- Date
- March 24, 1990, 09:10 local (13:10 UTC)
- Place
- Wasilla, AK
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N68596Bellanca 7ACA
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 5, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- FAA report
- 19900324005189A
- Case key
- 5286
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The failure of the PIC to maintain sufficient airspeed to preclude a stall.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The accident occurred during a routine civil air patrol (cap) flight check. The pilot-in-command (PIC) was the owner of the airplane and a cap member. The check pilot was also a cap member and a CFI. The flight proceeded normally until a simulated emergency landing. The CFI said that the PIC made an approach to a small airstrip and elected to slip the airplane to lose altitude. He said that the PIC inadvertently stalled the airplane and entered a spin, colliding with trees before a recovery could be made. The CFI said that he did not have a flight control stick in the rear cockpit; he said that the PIC told him that he didn't have one in the airplane. An undamaged spare flight control stick was found in the wreckage along side the rear seat, and the CFI said he would have installed it if he had known that it was there. The CFI said that neither cap nor FAA regulations required dual flight controls for a non-instructional evaluation flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N68596
- Reported as
- Bellanca 7ACA
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 66-72
- Engine
- Continental C-85-12, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- John M. Dunn
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Departed
- Z15 · Chugiak, AK
- Flight plan
- Company VFR
- Airport
- Philos, runway 12, 1,200 × 50 ft, gravel
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 48
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 3,640 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 95° at 10 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 12,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 30 °F, dew point 12 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PAQ, 7 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.