ERA10FA232 · Maule M5-235C
Airsign Maule M5-235C · Accident: aerodynamic stall/spin while maneuvering
From Orlando North Airpark (FA83) to Dunnellon Marion Co & Park of Commerce Airport (X35)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA10FA232
- 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
Maule M5-235C
- Aircraft type
- Maule M5
- 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
- N9196E
- Operator
- AirSign
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Orlando North Airpark (FA83), Zellwood, FLTo Dunnellon Marion Co & Park of Commerce Airport (X35), Dunellon, 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
- 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
- Aerodynamic 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
After an engine runup, the pilot taxied onto the runway and commenced his takeoff roll. The airplane lifted off approximately 1/3 of the length down the runway. After liftoff, one witness thought she heard popping and the airplane immediately turned approximately 40 degrees to the right in the approximate direction of the pilot's destination airport, which one witness stated was the pilot's usual practice. What appeared to be a thin trail of dark gray smoke or black smoke was observed trailing from the airplane. The airplane then reached a height of approximately 60 feet above ground level, leveled off, and the smoke stopped. Upon approaching a tree line that ran perpendicular to the right side of the runway, the airplane was observed to climb. The airplane cleared the trees by approximately 50 feet, stalled, entered a spin, and impacted the ground. A post crash fire then ensued. The airplane had been in a previous accident and it was reported to the NTSB that it may have had a preexisting engine problem.
A postaccident examination of the airplane and engine revealed no evidence of any preimpact failure or malfunction of the airplane or engine. During the takeoff, light rain was falling. This may have resulted in the formation of visible vapor during power application which could have appeared to the witnesses as smoke. It is also possible that the smoke may have been residual oil being burned off from a replacement of the oil cooler, which occurred 16 days prior to the accident, recent engine oil servicing, seepage of oil past the seals or rings while the airplane was parked, or a richer than normal mixture due to the atmospheric conditions that existed at the time. The popping that may have been heard could also have been caused by a richer than normal mixture. Had the pilot flown a normal departure which continues straight ahead along the extended runway centerline and continues until reaching a point at least 1/2 mile beyond the departure end of the runway and within 300 feet of the traffic pattern altitude. Following Federal Aviation Administration guidance for departing traffic patterns would have kept the airplane clear of the treeline.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed while maneuvering after takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall, loss of aircraft control, and collision with trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA10FA232
- Event ID
- 20100419X01601
- Case number
- ERA10FA232
- 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: 705d54e1051d4ed9cd22e0447cf86833ef72772bec390a78c213378f0d5151e7; retrieved 2026-09-13T20:45:53.987Z.