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FTW90DRD06

1990-04-18 · ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport ESF

N63BD has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA TR182, built 1979), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT MISJUDGED THE LANDING FLARE.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT WAS DISSIPATING AIRSPEED OVER THE RUNWAY, IN THE OPEN COCKPIT BIPLANE. HE SAID HIS HELMET SLIPPED BACK ON HIS HEAD AND DURING HIS ATTEMPT TO READJUST IT, THE LEFT WING CAME UP AND DURING HIS CORRECTION, THE PROPELLER STARTED HITTING THE RUNWAY. HE SHUT OFF THE ENGINE, FLEW FURTHER DOWN THE RUNWAY AND LANDED. HE SAID HIS NEXT TOUCHDOWN WAS SMOOTH BUT THE MAIN GEAR COLLAPSED, AND THE BOTTOM OF THE FUSELAGE STARTED SLIDDING ON THE RUNWAY. A FIRE STARTED AND AS THE PILOT EVACUATED THE AIRPLANE, HE WAS BURNED ON THE FACE AND HANDS. AFTER HE MOVED AWAY FROM THE AIRPLANE, MORE FIRE ERUPTED IN THE AIRPLANE. LATER INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE MAIN LANDING GEAR SPREAD OUT AND THE FUSELAGE BOTTOM HIT THE RUNWAY ON THE FIRST IMPACT. FIRE STARTED WITH FUEL FROM A BROKEN FUEL STRAINER VALVE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_FTW90DRD06.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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