- Date
- June 21, 1986, 18:40 local (22:40 UTC)
- Place
- Marlton, NJ
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N89789Cessna 120
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 25, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860621082179A
- Case key
- 6950
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
About 10 min after takeoff, the acft collided with trees & crashed while the plts were performing aerobatic maneuvers. According to witnesses, aerobatics were being performed at an about 500 ft AGL. They rprtd that the plts had made an overhead maneuver (loop) & were recovering from a dscnt when the acft hit the trees. No preimpact part failure or malfunction was fnd. Toxicology checks showed the left seat occupant had a blood/alcohol lvl of 0.246% & the rgt seat occupant's blood/alcolol lvl was 0.218%. The acft was not certificated for aerobatic flt.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N89789
- Reported as
- Cessna 120
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 8838
- Airframe hours
- 2,098
- Engine
- Continental C-85, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Cloud Cruiser Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 9, 1985 · 121 hours before
- Departed
- 16N · Berlin, NJ
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
- 53
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 400 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PHL, 30 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.