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BFO87FA009

1986-11-17 · DANVILLE, Virginia, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport DAN

N43905 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (AMERICAN AUTOGYRO INC SPARROWHAWK, built 2007), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE AIRCRAFT WAS OBSERVED FLYING AROUND THE AIRPORT AS THE WEATHER DETERIORATED. THE PILOT HAD ELECTED TO DEPART AT ABOUT 2345 EST AFTER OBTAINING A WEATHER BRIEFING 6 & 1/2 HOURS BEFORE. THE PLT HAD A TOTAL OF ABOUT 83 HOURS FLYING TIME AND DID NOT HAVE ANY INSTRUMENT TIME LOGGED IN HIS LOGBOOK SINCE OBTAINING HIS PRIVATE PLT CERTIFICATE OVER A YEAR PRIOR TO THIS ACCIDENT. WITNESSES SAW THE ACFT DISAPPEAR IN AND OUT OF FOG. THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREES IN A RIGHT WING LOW, RIGHT TURN BEFORE COMING TO REST NEXT TO AN ABANDONDED HOUSE WITHIN 1,000 FT OF A RWY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_BFO87FA009.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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