BFO94FA005 · Cessna 152
Control Aero Cessna 152 · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK) to Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK)
Event
- NTSB case
- BFO94FA005
- 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
Cessna 152
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 152
- 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
- N47456
- Operator
- Control Aero
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK), Frederick, MDTo Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK)
- 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(cfi) › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Spatial disorientation
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE INSTRUCTOR (CFI) AND STUDENT PILOT DEPARTED ON AN INSTRUCTIONAL FLIGHT DURING A DARK NIGHT TO PRACTICE STALLS AND SLOW FLIGHT. ABOUT 15 MINUTES LATER, WITNESSES REPORTED SEEING A LIGHT DESCENDING TO THE GROUND AT A 'STEEP ANGLE' AND HEARING AN IMPACT. THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED AN OPEN FIELD IN A NOSE-DOWN, INVERTED ATTITUDE. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE DID NOT REVEAL ANY PREIMPACT MECHANICAL DEFICIENCY. ALTHOUGH THE FLAP ACTUATOR WAS FOUND IN A FULLY EXTENDED POSITION, THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF A HIGH SPEED IMPACT. DURING IMPACT, THE AIRPLANE WAS EXTENSIVELY DAMAGED, AND THE ENGINE AND PROPELLER WERE COMPLETELY IMBEDDED IN THE GROUND. AN EXAM OF THE RECORDS INDICATED THAT THE CFI HAD LOGGED 4 HOURS OF NIGHT FLIGHT INSTRUCTION TIME BEFORE THE ACCIDENT AND 66 HOURS OF TOTAL INSTRUCTION TIME. THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT WAS THE STUDENT PILOT'S FIFTH FLIGHT; HIS FIRST TWO FLIGHTS WERE ALSO PARTIALLY CONDUCTED AT NIGHT BY THE CFI. THE STUDENT HAD A TOTAL FLIGHT TIME OF 4.5 HOURS (ALL DUAL INSTRUCTION).
Probable cause
IMPROPER PLANNING/DECISION BY THE INSTRUCTOR PILOT (CFI) BY TEACHING STALLS AND SLOW FLIGHT TO A PRE-SOLO STUDENT ON A DARK NIGHT, AND THE INSTRUCTOR'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN (OR REGAIN) CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE, DUE TO SPATIAL DISORIENTATION. FACTOR'S RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE CFI'S LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN THE TYPE OF OPERATION, AND DARKNESS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record BFO94FA005
- Event ID
- 20001211X13690
- Case number
- BFO94FA005
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1993-11-11.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 7e2f199f3d277e5d5e34fa501ae254ce829bbabd420bf421b145e9356bb4211f; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:19:27.120Z.