- Date
- April 21, 1986, 06:30 local (14:30 UTC)
- Place
- Bermuda Dunes, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Other
- Aircraft
- N1118YCessna 150B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 25, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860421086109A
- Case key
- 24909
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 purpose of the research & development flight was to document through the use of videotape the deployment & trajectory of a speciality parachute which was connected to a ballast bag. The plt, who was the designer of the device, utilized his experimental category acft for the launch. At the prearranged altitude of 3000 ft AGL, the device exited out of the left side of the acft. The acft's door had been previously removed, & when the device left the acft the ballast bag's attachment cord became entangled with the left landing gear wheel rim assembly. The parachute, which remained attached to the bag, streamered behind the acft. The acft stalled, pitched downward & descended into terrain while in a vertical attitude. The plt bailed out of the acft at about 400 ft AGL. His personal parachute did not deploy. The plt was found to have a 0.10 level of ethyl alcohol in his blood.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1118Y
- Reported as
- Cessna 150B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15059518
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Handbury Products Corp.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 24, 1984
- Departed
- Bermuda Dunes, CA
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
- 30
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 580 total · 13 in this make and model · 294 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 225° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.