- Date
- October 17, 2025, 09:21 local (14:21 UTC)
- Place
- McKinney, TX
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N3545WVans RV8
- Defining event
- Unknown: Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT)
- Status
- Investigation ongoing
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA-FSDO
- Case key
- 201891
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Preliminary report
What NTSB knew early in the investigation. It may change in the final report.
On October 17, 2025, at 0921 central daylight time, an amateur-built RV-8 airplane, N3545W, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near McKinney, Texas. The pilot was seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. According to local authorities, the airplane impacted terrain 1 nautical mile north of Aero County Airport (T31) in McKinney, Texas, under unknown circumstances. According to witness information, the pilot reported via radio communications that he experienced an engine issue while attempting to land. The airplane was retained for further examination.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3545W
- Reported as
- Vans RV8
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 83926
- Built
- 2021
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airport
- 52F
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.