American Champion Aircraft 8KCAB accident near Marengo, WI
On October 23, 2021, an American Champion Aircraft 8KCAB (airplane) was involved in an accident near Marengo, WI. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- October 23, 2021
- Place
- Marengo, WI
- Aircraft
- American Champion Aircraft 8KCAB · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 46.407°N, 90.898°W
- NTSB ID
- 20211023104152
Official records · CEN22FA019
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn October 23, 2021, about 1440 central daylight time, an American Champion Aircraft 8KCAB airplane, N843AC, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Marengo, Wisconsin. The pilot and his passenger were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot’s sister-in-law reported that she received a phone call from the pilot about 5 minutes before the accident, during which the pilot told her to wait outside because he intended to fly over her house. The airplane overflew her position multiple times at a low altitude before she saw the airplane “doing a loop” shortly before she heard the airplane crash. The pilot’s sister-in-law used her mobile phone to capture several “live” photos of the airplane while it maneuvered near her house during the final minutes of the flight. These “live” photos consisted of several frames of video with sound to create a short movie clip. One of these movie clips showed the airplane as it flew over a residential yard at a low altitude, as shown in figure 1. Another movie clip showed the airplane in a steep nose-down descent in the moments before the accident, depicted in figure 2. A review of the sound spectrum extracted from the movie clip that captured the final descent determined the fundamental propeller blade passage was about 80 Hz, which corresponded to 2,400 rpm for the 2-blade propeller installed on the airplane. Figure 1. Airplane flying low over the ground (still image extracted from a video that was recorded by a witness) Figure 2. Airp
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain adequate airspeed during the steep turn, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall. Also causal was the pilot’s decision to conduct steep turns without sufficient altitude to safely recover from an inadvertent aerodynamic stall.
More accidents in WI
- Douglas DC-9-14, Sep 6, 1985
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Browse: Wisconsin · American Champion 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.
