- Date
- July 27, 1988, 16:45 local (21:45 UTC)
- Place
- Walker, MN
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N9WLVans RV-3A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 24, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880727030309A
- Case key
- 13890
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
The pilot reported that after making a low level pass over a lake, he attempted to climb to pattern altitude in preparation for landing at a nearby airport. When the climb was initiated, the aircraft did a loop and the plt lost control. The acft subsequently crashed and sank in 15 feet of water. The allowable center of gravity (CG) range for the aircraft is 9.7 inches to 14.5 inches. The calculated CG at the time of the occurrence was 16.02 inches. Witnesses confirm that the acft did in fact do a loop 'as in an airshow'. The plt acknowledged that he had been attempting to perform a loop.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9WL
- Reported as
- Vans RV-3A
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 666
- Airframe hours
- 130
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Dan H. Gildner
- Registered owner
- Cildner, Dan H
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 24, 1988
- Departed
- FCM · Eden Prairie, MN
- Destination
- Y49 · Walker, MN
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
- 47
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 16,252 total · 53 in this make and model · 13,000 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 99 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GPZ, 46 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.