NTSB SEA86FA165 — 1986-07-11 · RICHLAND, Washington, United States

N2056 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (KERR JOHN LEE THORP T-18, built 2004), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

N2056 Thorp T-18 Fatal

Factual narrative

AT TIME OF MISHAP, ACFT PRESUMED TO BE IN RT-HAND APPROACH TO LAND IN 20-KT, 40 DEGREE RT CROSSWIND. WITNESSES FIRST OBSERVED ACFT DESCENDING VERTICALLY, OUT OF CONTROL, IN AN AREA CONSISTENT WITH THE 90 DEGREE APPROACH POSITION. EVIDENCE INDICATES ACFT CONTACTED SOFT, SANDY TERRAIN IN VERTICAL ATTITUDE, THEN FELL OVER TO UPRIGHT FLAT ATTITUDE BEFORE INTENSE POST-IMPACT FIRE INCINERATED MOST OF AIRFRAME. NO EVIDENCE FOUND OF MECHANICAL FAILURE/MALFUNCTION. SCENARIO INDICATIVE OF STEEP TURN TO CORRECT CROSSWIND-INDUCED CLOSE-IN PATTERN. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_SEA86FA165.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

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

Related research

Matched on aircraft type. All research papers

arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint A Reinforcement Learning Approach for Robust Supervisory Control of UAVs Under Disturbances

In this work, we present an approach to supervisory reinforcement learning control for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). UAVs are dynamic systems where control decisions in response to disturbances in …