- Date
- July 30, 1989, 14:15 local (18:15 UTC)
- Place
- Cumberland, MD
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N4655YSmith Miniplane
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 9, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890730047279A
- Case key
- 11447
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
Failure of the pilot to maintain directional control of the airplane during high speed taxi tests.
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 plt was making a high speed taxi run, when the accident occurred. He reported having difficulty steering the acft as he was taxiing down the rwy. Control of the acft was lost and it veered off the left side of the rwy into a wooded area. Inspection of the acft failed to reveal any mechanical failure/malfunction of the landing gear and/or acft steering.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4655Y
- Reported as
- Smith Miniplane
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1001
- Engine
- Continental A-65, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Edward W. Koch
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Airport
- 1W3 · Mexico Farms, runway 28, 2,180 × 250 ft, grass/turf
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
- 64
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 17,060 total · 72 in this make and model · 30 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.