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NYC90LA164

1990-07-14 · SHIRLEY, New York, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport HWV

N44HH has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (DIAMOND AIRCRAFT DA 40 NG, built 2017), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S LACK OF QUALIFICATIONS, THE IMPROPER USE OF FLIGHT CONTROLS, THE SECOND PILOT'S LACK OF QUALIFICATIONS, AND HIS DECISION TO SIMULATE THE ENGINE FAILURE.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT AT THE CONTROLS HELD A PRIVATE PILOT CERTIFICATE WITH A SINGLE ENGINE LAND AIRPLANE RATING. THE SECOND PILOT HELD A COMMERCIAL CERTIFICATE WITH A MULTI ENGINE RATING, BUT DID NOT HOLD A FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATE. THE PRIVATE PILOT INITIATED A TAKEOFF IN THE MULTI ENGINE AIRPLANE AND WAS OBSERVED BY A POLICE OFFICER/PILOT TO BE APPROXIMATELY 75 TO 100 FEET IN THE AIR. THE AIRPLANE THEN DESCENDED AND CONTACTED THE GROUND OFF THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE DEPARTURE RUNWAY AFTER A SIMULATED ENGINE FAILURE. THE PILOT INDICATED HE HAD A TOTAL TIME OF 4 HOURS IN MAKE AND MODEL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_NYC90LA164.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 (engine failure). All research papers