- Date
- July 19, 1986, 10:55 local (15:55 UTC)
- Place
- Sheldahl, IA
- Injuries
- 3 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N31637Whittman WD (Bigx)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19860719034349A
- Case key
- 34073
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
Witnesses state that they saw two airplanes, one silver and one red, climbing northbound to cruise altitude in loose formation when the red aircraft's engine backfired and the antique fabric-covered aircraft started burning. Flames five to eight feet in length began consuming the aircraft's left bottom engine compartment and fuselage underside as the pilot was attempting an emergency descent into a soy bean field, according to witnesses. The aircraft had the field made, and was at approximately five hundred feet above ground level when the left wing caught fire, the aircraft flipped inverted, and nosed dived into the soy bean field where it exploded on impact.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N31637
- Reported as
- Whittman WD (Bigx)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 6
- Airframe hours
- 1,400
- Engine
- Franklin 6A4-150-B3, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- In-Flight
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- David F. Powell
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 31, 1986 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- Y76 · Des Moines, IA
- Destination
- MCW · Mason City, IA
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
- 43
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 570 total · 50 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 350° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 12 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DSM, 19 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.