North American AT-6C N5286N

Summary

On 3 June 1983 at about 14:58 local time, a North American AT-6C registered N5286N was involved in an accident near Westfield, Massachusetts, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

3 June 1983 at 14:58

Classification

Accident

Location

Westfield, Massachusetts, United States

Nearest airport

Barnes Municipal (BAF)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

North American AT-6C

Registration

N5286N

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC83FA130

1 person died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE AIRLINE TRANSPORT RATED PLT WAS ON A LOW LEVEL, AEROBATIC WAIVER, COMPETENCY CHECK FLT. HE WAS SCHEDULED TO DEMONSTRATE A LOOP, AN AILERON ROLL, A SPLIT-S, AN IMMELMANN, A BARREL ROLL & A 4-POINT HESITATION ROLL. THE MINIMUM ALT FOR THESE MANEUVERS WAS TO BE 500 FT AGL. FOR THE MOST PART, WITNESSES AGREED THE 1ST 5 MANEUVERS WERE PERFORMED WELL, WITH MINOR EXCEPTIONS. HOWEVER, DURING THE FINAL MANEUVER, A 4-POINT ROLL TO THE LEFT, THE ACFT CRASHED. MOST OF THE WITNESSES BELIEVED THE PLT STARTED THE MANEUVER BELOW 500 FT AGL. REPORTEDLY, AT THE 1ST POINT OF THE ROLL, THE NOSE HAD BEGUN TO DROP. AT THE 2ND POINT (INVERTED), THE NOSE HAD DROPPED THRU THE HORIZON TO PERHAPS 10 DEG LOW. ONE EXPERIENCED PLT REPORTED THE ACFT DISHED OUT FROM ABOUT THE 3RD POINT. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE PLANE IMPACTED IN A SOMEWHAT NOSE LOW, RIGHT WING LOW ATTITUDE. THERE WERE INDICATIONS THAT UP ELEVATOR & RIGHT RUDDER WERE APPLIED JUST BEFORE IMPACT. THE PLT HAD APRX 500 HRS SINGLE ENGINE EXPERIENCE & RECENT PRACTICE SESSIONS IN AEROBATIC FLT.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.