Socata TB-20 N575RM

Summary

On 3 October 2002 at about 14:32 local time, a Socata TB-20 registered N575RM, operated by Douglas K. White, was involved in an accident near Texarkana, Arkansas, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 October 2002 at 14:32

Classification

Accident

Location

Texarkana, Arkansas, United States

Nearest airport

Texarkana Regional-Webb Field (TXK)

Coordinates

33.4575, -93.9869

Aircraft

Socata TB-20

Registration

N575RM

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Douglas K. White

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Texarkana → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW03FA003

1 person died.

The inadvertamt stall by the student pilot, and the inadequate supervision by the flight instructor.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight was returning to the airport so the student pilot could practice a few landings, including a practice engine-out approach and landing. During the practice simulated engine-out landing, the airplane's left wing struck the ground while turning toward the runway. A witness reported observing the airplane make a turn, and it appeared to be paralleling the runway while continuing "to descend to 500 feet agl or less." At an altitude of 200 or 300 feet agl, the "aircraft rolled into a 60 to 80 degree banked left turn" toward the runway. The airplane appeared to "stall," and the left wing impacted the ground. The witness further reported that "at no time did [he] hear an engine noise or any changes in power from what seemed to be power-off or idle power." The flight instructor reported that the left turn and bank looked like a "normal" standard rate turn at the beginning, but it "suddenly became very steep." The flight instructor stated that she had reminded the student "that even if we were doing the practice engine out procedure back to the runway, that he could add power back if he felt we were getting too low." According to the flight instructor the flight was in preparation for the student pilot to take the single-engine land airplane private pilot examination. No structural or mechanical anomalies were observed during an examination of the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.