Cessna 150 N1300Q

Summary

On 18 June 2021 at about 15:06 local time, a Cessna 150 registered N1300Q, operated by A-Cent Aviation Inc., was involved in an accident near Yulee, Florida, 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

18 June 2021 at 15:06

Classification

Accident

Location

Yulee, Florida, United States

Coordinates

30.7097, -81.5436

Aircraft

Cessna 150

Registration

N1300Q

Category

Airplane

Year built

1971

Engines

1

Operator

A-Cent Aviation Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fernandina Beach → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA21FA258

2 people died.

The flight instructor’s decision to conduct slow flight training at an altitude below the flight school’s minimum recovery altitude and his delayed remedial action when an aerodynamic stall occurred.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor and the student pilot proceeded to the usual training area over a river for an instructional flight. Radar data indicated that the airplane completed several 360° turns, at slow speed, about 800 to 1,000 ft above ground level (agl); the observed maneuvering was consistent with the performance of slow flight. The last radar return was about 300 ft south of the accident site, at 800 ft agl. Several witnesses at a nearby boat dock reported that the airplane descended into the river in a near-vertical, nose-down attitude. One witness stated that the airplane was circling and turning while descending; another reported that the airplane descended nose down in a “corkscrew” path. The witness observations were consistent with the airplane having entered an aerodynamic stall and subsequent spin. Two of the witnesses recalled that the engine was running until impact with the water. The airplane sank in about 17 ft of water. An examination of the wreckage after recovery from the river did not reveal evidence of a preexisting mechanical malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation. The flight school that operated the airplane reported that the minimum altitude for recovery during air work, including stalls and slow flight, was 1,500 ft agl. Another student, who flew with the same flight instructor earlier that day, reported that the flight instructor routinely conducted air work below the 1,500 ft minimum. It is likely that the flight instructor allowed the student to stall the airplane at low altitude and delayed remedial action; the airplane subsequently entered a spin from which the instructor was unable to recover before impact.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.