- Date
- April 15, 1987, 19:55 local (23:55 UTC)
- Place
- New Milford, CT
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N377SWBellanca 8KCAB
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 15, 1988
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870415059819A
- Case key
- 30494
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
After taking off on runway 16 at the candlelight farms airport, the flight remained low over the runway while gaining airspeed. As the aircraft approached the upwind end of the runway, witnesses observed it enter a steep climb that continued to an estimated height of 700 feet above the terrain. At the top of the climb, the nose dropped and the aircraft entered a diving spiral that continued until it impacted the terrain on the airport near the upwind end of the runway. Exam of the acft and eng did not reveal any evidence of failure or malfunction prior to the acft colliding with the ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N377SW
- Reported as
- Bellanca 8KCAB
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 5573
- Airframe hours
- 1,258
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-320, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Joseph E. Seagram & Sons,Inc.
- Registered owner
- Joseph E Seagram & Sons, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 4, 1986
- Destination
- HPN · White Plains, NY
- Airport
- 11N · Candlelight Farms, runway 15, 2,600 × 250 ft, grass/turf
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
- 40
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,484 total · 62 in this make and model · 5,545 as pilot in command · 45 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DXR, 12 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.