- Date
- August 31, 2024, 14:40 local (21:40 UTC)
- Place
- Mulino, OR · 97013
- Injuries
- 15 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N902STPacific Aerospace 750XL
- Defining event
- Enroute: Miscellaneous/other
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- FAA
- Case key
- 195086
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 skydiver’s unintentional parachute deployment and subsequent entanglement with the airplane’s horizontal stabilizer.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot of the airplane reported that, during a skydiving flight, a skydiver’s parachute deployed early and became entangled with the tail. He felt the airplane pitch up and down violently before the parachute dislodged from the tail. The skydivers exited the airplane successfully and he was able to land the airplane without further incident. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the horizontal stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N902ST
- Reported as
- Pacific Aerospace 750XL
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 153
- Built
- 2009
- Engine
- P & W PT6A-34, 750 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Skydiving · Part 91
- Operator
- True North Aviation LLC
- Registered owner
- True North Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- 4S9 · Portland-Mulino, OR
- Airport
- 4S9 · Mulino State
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device, ADS-B, Stall warning system
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
- 68
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 27, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 17,000 total · 400 in this make and model · 15,000 as pilot in command · 25 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 93 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.91 inHg
- Observed at
- KUAO, 8 nm away
- METAR
- KUAO 312153Z VRB04KT 10SM CLR 34/13 A2991 RMK AO2 SLP126 T03390128
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 6, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.6 MB in all.