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Two Fatal Cases of the Simply Inexperienced

NTSB reports blame a pair of aviation accidents on green pilots.

Stall spins are, and always have been, a common cause of fatalities in general aviation. [Adobe Stock]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The article details two fatal general aviation accidents in 2019: one involving a student pilot flying a Cessna 140 illegally with his son, and another with a multiengine CFI and an unqualified pilot flying an unairworthy Cessna 421.
  • In both cases, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) attributed the accidents primarily to pilot inexperience and noncompliance with aviation regulations.
  • The author critiques the NTSB's findings, suggesting that "noncompliance" may be an oversimplified cause and implying that potential mechanical issues in the second crash might have been overlooked.
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In September 2019, in a sparsely populated part of South Dakota near the Nebraska border, a father and son went flying in their Cessna 140. When they did not return, sheriffs began a search.

The next day, the wreckage of the 140, its front end crushed, was found a few hundred feet northwest of the pilot’s private strip. Since the flaps were down, it had evidently been approaching to land when it stalled and spun. There was no way to know why the mishap occurred, but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on the accident noted that conditions were such that carburetor icing was likely.

Peter Garrison

Peter Garrison taught himself to use a slide rule and tin snips, built an airplane in his backyard, and flew it to Japan. He began contributing to FLYING in 1968, and he continues to share his columns, ""Technicalities"" and ""Aftermath,"" with FLYING readers.

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