- Date
- March 10, 1985, 13:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Titusville, FL
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 31366
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
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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 group of T-6 type acft were taking off in sections of two acft each. Each section of two were making a formation takeoff with a 5 to 6 second interval between sections. N58740 was in the left position of the 2nd section; N9801C was in the left position of the 3rd section. During takeoff, an acft in the 1st section had an eng problem & the plt aborted his takeoff. He made a radio call to notify the other plts & the plts of the 2nd section aborted their takeoff. However, the plt of N9801C, who was leading the 3rd section did not hear the radio call. His acft had poor forward visibility while the tail wheel was on the ground; therefore, he was not aware that the acft ahead were aborting until he raised the tail during the takeoff roll. By then, it was too late to avoid a collision. Subsequently, the left wing of N9801C struck the rudder & elevators of N58740 & both acft were substantially damaged.
Aircraft · 2
- Registration
- N9801C
- Reported as
- North American SNJ-5
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 90669
- Airframe hours
- 5,600
- Engine
- P&W R-1340-AN1, 600 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Carl E. Schwenker
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 1985 · 0 hours before
- Departed
- TIX
- Airport
- TIX · Titusville-Cocoa, runway 9, 5,001 × 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.
- Registration
- N58740
- Reported as
- North American SNJ-6
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 112114
- Airframe hours
- 7,130
- Engine
- P&W R-1340-AN1, 600 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Clarence H. Ratliff
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- TIX
- Airport
- TIX · Titusville-Cocoa, runway 9, 5,001 × 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot, aircraft N9801C
- Age
- 51
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 770 total · 103 in this make and model · 27 as pilot in command · 27 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Pilot, aircraft N58740
- Age
- 33
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 3,000 total · 450 in this make and model · 2,900 as pilot in command · 116 in the last 90 days · 51 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 30° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 79 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TIX