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BFO86FA006 · Eipper QUICKSILVER MXL II QUICKSILVE

17 Nov 1985 · PARKTON, MD, United States

Eipper QUICKSILVER MXL II QUICKSILVE · Accident: in flight collision with object on approach

From PARKTON, MD to PARKTON, MD

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Event

NTSB case
BFO86FA006
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

Eipper QUICKSILVER MXL II QUICKSILVE

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
N401WA
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From PARKTON, MDTo PARKTON, MD
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
In flight collision with object
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 › Go-around, delayed
  • Pilot in command › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, selected

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

NTSB narrative

WITNESSES IN THE AREA OBSERVED THE VEHICLE FLYING IN THE LOCAL AREA AT OTHER TIMES HOWEVER THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME THEY HAD SEEN TWO PEOPLE IN IT. THEY ALSO OBSERVED THE VEHICLE FLYING ERRATICALLY AFTER LIFTOFF AND NOTED THAT THE WINDS WERE GUSTY. UPON RETURNING FOR LANDING THE VEHICLE WAS NOTED TO DESCEND OVER A SET OF HIGH TENSION WIRES INTO A SLOPING GRASS COVERED FIELD ABOUT 600 FEET LONG WHICH ROSE AT THE OPPOSITE END. IT WAS THEN OBSERVED TO ATTEMPT TO CLIMB UP ABOVE THE RISING TERRAIN AND COLLIDE WITH A TREE ABOUT 30 FEET HIGH LOCATED NEXT TO THE LEFT REAR CORNER OF A HOUSE. THE OWNER OF THE RESIDENCE OBSERVED AND HEARD THE ENGINE RUN A A CONSTANT PITCH UP UNTIL IMPACT WITH THE TREE. THE STUDENT-PILOT HAD BEEN WARNED BY PERSONNEL REPRESENTING THE COMPANY WHO HE HAD PURCHASED THE MXL II FROM THAT THE ABOVE MENTIONED FIELD WAS UNSAFE TO FLY OUT OF.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record BFO86FA006
Event ID
20001214X38192
Case number
BFO86FA006
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: 983673d9031869b011cc27f76913b113abc890393c2fe3ff22f92507de24180c; retrieved 2026-09-21T04:46:01.529Z.