- Date
- May 9, 1985, 08:44 local (14:44 UTC)
- Place
- Lewistown, MT
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N84857Consolidated-Vultee PBY-5A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850509016259A
- Case key
- 16538
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
During taxi to takeoff the brakes failed. The plt attempted to groundloop the acft. The acft rolled down hill and collided with a gully. The plt was fatally injured. During preflight the co-plt inadvertently added hydraulic fluid in the alcohol tank. The hydraulic pump cavitated. The plt failed to use the hydraulic emergency hand pump or the a.c. electric pump.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N84857
- Reported as
- Consolidated-Vultee PBY-5A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1522
- Airframe hours
- 1,481
- Engine
- P&W R1830-94-M2, 1,350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Aerial observation · Part 91
- Operator
- Government Of Israel
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 1, 1985 · 35 hours before
- Destination
- RNO · Reno, NV
- Airport
- LWT · Lewistown, runway 25, 7,984 × 100 ft, asphalt
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
- 52
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,838 total · 19 in this make and model · 24 in the last 90 days · 18 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 120° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- LWT
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.