Moravan ZLIN 50LX N6660K

Summary

On 10 May 2008 at about 20:00 local time, a Moravan ZLIN 50LX registered N6660K was involved in an accident near Modesto, California, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 May 2008 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Modesto, California, United States

Nearest airport

Modesto City-Cty Airport (KMOD)

Coordinates

37.6256, -120.9542

Aircraft

Moravan ZLIN 50LX

Registration

N6660K

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Air Race/Show

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Modesto → Modesto

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA08LA128

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot failed to maintain clearance from terrain during a low-altitude maneuver at an airshow. Contributing to the accident was the task overload in the increased frequency congestion.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was performing in an airshow that was conducted at a controlled airport serviced by airlines. Two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors acting as the FAA monitors, witnessed the accident. Performances, as a rule, are timed so that they do not conflict with inbound and landing airline traffic. If there is a timing conflict, normally the show is temporarily stopped so as not to delay the airline traffic. During the accident pilot's performance, the pilot was transmitting directly to the crowd, as well as communicating with an on ground safety observer, the airshow waiver holder, and an air traffic control tower controller. The air traffic control tower controller advised the pilot to stop the performance due to an inbound arriving airliner and make a right base entry for landing. The pilot had completed a normal sequence and then requested to make one more pass and the tower controller approved the request. The pilot then added the additional maneuver as his final routine before exiting the performance box. The FAA inspector indicated that during the added maneuver, the right wing impacted the ground. The pilot stated that during the airshow briefing, he had requested a sterile frequency for maintaining communication with airshow and ground support staff, which he indicated was standard operating procedures at other airshows. The air traffic control tower personnel elected to have the airshow pilots monitoring and communicating on the same frequency as the tower controllers. The pilot stated that during the flight, he was interrupted numerous times by tower personnel and incoming aircraft, which prevented his ground safety observer from communicating with him and not only added to his workload, but affected his concentration during the maneuver.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.