Bellanca 8KCAB N7698S

Summary

On 8 March 2015 at about 21:50 local time, a Bellanca 8KCAB registered N7698S, operated by Winstead Robert M, was involved in an accident near Kosciusko, Mississippi, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 March 2015 at 21:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Kosciusko, Mississippi, United States

Coordinates

33.0956, -89.5600

Aircraft

Bellanca 8KCAB

Registration

N7698S

Category

Airplane

Year built

1976

Engines

1

Operator

Winstead Robert M

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kosciusko → Kosciusko

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA15FA147

2 people died.

The pilot's decision to make a low pass over a lake near trees and his subsequent failure to maintain airplane control while maneuvering at a low altitude to avoid trees, which resulted in an inadvertent cross-control aerodynamic stall from which he was unable to recover.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Two witnesses reported observing the airplane fly over a private airstrip that was adjacent to a small lake. One witness said that the airplane initially made a high pass over the airstrip before it turned back at a lower altitude and then "buzzed" over the lake. He said that, when the airplane passed over the lake, the pilot appeared to be having fun and was smiling and that the passenger was waving out the window. The pilot then pulled the airplane straight up, likely to clear a stand of 50-ft-tall pine trees, and the airplane suddenly nosed over and dropped straight down into the ground. The witness said that the engine was operating normally before impact. Another witness, who was a retired airline pilot and an active aerobatic pilot, said that the pilot flew the airplane over the lake on a southwesterly heading. Although he did not recall the airplane's altitude, he could see the pilot in the cockpit when he passed by. The airplane then began a climbing right turn. As the airplane turned through 90 degrees, the left wing dropped. The pilot appeared to try to recover from the "cross-control stall" by lowering the airplane's nose and fully deflecting the rudder control. The airplane's wings leveled out momentarily before the airplane suddenly nosed over. The witness reported hearing the engine power go to full throttle before the airplane impacted the ground. He added that the airplane did not have sufficient altitude to recover and that it did not spin before it hit the ground. Postaccident examination of the airplane, the witness accounts, and a review of postrecovery photographs of the engine and propeller revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. It is likely that, during the low altitude flyby, the pilot inadvertently entered an aerodynamic stall while trying to avoid trees and did not have sufficient altitude to recover.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.