Loss of Control in Flight · NTSB ERA23FA260
VANS RV6 — Colonial Beach, VA
| Date | June 7, 2023 |
| Location | Colonial Beach, VA |
| Aircraft | VANS RV6 (amateur-built) |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Uncontrolled descent Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT) |
| Pilot age | 28 |
| Pilot total time | 355 hrs · Building experience |
| Time in type | 9,999 hrs |
| Fatalities | 2 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
- Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained
- Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Capability exceeded
What happened
The pilot and passenger were flying back to their home airport after an overnight stay with some friends. A witness, and friend of the pilot and passenger, stated he watched the airplane as it made two circles around his house. On the second circle, he noticed the airplane was in a very steep bank angle and making a tight circle about 100 ft above the ground. He then noticed the nose of the airplane drop down and the airplane impact the ground in a near-vertical attitude. He stated the engine was running well the entire time.
Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Thus, it is likely that while performing the low altitude circling maneuver, the pilot maintained insufficient airspeed and banked too steeply, which resulted in an exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack and a subsequent aerodynamic stall.