aviation accidents

The pilot was also the owner/builder of the Van’s RV-7A. He had removed and reinstalled the engine after the plane experienced a propeller strike. The accident flight was the first flight after the engine was reinstalled. According to the pilot, he performed high-speed taxi runs, followed by a normal takeoff in Cortland, N.Y. After takeoff, […]

The pilot reported that while taxiing for takeoff in the Cessna 172P for a local flight with passengers in Mitchellville, Md., the right rudder felt “stiff.” Once in the air, the rudder operated normally, however, the pilot’s first landing was “hard.” After picking up a second set of passengers, he noticed that while taxiing back […]

The student pilot reported that while on a solo cross-country flight in a Cessna 172E, she was using dead reckoning through the mountains. She was unsure of her location and, as she proceeded to the west, the mountainous terrain became steeper, which required her to ascend from 7,500 feet mean sea level to 8,500 feet […]

Before departure for a positioning flight in Brooklyn, Iowa, the pilot was told that an observer/passenger would be joining him for the flight. The Cessna 206, which was typically used in skydiving operations, had its right cabin door removed, and a fabric roll-up jump door had been installed, which was not closed during the flight. The […]

The pilot was flying over a heavily wooded, remote area near Sisters, Ore., when the Cessna 172B’s engine lost power. He restarted the engine several times, and each time it ran for a shorter period of time. Eventually unable to restart the engine, he chose to ditch the airplane in a lake rather than descend […]

The pilot reported that during the takeoff roll in Mackinac Island, Mich., the Cessna 182T visually appeared and felt to be accelerating normally, but the airspeed indicator never increased above 40 knots. He aborted the takeoff when the plane was halfway down the runway. He used brakes to decelerate, but the 182 was skidding on the […]

During an instructional flight in a Cessna 172RG in Kent, Wash., the CFI asked the student pilot, a commercial rated pilot in the right seat, to demonstrate a simulated emergency engine-out landin The student reduced the throttle to idle, turned toward the runway, and completed the GUMPS (gas, undercarriage, mixture, propeller, seat belt and switches) […]

Shortly after departing from Tallahassee, Fla., on an instrument flight rules flight, the Mooney M20R abruptly lost all electrical power while operating in IMC. The pilot reported that, given the abrupt nature of the electrical power loss, he assumed it was due to a short circuit, so he did not troubleshoot the electrical problem. He […]