FTW88DPJ12 · Snyder STOLP SA-300 STOLP SA-3
Snyder STOLP SA-300 STOLP SA-3 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure while maneuvering
From HSD5 to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW88DPJ12
- 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
- 1 · 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
Snyder STOLP SA-300 STOLP SA-3
- Aircraft type
- Snyder STOLP SA-300
- 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
- N57DH
- Operator
- Howard, H. David · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From HSD5To 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
- 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
- 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/spin
- 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
- Flt control syst, rudder control attach points › Improper
- Manufacturer › Inadequate quality control
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WITNESSES RPRTD THE PLT WAS DOING AEROBATICS NEAR THE ARPT. THEY OBSERVED TWO SNAP ROLLS, THEN SAW THE ACFT ENTER A SPIN TO THE RIGHT. THE WITNESSES SAID THE ACFT WAS MANEUVERING AT AN ESTIMATED 1,500 TO 1,900 FEET AGL, THEN IT SPUN, UNCORRECTED TO GROUND IMPACT. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT IN THE REAR COCKPIT, THE RUDDER CABLE ATTACHMENT ON THE LEFT RUDDER PEDAL HAD FAILED. A METALLURGICAL EXAMINATION REVEALED THE FRACTURE WAS TYPICAL OF OVERSTRESS, BUT THE WELDED AREA HAD VOIDS & THERE WAS A LACK OF FUSION & PENETRATION IN THE WELDED AREA.
Probable cause
TOTAL FAILURE OF THE RUDDER CONTROL DUE TO FAILURE OF THE METAL WELDS ON THE CABLE ATTACHMENT TO THE RUDDER PEDAL, DUE TO IMPROPER WELDING BY THE MANUFACTURER.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW88DPJ12
- Event ID
- 20001213X26824
- Case number
- FTW88DPJ12
- 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: d9e6150cc6d525bccee1d5803b891ef3250565180909ac2cfc6b0700218bfddd; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:33:58.785Z.