Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
St Louis Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bethalto, Illinois 62010
Wednesday, June 19, 1996 14:48 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A McDonnell Douglas Aerospace (MDA) pilot was flying a leased Navy F/A-18C and conducting an airshow practice at St. Louis Regional Airport when the airplane impacted the ground at the bottom of a reverse one-half Cuban eight aerobatic maneuver. The briefed altitude at the top of the maneuver was to be 3,500 feet above ground level (agl), which gave the pilot a base line of 1,000 feet agl. Recorded data showed that the actual altitude at the top of the maneuver was 2,280 feet agl. Using a group of F/A-18 pilots in a F/A-18 simulator, the lowest altitude at the top of the reverse one-half Cuban eight required to successfully complete the maneuver was 2,500 feet agl. The pilot had been trained as a Naval Aviator, and was a graduate of the Navy's test pilot school. He joined MDA Flight Operations 3/4/96. The pilot had accrued 16 hours in the F/A-18 in the last year, of which 11 hours were in the last 90 days. MDA did not have a formal training plan for their pilots who perform airshow demonstration flights. The pilot had flown 5 civilian airshows within the last year; the most recent was 11 days prior to the accident. All the airshows were flown in a Pitts Special.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to follow the preflight crew briefing and attain a proper altitude during an aerobatic maneuver. Factors in the accident were: the pilot's previous experience of flying similar airshow routines in a different airplane with substantially different performance characteristics, and the company's failure to have a formal training plan for pilots performing airshow demonstration flights.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/19/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1448 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | BETHALTO |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 62010 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | ST LOUIS REGIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ALN |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 290 |
| Airport Elevation | 544 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1445 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 285 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ALN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 544 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 15000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2751 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 749 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 19 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 10:03AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N16518 |
| NTSB Number | CHI96FA211 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | F/A-18C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | F/A-18C |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 165189 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 51900 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Military |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 19 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 21 |
| Airframe Hours | 21 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, NASC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1421 JEFFERSON DAVIS HWY |
| Aircraft Owner City | ARLINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | VA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 22243 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | MCDONNELL DOUGLAS AEROSPACE |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 516 |
| Operator City | SAINT LOUIS |
| Operator State | MO |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 63166 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | ALN |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1447 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | ALN |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Other |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2001 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 29 |
| Runway Length | 8101 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |