Piper J3C-65 N88117

Summary

On 30 May 2010 at about 23:45 local time, a Piper J3C-65 registered N88117 was involved in an accident near Mount Pleasant, Texas, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

30 May 2010 at 23:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Mount Pleasant, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Glover Airport (XS70)

Coordinates

33.1353, -95.0189

Aircraft

Piper J3C-65

Registration

N88117

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mount Pleasant → Mount Pleasant

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN10CA284

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed while turning resulting in a stall.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After takeoff, the pilot noticed the tachometer reading 2,100 RPM and the airspeed was 45-50 miles per hour. He felt the climb performance was less than normal to reach 500 feet above the ground (AGL), where he began a climbing right turn to the crosswind. During the turn he noticed the altitude decreasing, so he tried to recover from the descent. At about 400 feet AGL he felt the airplane sink and start to stall in what he believed was a downdraft. He lowered the nose and started to recover from the stall when the airplane impacted trees. Density altitude was 2,867 feet. No anomalies were found with the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.