- Date
- August 14, 1989, 08:45 local (13:45 UTC)
- Place
- Spicewood, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N123WPMccormick Bushby Mustang II
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 9, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890814033279A
- Case key
- 22745
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain proper clearance from personnel on the ground.
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 female victim was riding a galluping horse adjacent and parallel to the runway as the pilot was performing a series of take offs, landings, and touch and goes. This had been arranged by the victim for a professional photographer to take pictures of her, as she and her horse were passed by the airplane overtaking her from behind. The horse and rider were on the right side of the runway, between the photographer and the runway. A witness reported that on the sixth or seventh pass, a 'popping sound' was heard as the airplane passed. He 'assumed' that indicated contact between the airplane wing and the victim's head. He also observed the rider, who 'appeared to be unconscious' fall off of the horse as it continued to run. The airport manager did not see the mishap, but heard a 'loud thump.' The photographer's written affidavit stated in part that the airplane 'veered off course and struck jamie which in the back of the head.'
Aircraft
- Registration
- N123WP
- Reported as
- Mccormick Bushby Mustang II (BUSHBY MUS)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 195
- Airframe hours
- 943
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-E2A, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Charles J. Walters
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 21, 1989 · 43 hours before
- Departed
- 88R · Spicewood, TX
- Airport
- 88R · Austin Air Ranch, runway 17, 3,000 × 30 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
- 34
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 11,500 total · 273 in this make and model · 4,500 as pilot in command · 240 in the last 90 days · 80 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 200° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- AUS, 24 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.