- Date
- November 2, 1989, 08:45 local (13:45 UTC)
- Place
- Apopka, FL
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N7526SSmith, Ted Aerostar Aerostar 600
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 22, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891102044409A
- Case key
- 32533
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
Failure of the pilot to maintain altitude/clearance above the water, while proceeding over a lake and approaching the vicinity of the airport.
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 air taxi acft departed shreveport, LA, at aprx 0500 CST on an unscheduled, domestic, cargo flt. At about 0815 EST, the plt rprtd on company freq that he was approximately 30 min from the destn (orlando, FL). Subsequently, the acft crashed in the nw part of lake Apopka, aprx 15 to 20 mi wnw of the destn arpt. A witness heard it crash, then saw parts from the acft, but did not see the actual impact. There was evidence the acft impacted in a shallow descent, while in a slight left wing low attitude, traveling at a relatively high speed. No preimpact part failure or malfunction of the acft or eng was found, though the acft was extensively dmgd & some of the wreckage was not recovered from the lake. The orlando wx was in part: 2500' sct, vis 6 mi with fog & haze, wind from 350 deg at 4 KTS.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7526S
- Reported as
- Smith, Ted Aerostar Aerostar 600 (AEROSTAR 6)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 60-0158-071
- Airframe hours
- 2,509
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540, 290 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Cherokee Leasing Inc., doing business as Cherokee Express
- Registered owner
- Cherokee Leasing Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 8, 1989 · 40 hours before
- Departed
- SHV · Shreveport, LA
- Destination
- ORL · Orlando, FL
- Airport
- ORL · Orlando Executive
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
- 24
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 5,400 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 6 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MCO, 18 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.