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FTW86LA036

1986-01-21 · CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport CRP

N738DC has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (DJI AGRAS T40), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE STUDENT WAS RECEIVING DUAL INSTRUMENT FLT INSTRUCTION. SHE HAD CONDUCTED SEVERAL PRACTICE INSTRUMENT APCHS, ALL IN VMC CONDITIONS. THE LAST WAS AN ILS TO RWY 13 AT CORPUS CHRISTI INT'L ARPT. IT STARTED IN VMC CONDITIONS BUT ENTERED CLOUDS AT ABOUT 550 FT. THE DESCENT CONTINUED TO ABOUT 300 FT AT WHICH TIME THE CFI CALLED A MISSED APCH. THE CFI STARTED A CLIMB TO ABOUT 350 FT AND HE FELT GROUND IMPACT. BEFORE IMPACT HE NOTED THE ACFT WAS IN A 20 DEG RIGHT BANK AND HE LEVELED THE WINGS. THE STUDENT STATED SHE WAS IN A STATE OF FATIGUE WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED. SHE HAD BEEN USING THE AIRSPEED AND VERTICAL SPPED INDICATORS TO VERIFY THE ACFT WAS CLIMBING. SHE MADE NO REFERENCE TO THE ATTITUDE INDICATOR FOR PITCH CONTROL. THE CFI STATED HE SPENT 3 OR 4 HRS WITH THE STUDENT DOING BASIC AIRWORK. THE CFI HAD RENEWED HIS CFI CERTIFICATE 3 DAYS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT BY ATTENDING A FAA APPROVED GROUND TRAINING COURSE. THERE WAS NO FLT CHECK INVOLVED IN THE CERTIFICATE RENEWAL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_FTW86LA036.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.