NTSB Accidents

The pilot and the passenger, a friend who was previously a student pilot but never completed his training, were making their first flight together. The pilot, who sustained serious injuries, did not recall the accident. The passenger reported that the pilot took off from the departure airport and then transferred the controls to him and […]

The pilot estimated that he departed on the 10-minute, 16-mile, local flight with one fuel tank about half full and the other tank about a quarter full. He did not recall which tank he had the fuel selector positioned to during takeoff. During descent for landing, he observed the engine rpm decrease to between 500 and […]

The pilot was taking off in the Mooney M20 when the engine began to sputter and lose power. He elected to reduce engine power and land on the remaining runway at the airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, however he had already retracted the landing gear. He lowered the landing gear handle, but was not able […]

The instrument-rated pilot was conducting a personal cross-county flight and was operating on an instrument flight rules flight plan. While he was flying in visual conditions between cloud layers at 7,000′ and heading toward the destination airport, he reported to air traffic control that the Beech V35 had experienced a vacuum pump failure and that […]

During preflight inspection of the Piper PA-22, the pilot discovered three baby birds in the cockpit. After removing the birds, he continued his preflight inspection, looking for a nest. He noticed that the rag normally used to cover one of the elevator openings was missing, but he did not find a nest inside. Immediately after […]

The Cessna 210 hit trees near Wantage, N.J., about an hour into a night cross-country flight. The pilot died in the crash. The weather was clear, with nearly a full moon and unrestricted visibility. The airplane was not reported overdue, but air traffic control began receiving reports of an emergency locator transmitter shortly after the […]

The private pilot stated that, while on a cross-country flight, he noted that the Cessna 182 was losing electrical power and decided to make a precautionary landing near Lake City, Florida. He attempted to extend the landing gear and advised air traffic control of the emergency before all electrical power was lost. Since electrical power […]

The airline transport pilot and a passenger departed on a local flight as part of a flight of two airplanes in daytime visual meteorological conditions. Shortly after takeoff, witnesses heard the North American AT-6’s engine popping; another witness reported a possible loss of power. The plane entered a right turn and appeared to slow. It […]

After completing an aerial application flight, the commercial pilot was returning to the base airport over 15 nautical miles away when the Air Tractor AT-502 hit terrain near West, Texas, and was consumed by a post-impact fire. The pilot died in the crash. Although the wreckage was significantly fragmented and damaged by fire, no evidence […]