Diamond Aircraft Ind Inc DA 20-C1 accident near Linden, NJ
On May 31, 2013, a Diamond Aircraft Ind Inc DA 20-C1 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Linden, NJ. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- May 31, 2013
- Place
- Linden, NJ
- Aircraft
- Diamond Aircraft Ind Inc DA 20-C1 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 40.622°N, 74.253°W
- NTSB ID
- 20130531X45544
Official records · ERA13FA259
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn May 31, 2013, about 1310 eastern daylight time, a Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc., DA20-C1, N176MA, was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground, shortly after takeoff from the Linden Airport (LDJ), Linden, New Jersey. The flight instructor was fatally injured and a passenger was seriously injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the local introductory instructional flight that was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The airplane was owned by a limited liability company, and operated by Best-in-Flight, a flight school based at LDJ. A witness at LDJ reported that the airplane departed from runway 27, a 4,140-foot-long, asphalt runway. The airplane's takeoff roll was longer than other DA-20s he was use to observing and it "struggled" to break ground and gain altitude. The airplane made a right turn at an estimated altitude of between 125 to 150 feet above the ground, and immediately started to lose altitude. It descended behind a building and he heard the pilot radio "mayday" over the airport's common traffic advisory frequency, stating "plane going down." He was then informed by the pilot of another airplane that the airplane had crashed. He further stated that while he could not hear the airplane's engine noise clearly because of a nearby highway, the engine noise was constant and he did not hear any power interruptions until after the impact. Another witness, the pilot of a Mooney M20K, was holding on the runway when he observed the accident airplane lift of
Probable cause
The flight instructor's inadequate preflight planning and his decision to take off with the airplane at a high gross weight in high temperature conditions that degraded the engine’s available power and his subsequent failure to maintain airspeed while attempting to return to the departure airport, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle-of-attack and experiencing an aerodynamic
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Browse: New Jersey · Diamond Aircraft Ind aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
