SEA97LA011 · Aero Vodochody Aero. Works L-29
Aero Vodochody Aero. Works L-29 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From S47 to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA97LA011
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Aero Vodochody Aero. Works L-29
- Aircraft type
- Aero Vodochody Aero Works L-29
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N7150A
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From S47To not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The Checkoslovakian manufactured Aero Vodochody L-29 jet trainer collided with terrain following a loss of control while maneuvering at low altitude. Before the accident, the aircraft was maneuvering into position to photograph an F4F Wildcat aircraft. Witnesses reported that the aircraft took off and maneuvered to overtake the Wildcat. They stated that as the L-29 crossed behind the F4F's flight path, it rolled to the right, approximately 1-1/4 turns. Reportedly, the L-29's nose pitched up during the occurrence, then dropped to an extremely nose-low position. The aircraft subsequently impacted the ground in a near level attitude with a steep flight path angle. The witnesses reported that the sequence took place at an estimated airspeed between 120 and 150 knots and about 500 feet above ground level. The witnesses also reported that the two aircraft did not collide. A guide to world military aircraft gives the airplane's flaps-down stall speed as 81 MPH (70 knots) at 7165 pounds gross weight. One witness stated the pilot had performed a 'barrel' roll type of maneuver; the witness believed this was an intentional maneuver to slow down, as he was overtaking the F4f. The investigation did not determine whether the aircraft had encountered wake turbulence, or whether it had stalled and/or dished out during the maneuver.
Probable cause
failure of the pilot to maintain control of the aircraft, while maneuvering behind an F4F aircraft. The lack of altitude for a recovery was a related factor.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA97LA011
- Event ID
- 20001208X06977
- Case number
- SEA97LA011
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 6088b370bf7ad94912c46b0fdca55f34c4ee0da4ec5b39797231f583d6c1529d; retrieved 2026-09-20T23:10:14.292Z.