- Date
- July 24, 1990, 19:36 local (Jul 25, 1990, 00:36 UTC)
- Place
- Hinckley, IL
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N2508DPiper PA-38
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 8, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900724028329A
- Case key
- 14540
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
The instructor pilot's inability to recover from a stall/spin. Factors were: acft wt & balance exceeded, and the instructor's and student pilot's lack of familiarity with acft.
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
A student pilot and instructor pilot were flying a model new to them. The student had never flown with this instructor before. Shortly after arriving in the training area, witnesses observed the airplane spin to the ground. The airplane was over maximum gross weight at takeoff and at accident. No mechanical discrepancies were found. Elevator trim was full nose up. Both pilots had flown a majority of their flight time in another make and model for which the spin recovery procedure and the useful load above full fuel are different.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N2508D
- Reported as
- Piper PA-38
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 38-79A0345
- Airframe hours
- 4,322
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 112 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Lumanair, Inc
- Registered owner
- Lumanair, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 1, 1990 · 43 hours before
- Departed
- ARR · Aurora, 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
- 39
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 990 total · 8 in this make and model · 886 as pilot in command · 135 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ARR, 9 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.