FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

CHI91DEM04 · Fred B. Stencel FALCON X P

18 Apr 1991 · ST. CHARLES, MI, United States

Fred B. Stencel FALCON X P · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
CHI91DEM04
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

Fred B. Stencel FALCON X P

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
N747AA
Operator
Dennis P. Tyrrell · 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 · VFR go-around
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
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Tree(s)
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 › Directional control, not maintained

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE ACCIDENT PILOT RECENTLY PURCHASED THE EXPERIMENTAL AIRPLANE AND HAD ASSEMBLED IT ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT. THE PILOT STATED HE 'WANTED TO ENSURE THAT THE MOTOR WAS IN WORKING ORDER AND THAT ALL THE MOVING PARTS WERE SECURELY ON.' HE STATED HE TAXIED UP AND DOWN A RUNWAY TWO TIMES AND, DURING THE THIRD TAXI RUN, THE AIRPLANE BECAME AIRBORNE DUE TO GUSTY WIND CONDITIONS. THE PILOT STATED HE MADE TWO UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO LAND. DURING HIS THIRD LANDING ATTEMPT THE WIND BLEW THE AIRPLANE TOWARD TREES WHICH LINED THE EDGE OF THE RUNWAY. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT HE ATTEMPTED TO CLIMB OVER THE TREES. DURING THIS MANEUVER THE PILOT STATED THE NOSEWHEEL STRUCK THE TREE TOPS AND THE AIRPLANE CRASHED. THE PILOT STATED HE HAD NO INTENTION TO FLY BECAUSE HE HAD NOT RECEIVED A CHECKOUT IN THE AIRPLANE AND HE HASN'T 'HAD ANY EXPERIENCE LANDING' BY HIMSELF.

Probable cause

A RESULT OF THE PILOT IN COMMAND NOT MAINTAINING DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DURING THE GO AROUND MANEUVER. FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ACCIDENT WERE THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S LACK OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE AND FAMILIARITY WITH THE AIRPLANE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI91DEM04
Event ID
20001212X16744
Case number
CHI91DEM04
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: 0d0356ab08b142d86bbeb0fa92c3b4d7d22a8e71104d152cf77612208a425db2; retrieved 2026-09-23T04:19:13.383Z.