- Date
- August 31, 1985, 14:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Marengo, IL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4463Thornhill Replica TS-1
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850831042279A
- Case key
- 13203
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
This aircraft is powered by a rotary engine. Thrust is varied by shorting out one magneto and varying the firing order of the cylinders via an electrical cam arrangement. The mixture control is limited to only a few settings. One of which is level flight. Following a low pass over the runway at a thrust setting of 1/2 power and a mixture setting for level flight, the pilot pulled up into a climb. The engine then died and the pilot landed straight ahead in a hay field. The hay caught on his undercarriage and the aircraft flipped over on its back. Following the accident the pilot stated that he should have enriched the fuel mixture prior to attempting the climb.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4463
- Reported as
- Thornhill Replica TS-1 (REPLICA TS)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 11-11-18
- Airframe hours
- 2
- Engine
- Gnome 9N, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Gerald Thornhill
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · August 21, 1985 · 2 hours before
- Departed
- RLA · Marengo, IL
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
- 54
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 2,829 total · 1 in this make and model · 2,775 as pilot in command · 7 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.