NYC83FNE04 · Bede Aircraft BD-5B
Bede Aircraft BD-5B · Accident: airframe, component or system failure on approach
From Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport (BAF) to Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport (BAF)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC83FNE04
- 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
Bede Aircraft BD-5B
- Aircraft type
- Bede BD-5
- 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
- N83SK
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport (BAF), Westfield, MATo Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport (BAF), Westfield, MA
- 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 pattern downwind
- 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
- 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 › Anxiety/apprehension
- Propeller system/accessories, blade › Improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Westfield, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT CRASHED SHORT OF THE RWY DURING AN ATTEMPTED LANDING. THERE WERE SOME CONFUSING AND GARBLED TRANSMISSIONS AND SOME MISTAKEN INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE TOWER DURING THE PROBLEM EXPERIENCED BY THE ACCIDENT PLT. THIS PLT DID NOT MAKE IT CLEAR THAT HE HAD AN EMERGENCY BUT HE DID ASK FOR IMMEDIATE LANDING DUE TO A PROBLEM. HIS ENGINE WAS HEARD OPERATING AT ALTERNATING HIGH AND LOW LEVELS. HIS ACFT HAD A HISTORY OF OVERHEATING AND IT ALSO HAD AN IMPROPER PROPELLER INSTALLED. A NEW PROPELLER WAS ON ORDER. ACCORDING TO GREAT AMERICAN PROPELLER CO, THE PROPELLER INSTALLED ON THE ACFT DID NOT HAVEENOUGH BLADE AREA FOR THE AIRFRAME/ENGINE COMBINATION. THIS COMBINATION COULD CAUSE ENFORCED MODERATE APPLICATION OF THROTTLE AND AT FULL THROTTLE AND LOW AIRSPEEDS COULD RESULT IN EXCESSIVE RPM AND PROBABLE CAVITATION AND LOSS OF THRUST.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC83FNE04
- Event ID
- 20001214X43909
- Case number
- NYC83FNE04
- 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: 4feff78d11f06ee78421119c9b325d72cf4c35774c5ef4e2e777cced54292807; retrieved 2026-09-21T06:30:51.584Z.