ATL83FKJ05 · Aeronca 7BCM L-16A
Aeronca 7BCM L-16A · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
Event
- NTSB case
- ATL83FKJ05
- 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
Aeronca 7BCM L-16A
- Aircraft type
- Aeronca 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
- N2557B
- 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 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
- 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
- Flight control system › Jammed
- Pilot in command › Operation with known deficiencies in equipment, not corrected
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH THE GROUND IN A 70 DEGREE DIVE WHILE TAKING PART IN AN AIR SHOW AS A SPOTTER PLANE. THE ACFT HAD DROPPED ONE SMOKE GRENDADE AND WAS ORBITING TO DROP ANOTHER WHEN IT TURNED LEFT AND PITCHED DOWN. ACCORDING TO AN INSPECTION GUIDE FOR THIS ACFT, BOOTS ARE REQUIRED AROUND THE FRONT AND REAR CONTROL STICKS AT THE CABIN FLOOR. WITNESSES STATED THAT BOOTS WERE NEVER INSTALLED IN THIS ACFT. ANOTHER WITNESS SAID HE HELPED THE ACFT OWNER REMOVE BAGGAGE, TOOLS AND SUPPLIES FROM THE ACFT BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. ONE BAG OF TOOLS WAS LEFT UNDER THE FRONT SEAT. AFTER THE ACCIDENT TOOLS AND A METAL BOX CONTAINING A 1/4 INCH DRIVE SOCKET SET WERE FOUND AROUND THE FRONT CONTROL STICK YOKE. THE PILOTS BODY WAS IN THE FRONT SEAT WITH BOTH HANDS ON THE CONTROL STICK.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ATL83FKJ05
- Event ID
- 20001214X43592
- Case number
- ATL83FKJ05
- 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: e99dff4faf7cba430092918e6f10943b65bae9679d2b2593b00aa54dc31b3226; retrieved 2026-09-21T06:31:07.661Z.