ERA09LA229 · Gaynor Donald J RV6A
Gaynor Donald J RV6A · Accident: loss of control in flight while maneuvering
From Venice Municipal Airport (VNC) to Venice Municipal Airport (VNC)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA09LA229
- 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
Gaynor Donald J RV6A
- Aircraft type
- Gaynor Donald RV6
- 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
- N88WG
- Operator
- Donald J. Gaynor · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Venice Municipal Airport (VNC), Venice Municipa, FLTo Venice Municipal Airport (VNC), Venice Municipa, FL
- 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 · aerobatics
- Defining eventThe 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Physical
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the passenger, he and the pilot were returning to the airport after a local flight, when he heard a loud snap or a loud bang. The airplane began to buffet, the pilot moved the control stick forward and aft, and the airplane subsequently impacted trees. Witnesses on the ground observed the airplane flying overhead at an altitude of 300 feet. They reported the airplane was performing aerobatic maneuvers described as a "barrel roll" or a "loop." A postaccident examination of the airframe, engine and system components revealed no evidence of a preimpact mechanical failure or malfunction that would have precluded normal operation. Post-mortem toxicology testing identified ethanol in the pilot's blood, vitreous, and urine, at impairing levels. The pilot had multiple convictions of driving under the influence (DUI), and the FAA had twice revoked the pilot's medical certificate for alcohol related offenses.
Probable cause
The pilot's operation of the airplane while impaired (alcohol) and his decision to attempt aerobatic maneuvers at a low altitude resulting in the loss of aircraft control and subsequent collision with trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA09LA229
- Event ID
- 20090404X71345
- Case number
- ERA09LA229
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: a0dd5f244dc6ab943226db75fe9f869384b072eb75b1f22f8e1971ba27cb1041; retrieved 2026-09-13T20:02:00.614Z.