Skip to content

CHI88FA188

1988-08-03 · FLUSHING, Michigan, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport 3DA

Current FAA registration · N2956Z

Make / Model
BELLANCA 7ECA
Year of manufacture
1978 · 10 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING 0-235 SERIES (115 hp)
Seats / Engines
2 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19780405
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A30B4F

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

PILOT'S PHYSICAL INCAPACITATION DUE TO A CORONARY SEIZURE, WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF AIRCRAFT CONTROL, AND A STALL/SPIN INTO THE GROUND.

Factual narrative

SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, AS THE AIRPLANE WAS CLIMBING THRU ABOUT 100 TO 200 FT ABOVE THE GROUND, IT WAS OBSERVED TO PITCH UP, THEN BANK RIGHT & NOSED DOWN IN WHAT WAS ESTIMATED TO BE A 3/4 TURN SPIN BEFORE IMPACTING THE GROUND. NO PREIMPACT MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE OF THE AIRCRAFT STRUCTURE OR ENGINE WAS FOUND. A PATHOLOGICAL EXAM OF THE PILOT REVEALED EXTENSIVE CHEST INJURIES AND AN ACUTE OCCLUSION OF THE LEFT ANTERIOR DESCENDING CORONARY ARTERY. THE CORONER BELIEVED THE PILOT SUFFERED A CORONARY SEIZURE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_CHI88FA188.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). All research papers