North American F51 accident near Maricopa, AZ
On February 5, 2016, a North American F51 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Maricopa, AZ. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- February 5, 2016
- Place
- Maricopa, AZ
- Aircraft
- North American F51 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 33.000°N, 112.122°W
- NTSB ID
- 20160205X52131
Official records · WPR16FA064
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn February 5, 2016, about 1157 mountain standard time, a North American F-51D, N551JP, sustained substantial damage when it impacted terrain about 6 miles southwest of Maricopa, Arizona. The commercial pilot and the pilot-rated passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The local personal flight departed Stellar Airpark, Chandler, Arizona, earlier that morning, at an unknown time. Several witnesses, located between about 1/2 to 1 mile from the accident site, reported observing the airplane performing acrobatic-type maneuvers. One witness, described the maneuver as a "regular loop." The witness stated that, during the last half of the maneuver, the airplane never pulled up. He estimated the height of the airplane to be about 2,500 ft above ground level, at the top of the maneuver, and said that the airplane may have rotated during the dive. Several other witnesses reported seeing the airplane descending in a nose-down spiral until it impacted the ground. Further, all of the witnesses that commented on the airplane's engine, stated that they heard the engine running during the nose down spiraling descent. Some of the witnesses described the engine sounding like it was going from full power to a lower power setting. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with airplane multi-engine land and single-engine land, rotorcraft-helicopter, and instrument
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control while performing an acrobatic maneuver and his subsequent failure to recover from an inadvertent spin due to insufficient altitude.
More accidents in AZ
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Browse: Arizona · North American 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.
