- Date
- December 8, 1990, 11:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Ripley, TN
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N51160Cessna 150J
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 14, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19901208053219A
- Case key
- 8300
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
Performing a stall maneuver at an altitude below prescribed minimums, and his failure to apply correct flight control inputs to recover from the stall and spin.
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 student pilot was on a solo-instructional flight in the practice area. After several circuits around his girlfriend's house (inside the practice area), he set up for a power-off stall. According to witnesses, he began the stall maneuver at about 300 feet AGL. A video tape account of the accident reveals that the airplane stalled, the throttle was advanced, and the airplane entered a left-hand spin. About one turn of the spin was completed when the airplane impacted terrain in a steep, nose low attitude. Analysis of the video revealed that the only flight control input was full up elevator, which was applied throughout the entire sequence. The student's logbook indicated that taught him to perform all airwork practice at 3,000 ft MSL (about 2,500 ft AGL). The student's logbook indicated that stalls had been practiced on at least nine previous flights (three solo flights).
Aircraft
- Registration
- N51160
- Reported as
- Cessna 150J
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 150-69804
- Airframe hours
- 5,916
- Engine
- Continental O-200A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Shelby Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Shelby Aviation Inc,
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 28, 1990 · 54 hours before
- Departed
- M04 · Covington, TN
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
- 18
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 22 total · 22 in this make and model · 6 as pilot in command · 18 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 11 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DYR, 20 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.