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FTW86FA091

1986-05-24 · SANTA FE, Texas, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

N80004 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CAREY ROBERT F SH-2, built 1989), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

A SHORT OCCURRED IN THE AIRCRAFT'S ELECTRICAL SYSTEM DISTRACTING THE OWNER/PILOT OCCUPYING THE BACK SEAT OF THE AIRCRAFT. THIS SEAT WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH A SECOND LAP RESTRAINT. THE AIRCRAFT WAS OBSERVED, BY WITNESSES, TO ENTER A SPIN WHICH WENT INVERTED. THE FRONT SEAT PILOT MAY HAVE BEEN ABLE TO REACH THE PEDALS BUT HAD NO EXPERIENCE IN THE AIRCRAFT. THE SPIN WAS STOPPED AT AN ALTITUDE TOO LOW TO PULL OUT, AND IT IMPACTED THE GROUND IN A STEEP INVERTED ATTITUDE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_FTW86FA091.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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