Cassutt IIIM N3TW

Summary

On 2 September 2004 at about 00:45 local time, a Cassutt IIIM registered N3TW, operated by Michael G Bernard, was involved in an accident near Pearland, Texas, 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

2 September 2004 at 00:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Pearland, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Pearland Regional Airport (LVJ)

Coordinates

29.5211, -95.2419

Aircraft

Cassutt IIIM

Registration

N3TW

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Michael G Bernard

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Pearland → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

FTW04LA226

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed sufficient for flight resulting in an inadvertent stall/spin while turning from the base leg of the traffic pattern to final. A contributing factor was the pilot's lack of experience for the make/model airplane.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The 246.6-hour pilot was conducting a series of touch-and-go landings in an amateur-built race airplane. While the airplane was turning from base leg to final within the airport traffic pattern, a witness observed the airplane "descending rapidly in a nose down" attitude through approximately 500 feet agl. The witness stated that the airplane "fell straight down in a spin" until it impacted terrain. Another witness located at the airport reported seeing the airplane turn left base at a bank angle of approximately 90 degrees. Examination of the engine and airframe were conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration and no anomalies were noted. Review of the pilot's logbooks revealed he had accumulated approximately 2 hours in the accident make/model airplane. The former owner of the accident airplane reported that the pilot had recently purchased the airplane approximately six months prior to the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.