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ATL89DEK02

1989-03-11 · DELAWARE, Ohio, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport DLZ

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

PILOT INADVERTENTLY LOST CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT WHICH RESULTED IN A STALL SPIN AND COLLISION WITH THE GROUND.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT WAS OBSERVED TO BE ON BASE TO FINAL FOR LANDING ON RUNWAY 28 AT DELAWARE MUNICIPAL AIRPORT. HE WAS AT A NORMAL ALTITUDE AND SPEED WHEN THE AIRCRAFT SUDDENLY ROLLED TO A NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE OF APPROXIMATELY 30 DEGREES. THIS ROLLING AND PITCHING DOWN CONTINUED UNTIL THE AIRCRAFT DISAPPEARED BEHIND A CLUMP OF TREES. SMOKE ROSE IMMEDIATELY FROM THE LOCATION OF THE IMPACT. THE TWO OCCUPANTS WERE FATALLY INJURED AND THE AIRCRAFT DESTROYED BY THE CRASH AND ENSUING FIRE. THE AIRCRAFT WAS A HOMEBUILT RV-4 WITH APPROXIMATELY 70 HOURS TOTAL TIME. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL89DEK02.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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