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CHI89DEC06

1989-08-26 · PONTIAC, Michigan, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport PTK

N9BD has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (VAN'S AIRCRAFT RV-8A, built 2010), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED DURING TAKEOFF WHICH RESULTED IN A STALL/SPIN. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE EXCESSIVE PULL-UP MANEUVER AND THE PILOT'S LACK OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE IN THE AIRCRAFT.

Factual narrative

WITNESSES OBSERVED THE AIRCRAFT DEPART ON RUNWAY 09R AT A HIGH PITCH ATTITUDE. SHORTLY AFTER DEPARTURE THE AIRCRAFT ENTERED A LEFT ROLL TO A NEAR INVERTED POSITION AND DESCENDED TO TERRAIN IMPACT APPROXIMATELY 1/2 MILE EAST OF THE AIRPORT. INSPECTION REVEALED NO MALFUNCTION/FAILURE OF THE AIRCRAFT WHICH WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN THE LOSS OF CONTROL. THIS FLIGHT WAS THE SECOND FLIGHT FOR THE PILOT IN THIS AIRCRAFT SINCE 1987. THE PILOT REPORTEDLY STATED TO A WITNESS THAT HE WANTED TO FLY TO GET USED TO THE FEEL OF THE FLIGHT CONTROLS OF THE AIRCRAFT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_CHI89DEC06.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, loss of control). All research papers