step taxiing in a Searey on a river near Mount Vernon, Wash., the pilot under instruction attempted to transition from step taxi to plow taxi. During the transition, the right wing dropped and hit the water, which damaged the right sponson. The flight instructor added power and proceeded to takeoff. The airplane climbed to 10 feet […]
NTSB Accidents
Student’s solo flight ends in fatal crash
The student pilot departed on a local, solo instructional flight in the Cessna 172. According to the flight instructor, the student was briefed to complete three takeoffs and landings and to stay in the airport traffic pattern. Instead, he completed one takeoff and landing and then departed the airport traffic pattern. Witnesses reported seeing the […]
Mooney hits building
After the Mooney M20L bounced on landing, the pilot aborted the landing by adding full power and confirmed that the flaps were in the takeoff position. When she realized the plane was not climbing normally and that the engine did not seem to be providing full power, she prepared for an emergency landing to a parking lot […]
Instability leads to fatal stall
The Raven departed its home airport for a local flight near Mattituck, N.Y. Radar data indicated that, about nine minutes after departure, the airplane was at 7,400 feet mean sea level (msl) and had begun a left 270° turn. The last radar return, which was recorded about a minute later, showed the airplane about 1,100 feet msl, which […]
Barley brings down Piper
The private pilot was attempting to land the Piper PA 18-150 at the airport in Monte Vista, Colo. He reported that, due to equipment obstructing the 2,600-foo dirt runway at midfield, he conducted a shallow approach to land on the eastern half of the shortened runway with the plane pointed west almost directly into the setting […]
Crop duster loses control on takeoff
The Air Tractor AT 502B was departing a rough, unimproved turf strip in Cavalier, N.D., for a crop dusting flight. During the takeoff, the plane hit a small turf obstruction and became airborne prematurely. It settled and the tailwheel collided hard with the ground followed by the main landing gear. The pilot lost control of the airplane as […]
Failure to maintain control fatal
Witnesses observed the Cessna 150 as it departed the airport near Topping, Va., and reported that it appeared to have trouble climbing. It returned to the runway two times, but the pilot aborted the landing approach both times. During the climbout following the second aborted landing, the airplane banked to the left, descended in a nose-low attitude, […]
Tailwind knocks plane off runway
The NTSB determined the probable cause as the pilot’s failure to compensate for tailwind conditions and maintain directional control during landing, which resulted in a runway excursion.
Homebuilt ends up in water after flying low over lake
The pilot and passenger were returning home after attending a fly-in at another airport. The passenger reported that, during the descent to land, the pilot spotted a boat on the lake near Frankston, Texas, and began to follow it at low altitude. The pilot then made a steep turn, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its […]