- Date
- November 10, 1985, 11:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- Colts Neck, NJ
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N5249XChampion 7GCAA
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 30264
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 acft was being used to fly an advertising banner for the jersey shore marathon. The flt took off in a westerly direction, following the traffic pattern, climbing to aprx 1500 ft. a pullup maneuver was made to simulate a banner pickup. The plt checked for arpt traffic, descended to about 800 ft and at the same time noticed the wind gusting, although the windsock indicated very little wind. The banner was picked up and at about 150 ft, the left wing and nose dropped. The plt could not correct. The acft descended rapidly into trees, spun around and came to rest. The plt evacuated the acft before fire erupted.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5249X
- Reported as
- Champion 7GCAA
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 203
- Airframe hours
- 2,500
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2B, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Other work use · Part 91
- Registered owner
- In-Flight Advertising Ser.
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 18, 1985 · 40 hours before
- Airport
- Colts Neck
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
- 38
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 1,546 total · 1,546 in this make and model · 1,515 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days · 15 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
Other investigations on N5249X · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.