- Date
- October 23, 1993, 10:30 local (14:30 UTC)
- Place
- Littleton, MA
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N67197Beech 77
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 13, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19931023040609A
- Case key
- 38706
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
The flight instructor's inadequate in-flight decision in the selection of the simulated forced landing area, and his delay in initiating a go around which resulted in the airplane colliding with trees.
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
During an instructional flight, the flight instructor and the student pilot initiated a simulated forced landing at 2500 feet. The student began to spiral down in the direction of the selected area. The airplane was in a steep descent when the flight instructor noticed a hill between the airplane and the selected area. The instructor added full power and leveled the wings in an attempt to arrest the descent. The airplane was near stall speed when it struck trees, nosed over and impacted the ground. The flight instructor stated that the engine operated normally on the attempt to clear the hill.
Factual narrative
On Saturday, October 23, 1993, about 1030 eastern daylight time, a Beech 77, N67197, piloted by Michael D. MacMann, was substantially damaged during a practice forced landing near Littleton, Massachusetts. The flight instructor was not injured and the student pilot received minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. No flight plan had been filed for the flight operating under 14 CFR 91.
In the NTSB Form 6120.1/2, the flight instructor stated that this was a dual instructional flight and they initiated a simulated, off-field forced landing at 2500 feet. The airplane completed two descending spirals and was in a "relatively steep descent", when the flight instructor "first saw a previously unnoticed hill" between the aircraft and the selected simulated off-field landing site.
The instructor further stated:
"...I immediately added full power and leveled the wings in an attempt to arrest the descent. The aircraft brushed the tops of the trees...at the time of contact...[the airplane]...was in a level flight attitude, but in a slight descent...the aircraft was...slightly above stall speed. After making contact with the trees, the aircraft became uncontrollable, pitched downward and made...two spirals through the trees...the unexpected...high rate of descent may have resulted from air disturbances in the vicinity of the hill...I never would have chosen this site had I been aware of the intervening hill."
The student pilot stated:
"...My observation...is that distance above the ground and airspeed was misjudged. In front of the field where we were supposed to simulate a landing at, was a hill with trees...We descended ...lower than the hill in front of us and tried to recover, but stalled in the process...I looked at the airspeed indicator and it read about 38 knots (about 200 feet to 150 feet) and dropping. The aircraft nose and left wing began to drop...we stalled...about...10 feet above the trees..."
The FAA Inspector's statement stated:
"...The CFI felt the engine operated normally on the attempt to clear the hill, He did not suspect carburetor ice or any other malfunction..."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N67197
- Reported as
- Beech 77
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- WA-92
- Airframe hours
- 3,547
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 115 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Hanscom Afb Aero Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 13, 1993 · 15 hours before
- Departed
- BED · Bedford, MA
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 49
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 3,150 total · 160 in this make and model · 3,150 as pilot in command · 54 in the last 90 days · 11 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 13 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 50 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BED, 9 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.