FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

NYC91LA014 · Stinson SR8C

20 Oct 1990 · LAKEVILLE, MA, United States

Stinson SR8C · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering

From Taunton Municipal King Field (TAN) to an unrecorded destination

Report a problem

Event

NTSB case
NYC91LA014
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

Stinson SR8C

Aircraft type
Stinson SR8
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
N17116
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Taunton Municipal King Field (TAN), Taunton, MATo 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 · turn to reverse direction
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
In flight collision with terrain/water
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

  • Terrain condition › Water, glassy

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Lakeville, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT WAS MANEUVERING HIS AIRPLANE AT A LOW ALTITUDE SIGHT- SEEING AND TAKING PICTURES OVER A LAKE. HE MADE A LEFT TURN IN ORDER TO GET THE SUN OUT OF HIS EYES. WHICH WAS REFLECTING OFF THE GLASSY WATER ON THE LAKE. AS THE PILOT MADE THE LEFT TURN THE AIRPLANE DESCENDED AND STRUCK THE WATER. THE PILOT SAID, 'CLOSER ATTENTION TO MY ALTITUDE WOULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS ACCIDENT.'

Probable cause

THE PILOT MISJUDGED HIS ALTITUDE ABOVE THE LAKE WATER AND ALLOWED THE AIRPLANE TO DESCEND WHILE MAKING A LEFT TURN. FACTOR'S RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: CALM WINDS CAUSING THE LAKE WATER TO BE GLASSY.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC91LA014
Event ID
20001212X24532
Case number
NYC91LA014
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: 8b7b3fa2ed58fa4a566bdc5efb044d978f395bec16b9dce9b4d47878c8c27582; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:42:59.512Z.