Lockheed LEARSTAR, L-18-56 N116CA

Summary

On 22 August 1983 at about 01:32 local time, a Lockheed LEARSTAR, L-18-56 registered N116CA, operated by Landry Aviation, Inc., was involved in an accident near Silvana, Washington, United States. 26 people were on board and 11 died, 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

22 August 1983 at 01:32

Classification

Accident

Location

Silvana, Washington, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Lockheed LEARSTAR, L-18-56

Registration

N116CA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Landry Aviation, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Skydiving

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Arlington → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA83AA036

11 people died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE ACFT WAS ON A SPORT PARACHUTE FLT TO CARRY 24 PARACHUTISTS TO 12,500' OVER A DROP ZONE (DZ) FOR A MASS JUMP. IT WAS IN A CARGO CONFIGURATION WITH NO PASSENGER SEATS, BUT IT HAD 1 JUMP SEAT. THERE WERE 24 SEAT BELTS ON THE FLOOR OF THE CARGO AREA. ALSO, THE CABIN DOOR HAD BEEN REMOVED & AN UNAPPROVED STEP & 4 HANDHOLDS WERE INSTALLED OUTSIDE & FORWARD OF THE CABIN DOOR FOR PARACHUTISTS. THE USUAL JUMP-RUN PROCEDURE WAS FOR THE ACFT TO BE SLOWED TO 95 TO 100 KTS, EXTEND THE GEAR & APCH FLAPS & REDUCE POWER ON THE LEFT ENG. THE JUMPERS REMAINED IN POSITION WITHOUT USING SEAT BELTS UNTIL APCHG THE DZ, THEN 2 MOVED OUTSIDE THE ACFT WHILE OTHERS MOVED CLOSE TO THE DOORWAY. THE 1ST JUMPERS WERE UNAWARE OF ANYPROBLEM, BUT SAW THE ACFT ENTER A STEEP BANK, ROLL OVER & SPIRAL NOSE DOWN. 16 JUMPERS EXITED THE ACFT, BUT 3 HIT THE STABILIZER. THE ACFT CRASHED IN A NEAR VERTICAL DSCNT. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE CG WAS BEHIND THE AFT LIMIT FOR TAKEOFF & THE JUMP. THE ELEVATOR TRIM ACTUATOR WAS FOUND IN A POSITION FOR FULL NOSE-UP TRIM.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.