MKC86LA170 · Teratorn TIERRA 2
Teratorn TIERRA 2 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's operation. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- MKC86LA170
- 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 Possible conflict
- 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
Teratorn TIERRA 2
- Aircraft type
- Teratorn TIERRA 2
- 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
- N5575Y
- Operator
- Unknown
- 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 103: Ultralight
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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 › Planning/decision, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Stall, intentional
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE EXPERIMENTAL ACFT WAS LOADED NEAR MAX GROSS WT ON TAKEOFF FROM THE PVT SOD AIRATRIP. THE PLT STATED THE ACFT PERFORMED SLUGGISHLY DURING THE CLIMBOUT FROM THE FIELD. THE PLT STATED THAT ON THE CLIMBOUT THAT HE WAS OVERFLYING A CORN FIELD BORDERING THE STRIP WHEN THE ACFT DESCENDED TOWARD THE CORN DESPITE FULL PWR FROM THE ENG. THE PLT STATED HE INTENTIONALLY STALLED THE ACFT JUST ABOVE THE CORN AND IMPACTED THE GROUND BENEATH THE CORN WHERE IT SUSTAINED SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE. THE PLT STATED HE FELT THAT THE AIR WAS LESS DENSE AS HE OVERFLEW THE CORN AND THIS ROBBED THE ENG OF PWR AND THE WINGS OF SOME LIFT. THE DENSITY ALTITUDE MEASUREMENT WAS SLIGHTLY ABOVE THAT OF FIELD ELEVATION OF 750 FEET.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MKC86LA170
- Event ID
- 20001213X34571
- Case number
- MKC86LA170
- 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 1986-08-12.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 9a10245563b659729c25d62a25f04ffc77b1fa272be980a6c15777e1ccf694b7; retrieved 2026-09-23T14:08:49.560Z.