A witness reported that, after an overnight visit, he dropped the pilot and passenger off at a neighbor’s private airstrip near Colonial Beach, Virginia, about 9:45 a.m. for their flight home.
He then returned to his house and, about 30 minutes later when he was standing in his driveway, he watched the Van’s RV-6 make two circles around his house.
On the second circle, the airplane was in a very steep “knife-edge” bank in a tight circle about 100 feet above the ground. The nose of the airplane then dropped and the airplane hit the ground beside his driveway in a near-vertical attitude.
The pilot and passenger died in the crash.
The witness told investigators the engine was “running well the entire time.” The owner of the grass airstrip reported a similar account.
The airplane hit the ground in a nose-down attitude and came to rest upright, oriented on a magnetic heading of 345°. A post-impact fire consumed most of the airplane. The wreckage site was compact and all major components of the airplane were located at the accident site.
Both wings were accordion-crushed aft and remained attached to the fuselage. The right wing flap was separated and located behind the main wreckage. The right aileron was still attached to the wing by the linkage. The left wing flap and aileron remained attached to the left wing.
The fuselage, instrument panel, cabin, seats, control cables, and inboard wings were all consumed by fire.
The empennage was fire damaged, however the rudder, elevator, and vertical stabilizer were all intact.
The engine was fire damaged and all the accessories were also fire damaged and mostly melted. The engine’s crankshaft was rotated via the propeller hub and thumb compression, valve action, and crankshaft continuity were confirmed on three of the four cylinders. Powertrain and valvetrain continuity was established through the engine and accessory case. Borescope examination of all cylinders revealed no anomalies. The wood propeller was fractured in several pieces and located near the impact crater.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed while maneuvering at low altitude, which resulted in an exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack and a subsequent aerodynamic stall.
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This June 2023 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I’ve been flying SAFELY since 1968, that’s 57-years, never an incident, and always KNOWING my airplane, be it a C-150, C-152, C-172, C-177, C177RG, C-182, C-T182RG, C-T206, C-T210, C-T310, C-P337, a King Air 200, 1900, etc., and a lot of Pipers too, like the Cherokee, the 180 and Warrior, the Original BIG SIX, the Arrow PA-28R, a twin Seminole and Seneca, and on and on the list goes. One has to wonder HOW in the HELL these folks ever “LEARNED” to fly, because most of these accidents are from NOT knowing their airplane. ALL of the accidents are incredibly stupid mistakes from the lack of common sense.
I remember a guy coming to the Elma Airport in the mid 1970’s with cleated logging boots… and wanting to take our $10.00 Cessna Pilot Center “FLIGHT DISCOVERY” in our brand new Cessna 152. I told him, “NO WAY!” and that if he wanted to “LEARN” to fly at our place, he would start with proper foot wear, so he could “FEEL” what the airplane was doing.
I wasn’t interested in accepting a new student… just for the ‘MONEY!’
With the steep bank angle, he probably got an accelerated stall. With the small RV6-7 wing, these type stalls should be practiced at altitude, maybe 4,000 -5,000 ft.
It is very different from a normal power on stall….little warning when the inboard wing stalls and it rolls quickly….much like a base-to-final over bank stall.
I found that my Cessna 175 takes a very strong pull in a 45 degree turn to get an accelerated stall.
Another pilot who didn’t pay enough attention when being given training on stalls and stall avoidance – or he thought that he knew better & with a “top gun” attitude to his flying believed he was a test pilot. .
Why don’t we teach folk how to recognize an approach to the stall. Rather than just stall recovery.
By then it’s too late.
Proper quality instruction ALWAYS teaches the student how to recognise when they are getting close to the stall & the finality of insufficient height.
Paul
During a BFR my sadistic CFI instructed me to make a tight left 360 imagining that I was circling a pool where a striking young woman was getting an all over tan. Was stunned at how quickly and violently the plane revolted to stupid inputs. A very valuable lesson. But we did it at 5,000 feet.
I wish people would stop doing these senseless things.
I’ve been flying for twelve years now and every time I get into my RV I get scared…. I know that this thing can kill me if I do something stupid like maneuvering at low altitudes or running out of fuel.
I was told 50 years ago that showboating maneuvers aren’t the problem, it’s the diverting attention looking for cheers from the crowd.