Stall / Spin · NTSB CEN10FA448
American Champion Aircraft Cor 7GCBC — Midlothian, TX
| Date | July 31, 2010 |
| Location | Midlothian, TX |
| Aircraft | American Champion Aircraft Cor 7GCBC |
| Purpose of flight | Instructional |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Maneuvering Aerodynamic stall/spin |
| Pilot age | 64 |
| Pilot total time | 16,000 hrs · High time |
| Time in type | 500 hrs |
| Fatalities | 2 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Personnel issues-Physical-Impairment/incapacitation-Cardiovascular-Instructor/check pilot - C
- Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-(general)-Not attained/maintained - C
- Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Attention-Student pilot - C
What happened
The flight instructor and student pilot were conducting local area flight training before departing on a night cross-country flight. The airplane was southbound on the south end of the airport when several witnesses observed the airplane flying erratically at low altitude. The witnesses observed that, after several maneuvers, the airplane was in a turn when it suddenly entered an almost vertical spiral into the ground. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operations. An autopsy of the instructor revealed severe atherosclerosis of the right coronary artery with superimposed fresh-recent thrombus, suggesting an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). The instructor’s most recent application for a second-class medical certificate noted “no” to all under “Medical History” including heart or vascular trouble. There was no indication that the instructor was aware of his heart disease. Such an acute event may have led to incapacitation of the instructor and distracted of the student pilot to the point of a loss of airplane control.