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SEA91FA156 · Champion 7AC

5 Jul 1991 · Burns, OR, United States

Champion 7AC · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering

From Homedale Municipal Airport (S66) to Burns, OR

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Event

NTSB case
SEA91FA156
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

Champion 7AC

Aircraft type
Champion 7
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
N3006E
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Homedale Municipal Airport (S66), Homedale, IDTo Burns, OR
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
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
Stall
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
  • Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent

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

NTSB narrative

THE STUDENT PLT WAS THE OWNER/OPERATOR OF THE ACFT. HE AND THE PASSENGER WERE ON A PLEASURE FLT IN AN AREA OF MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. THE ACFT WAS SEEN TO TURN INTO A VALLEY WHERE IT SUBSEQUENTLY COLLIDED WITH THE GROUND AT AN ELEVATION OF ABOUT 5500 FT. DURING IMPACT, THE WINGS WERE BENT DOWN AND FORWARD; THERE WAS A 45 DEG CRUSH LINE ON THE LEADING EDGES OF THE WINGS. NO GROUND SCARS WERE FOUND TO INDICATE MOVEMENT AFTER GROUND IMPACT. THE ACFT'S LAST ANNUAL INSPN WAS DATED 7/22/87; HOWEVER, THE STUDENT PLT CONTINUED TO OPERATE THE ACFT; HE PERFORMED OIL CHANGES HIMSELF. NO PREIMPACT MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE ENGINE WAS FOUND. THE STUDENT'S LAST MEDICAL EXAM WAS DATED 11/25/87. A TOXICOLOGY EXAM OF THE STUDENT PLT'S BLOOD SHOWED A SATURATION OF 20% CARBOXYHEMOGLOBIN. A FLT SURGEON REPORTED THAT THIS PERCENTAGE COULD CAUSE A HEADACHE, A STATE OF CONFUSION, DIZZINESS AND VISUAL DISTURBANCE. THE INVESTIGATION DID NOT DETERMINE IF THE ACFT HEATER SYSTEM COULD HAVE BEEN THE SOURCE OF CARBON MONOXIDE.

Probable cause

IMPROPER INFLIGHT PLANNING/DECISION BY THE STUDENT PILOT (PILOT-IN-COMMAND), AND HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED, WHICH RESULTED IN A STALL. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT OF THE STUDENT PILOT/OWNER/OPERATOR FROM CARBON MONOXIDE, MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN, AND HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record SEA91FA156
Event ID
20001212X17684
Case number
SEA91FA156
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 1991-07-06.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 3915bc141da608f5c0a899c5475034ff443af9e04828e9bf573cdf61f9b2f566; retrieved 2026-09-21T01:43:29.461Z.