Consolidated Vultee BT-13A N53331

Summary

On 21 April 2021 at about 22:13 local time, a Consolidated Vultee BT-13A registered N53331 was involved in an accident near Camas, Washington, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, 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

21 April 2021 at 22:13

Classification

Accident

Location

Camas, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Grove Fld (1W1)

Coordinates

45.6278, -122.4043

Aircraft

Consolidated Vultee BT-13A

Registration

N53331

Category

Airplane

Year built

1941

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Hood River → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR21FA170

1 person died.

The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during an aborted landing, resulting in an aerodynamic stall and impact with terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor was providing recurrent training to the pilot in the tailwheel-equipped airplane. They had completed several takeoffs and landings at a nearby airport before returning to the departure airport. The first approach to the runway resulted in a go-around due to an unstable approach, and following the second approach, the pilot receiving instruction performed a three-point landing. During the landing roll, the airplane veered left and exited the runway, and the pilot applied full power and “immediately pitched up.” The airplane climbed in ground effect to about 30 ft, then entered a left turn, and its bank angle continued to increase before the airplane impacted terrain. The airplane came to rest adjacent to a hangar in a nose-low, near-vertical attitude. The pilot was fatally injured. The instructor added that, although he had been guarding the flight controls, due to the low altitude of the event, he did not have time to react before impact. Toxicology testing of the pilot receiving instruction detected diphenhydramine, a sedating antihistamine commonly available over the counter in a host of preparations intended to treat cold and allergy symptoms and to induce sleep. The range of levels where effects are expected are above 25 ng/ml, but the drug undergoes significant post-mortem redistribution and levels found in cavity blood likely do not accurately reflect antemortem levels. Although the pilot receiving instruction could have been impaired somewhat by the effects of a small amount of diphenhydramine in his system, some of those effects would have most likely been overcome by the adrenalin naturally produced in the emergency situation. It is therefore unlikely that the small amount of diphenhydramine contributed to the accident circumstances. The accident is consistent with the pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during an aborted landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and impact with terrain.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.