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Atlas / NTSB / CEN21LA468

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN21LA468

2021-09-17 Beaumont, Texas, United States Airport · BMT Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N2468W

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

AMERICAN CHAMPION AIRCRAFT 8KCAB

Engine

LYCOMING AEIO-360 SER (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

1 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20010815

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A249CE

Registrant of record

GODWIN GERALD

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

The flight instructor’s failure to maintain aircraft control during the turn to final approach resulting in a rapid descent and impact with terrain.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported after a 20-minute local flight, he and the flight instructor landed and swapped seats so that the flight instructor could fly a traffic pattern from the front seat. The flight instructor flew a tight traffic pattern and as he turned from a right base leg toward the final approach, the airplane descended rapidly and impacted terrain prior to the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage. The flight instructor did not recall the accident sequence due to his injuries. Both pilots reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Instructor/check pilot
  • Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Descent/approach/glide path-Not attained/maintained

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_CEN21LA468.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.