Bellanca 7ECA N53950

Summary

On 21 April 2001 at about 18:30 local time, a Bellanca 7ECA registered N53950 was involved in an accident near Kimball, Nebraska, United States. 2 people were on board and one was seriously injured, one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

21 April 2001 at 18:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Kimball, Nebraska, United States

Coordinates

41.2303, -103.6506

Aircraft

Bellanca 7ECA

Registration

N53950

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fort Collins/Lo → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI01LA122

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot not maintaining clearance from the terrain. A factor was that the pilot misjudged the low altitude flight maneuver.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane sustained substantial damage on impact with terrain while maneuvering. The pilot sustained minor injury and passenger sustained serious injury. The flight's purpose was to track weather balloons. The pilot stated, "On the third pass over one of these roads, I did a similar climbing turn then descending turn as I had done (and have done hundreds of times before) however, I did not carry enough power in the climbing turn. On the descending turn portion, our descent rate was high enough that out leveling off point ended up below the ground. At impact we were in an almost 3 pt attitude with full power, but again not in the attitude long enough to arrest descent."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.