DFW08FA036 · Cessna A150K
Cessna A150K · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Mesquite Metro Airport (HQZ) to Mesquite, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW08FA036
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Cessna A150K
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 150
- 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
- N8301M
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Mesquite Metro Airport (HQZ), Mesquite, TXTo Mesquite, TX
- 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
- 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/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
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Airspeed(vs), not maintained
- Pilot in command(cfi) › Stall/spin, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Witnesses related that the airplane had been refueled prior to departing on an instructional flight. Shortly after departure, during the initial climb, a witness saw the airplane in a steep turn, followed by the nose dropping, and the airplane entering a spin prior to impact. A flight instructor, familiar with accident type airplane, also saw it prior to impact, and said he thought the wing flaps were extended approximately 20 to 30 degrees. During the wreckage examination, the wing flap indicator was found damaged, and read about 28 degrees down. The flap actuator jackscrew measurement equated to flaps extended about 30 degrees. A separate electrical supply was connected to the flap motor, bypassing the internal electrical circuits, and the motor was energized. The jackscrew successfully raised and lowered the flaps. The fuse for the electric flap motor was removed from the instrument panel. Beneath the fuse holder, the instrument panel was marked: "FLAPS SLO-BLO." The fuse had the markings: "BUSS AGS 10" on the side. An examination of the fuse revealed that it was blown (nonfunctional). The Operators Manuel states: "Note: A special "SLO-BLO" fuse protects the wing flaps circuit. If this fuse is replaced, care should be taken to assure that the replacement fuse is of the proper type and capacity. A "SLO-BLO" fuse is identified by an integrally mounted spring encircling the fuse element." Additionally, the manual calls for a SLO-BLO fuse rated for 15 amps. On flap operation, the following is noted; "Flap deflections of 30 and 40 degrees are not recommended at any time for take-off." An examination of the engine did not reveal any preimpact mechanical anomalies that would have prevented normal operation. The gross weight of the airplane was estimated to be approximately 1,770 pounds, or about 170 pounds over the allowable gross weight. ,
Probable cause
The flight instructor's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed to avoid a stall during takeoff-initial climb. Factors contributing to the accident are the instructor's decision to takeoff with excessive flaps, the improper maintenance replacement of the flap fuse, and the inability to raise the flaps due to a nonfunctional flap fuse.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW08FA036
- Event ID
- 20071126X01838
- Case number
- DFW08FA036
- 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, coordinates. 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: 43c109c54cbb4b0f58beb72b4f8d5dbdaf8311d3be09d3e8712df796e97942e2; retrieved 2026-09-20T16:06:02.400Z.