Aeronca 7AC N83863

Summary

On 25 August 2013 at about 10:15 local time, a Aeronca 7AC registered N83863 was involved in an accident near Taunton, Massachusetts, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

25 August 2013 at 10:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Taunton, Massachusetts, United States

Nearest airport

Taunton Municipal (TAN)

Coordinates

41.8728, -71.0111

Aircraft

Aeronca 7AC

Registration

N83863

Category

Airplane

Year built

1946

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Taunton → Taunton

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA13FA372

2 people died.

The pilot/owner’s inadequate preflight inspection and inadequate pretakeoff check of the flight controls, which resulted in a takeoff with the rudder gust lock installed. Contributing to the accident was the pilot-rated passenger’s failure to detect that the rudder gust lock was installed.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot/owner purchased the airplane about 1 month before the accident and was flying with a pilot-rated passenger who owned a similar model airplane. A witness reported that the airplane accelerated and climbed normally to an altitude of about 50 to 100 feet above the ground. It then entered a slow right turn and began to descend until it impacted the ground and immediately became engulfed in fire. The airplane came to rest in a ditch that was located about 1,100 feet from the beginning of the departure runway and 250 feet to the right of the runway center line. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that a rudder gust lock was installed over the rudder and vertical stabilizer, which prevented movement of the rudder. The control lock was similar to a rudder gust lock that was observed installed on the passenger's airplane. No other discrepancies that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane were noted. While it could not be determined who was at the controls of the airplane during the accident flight, both pilots should have noted the installation of the rudder gust lock either during a preflight inspection or during a pretakeoff check of the flight controls.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.