Beckham RV-4 N160HB

Summary

On 26 October 1997 at about 23:50 local time, a Beckham RV-4 registered N160HB, operated by Hatch, Everett, W., was involved in an accident near Scio, Oregon, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

26 October 1997 at 23:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Scio, Oregon, United States

Coordinates

44.6794, -122.7597

Aircraft

Beckham RV-4

Registration

N160HB

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Hatch, Everett, W.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Stayton → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA98LA008

1 person died.

The pilot-in-command's loss of control of the aircraft for undetermined reasons.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot, whose third class medical had expired in August 1995, departed in an RV-4 experimental aircraft approximately 1530, and was observed by another pilot flying a Cessna 170 near the crash site about 20 minutes later. The eyewitness pilot 'noticed an RV aircraft coming up on my left side. I wagged my wings and he wagged his wings back. He then proceeded to pass me on my left, when he was approximately at my 11 o'clock (position), he executed a roll to the left. At the inverted stage of the roll the aircraft dove straight into the ground' (from an elevation of approximately 750 AGL). An FAA inspector examined the wreckage and reported that a control system check revealed no evidence of mechanical disconnect or malfunction. A deputy from the Linn County Sheriff's Office, who interviewed the pilot's wife, reported that she had told him that 'her husband has been have(ing) real bad migraine headaches that would leave him incapacitated.' She also told the deputy that 'he would blackout, and get tunnel vision' and that 'sometimes they (the migraines) would get so bad, he could not talk.'

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.