ERA12FA583 · Cessna 150M
Cessna 150M · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Shannon Airport (EZF) to Shannon Airport (EZF)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA12FA583
- 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
- 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 150M
- 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
- N66246
- Operator
- Hockaday Donald R
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Shannon Airport (EZF), Fredricksburg, VATo Shannon Airport (EZF), Fredricksburg, VA
- 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
- 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 › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During takeoff in good visibility and calm wind, about 100 feet above ground level, the airplane made a 90-degree left bank and descended in a spiral until impact. The wreckage was located in a residential area, about 1,000 feet from the departure end of the runway. All major components of the airplane were accounted for at the scene. Examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. Toxicological testing of specimens from the pilot revealed results consistent with prior consumption of alcohol at levels that could degrade decision-making and psychomotor performance. Additionally, testing revealed the presence of an antidepressant. Alcohol can aggravate drowsiness caused by the medication; however, the investigation could not determine the degree of interaction between the medication and alcohol.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain airplane control during initial climb. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's impairment due to alcohol.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA12FA583
- Event ID
- 20120929X81653
- Case number
- ERA12FA583
- 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: b030e60f5454c16183d4a50dc6b8b3c2c5d9f04ad129cede48b0426c9ef5feea; retrieved 2026-09-14T15:45:13.141Z.