FTW92LA125 · Shewmaker BD5
Shewmaker BD5 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW92LA125
- 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
- 0 · 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
Shewmaker BD5
- Aircraft type
- Shewmaker BD5
- 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
- N68DS
- Operator
- Shewmaker, Darryl D. · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo 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
- Approach
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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 PILOT WAS ATTEMPTING A HIGH SPEED TAXI TEST WHEN THE AIRPLANE BECAME AIRBORNE. A NORMAL CLIMB WAS MADE TO APPROXIMATELY 1,000 FEET AGL. THE PILOT MADE SEVERAL LEFT TURNS WHILE IN LEVEL FLIGHT AND PROCEEDED BACK TOWARD THE AIRPORT. DURING THE APPROACH, THE PROPELLER SYSTEM'S VARIABLE CONTROL MECHANISM SLIPPED WHICH ALLOWED THE PROPELLER TO GO TO THE FULL FEATHER POSITION. THE AIRPLANE'S AIRSPEED WAS BETWEEN 160 TO 180 MPH WHEN THIS OCCURRED, ACCORDING TO THE PILOT. THE AIRSPEED THEN DROPPED TO APPROXIMATELY 100 MPH AND THE PILOT INITIATED A FORCED LANDING TO AN OPEN FIELD. DURING THE FLARE PRIOR TO TOUCHDOWN, THE PILOT ADDED POWER AND THE AIRPLANE YAWED. THE LEFT WING TIP STRUCK THE GROUND AND THE PILOT LOST CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE WHICH THEN IMPACTED THE TERRAIN. THE PILOT STATED THE PROPELLER CONTROL SYSTEM PROBABLY VIBRATED LOOSE DURING THE FLIGHT. THIS SYSTEM IS CONTROLLED BY THE PILOT FROM THE COCKPIT WITH A VERNIER KNOB. THE PILOT BUILT THE AIRPLANE AND HAD NOT FLOWN IT BEFORE THE ACCIDENT.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRCRAFT CONTROL DURING THE FLARE. FACTORS WERE THE ENGAGEMENT OF THE PROPELLER FEATHERING SYSTEM AND THE PILOT'S TOTAL LACK OF EXPERIENCE IN TYPE AIRCRAFT AND THE SLIPPED PROPELLER PITCH CHANGE SYSTEM.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW92LA125
- Event ID
- 20001211X14647
- Case number
- FTW92LA125
- 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 1992-05-03.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 7462098bf092bc5d7288ab3eb5fc92cae979c72fc756c0a185d8846a6c02d3c9; retrieved 2026-09-21T15:01:24.548Z.