Cirrus SR20 N614CD

Summary

On 16 December 2015 at about 14:35 local time, a Cirrus SR20 registered N614CD, operated by Atlantic Airways, was involved in an accident near Charles Town, West Virginia, United States. 2 people were 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

16 December 2015 at 14:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Charles Town, West Virginia, United States

Coordinates

39.2389, -77.9064

Aircraft

Cirrus SR20

Registration

N614CD

Category

Airplane

Year built

2004

Engines

1

Operator

Atlantic Airways

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Leesburg → Winchester

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA16LA070

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor's inadequate remedial action and the student pilot's failure to maintain yaw control while practicing a stall, which resulted in an unintentional spin.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot and flight instructor were practicing maneuvers, followed by takeoffs and landings. After successfully practicing slow flight, the student performed a power-off stall by slowly elevating the nose until the airplane stalled. The airplane banked right, and the student let go of the stick while applying full left rudder. The airplane then rolled over to the right and began to spin nose down. After two rotations, the flight instructor activated the airplane's parachute system. The student added that he had practiced turning stalls on at least two previous occasions in a different make and model airplane and that, in that airplane, it was easy to recover from those stalls. The flight instructor provided a similar statement about the accident sequence. During the landing, the airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and right elevator. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. The roll trim, pitch trim, and aileron-rudder interconnect were all in their proper positions. Further, the airplane was last flown 4 days before the accident flight by the operator's chief flight instructor. He reported that the previous flight included both power-on and power-off stalls and that he did not notice anything unusual about the airplane or its handling characteristics during that flight. The student had not flown for about 2 months before the accident and had accrued only 1 flight hour during the 90-day period before the accident. He had accumulated a total flight experience of 81 hours, of which 19 hours were in the accident airplane make and model. Data downloaded from the primary flight display, autopilot computer, and a multifunction display revealed that there was right yaw before the stall. It is likely that the student did not adequately control yaw before the stall due to his lack of recent experience and lack of experience in the make and model airplane, which resulted in a right roll and spin. Additionally, the instructor did not correct the yaw before the stall and did not recover the airplane as it began to enter a spin.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.