- Date
- July 4, 1988, 17:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Linden, NJ
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6655LLake LA-4
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 25, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880704025199A
- Case key
- 36178
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
Hard landing due to improper level off of the student and the flight instructor's inadequate supervision. The left wing partially failed because of overload and the aircraft made a forced landing in a swamp.
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
On final takeoff of a full stop landing practice, the student pilot was at the controls but was having difficulty maintaining directional control of the acft as it climbed very slowly. The CFI took over applying large amounts of left aileron to maintain a wings level attitude. At this point, the student observed creases in the upper skin of the left wing. The acft was able to clear power lines, but due to the surrounding terrain, the CFI elected to land straight ahead in marshland. The acft bounced on touchdown and decelerated rapidly as the acft spun around. Metallurgical inspection revealed the left wing contained a compression buckle with upward bending of the wing. The internal structural members of the wing showed signs of overload/overstress failures.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6655L
- Reported as
- Lake LA-4
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 418
- Airframe hours
- 1,062
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-D, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Walter Fil
- Registered owner
- Walter G Feb
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 3, 1988 · 25 hours before
- Departed
- LDJ · Linden, NJ
- Airport
- LDJ · Linden, runway 14, 2,493 × 75 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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 29
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 330 total · 31 in this make and model · 252 as pilot in command · 68 in the last 90 days · 31 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.