- Date
- September 11, 1993, 09:27 local (16:27 UTC)
- Place
- Mesa, AZ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N45FDAlfred F. Dibernardino RV-6A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 26, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930911035899A
- Case key
- 28477
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 pilot's failure to maintain the landing airspeed. The inadvertent stall was a factor related to this accident.
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 was conducting a local traffic pattern personal flight. On the first approach the pilot inadvertently stalled the airplane during the landing flare. The airplane sustained a hard landing which collapsed the nose and right main landing gears.
Factual narrative
On September 11, 1993, at 0927 hours mountain standard time, an Alfred F. DiBernardino RV-6A amateur built airplane, N45FD, sustained a hard landing on runway 22L at Falcon Field, Mesa, Arizona. The pilot was conducting a local visual flight rules personal flight. The airplane, registered to and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. Neither the certificated private pilot nor his passenger were injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at Falcon Field at 0920.
The pilot reported in the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident Report, NTSB Form 6120.1/2, he flared the airplane about 6 feet above the ground and then the left wing dropped. He applied right aileron to arrest the left wing low attitude, but without success. The left wing struck the runway followed by the right wing. The nose and right main landing gears collapsed.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N45FD
- Reported as
- Alfred F. Dibernardino RV-6A
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 20146
- Airframe hours
- 28
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D1A, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Alfred F. Dibernardino
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · May 21, 1993 · 14 hours before
- Airport
- FFZ · Falcon Field, runway 4L, 3,800 × 75 ft, asphalt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 67
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 225 total · 28 in this make and model · 221 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.