Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Levelland Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Levelland, Texas 79336
Monday, May 22, 2006 18:40 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A 2,300-hour flight instructor and 22-hour student pilot departed for an instructional flight. The first witness, who is also a certificate flight instructor (CFI), and employed by the same flight school as the accident flight instructor and student, reported that he drove an automobile onto an intersection taxiway hoping to get the accident pilot's attention. The CFI observed that the airplane's takeoff was "abrupt and nose high." The airplane continued its takeoff run before a slight "leveling off," before an additional climb of 50-100 feet and then entering a steep left banked turn. The airplane then descended to about 50 feet while on the downwind leg, before climbing back to 100-200 feet. A second witness reported that he noticed the airplane taxi onto runway 17 while the weather conditions were "windy-gusty, 30 plus" which is why he kept his attention on the airplane. The witness said he saw a car at the "first taxiway exit" and the person in the car began to wave out the window "as if he was flagging the aircraft down." The witness reported hearing the engine accelerate to full power and sounded normal. During takeoff, the witness noted that the airplane was "sharply pulled into flight" before the nose was lowered to build airspeed for a couple seconds. He added that "the airplane began a normal climb to about 300 feet, then banked hard left at a 70 plus degree bank, and after a 180 degree turn, the airplane dove sharply to approximately 30 feet." The witness added the airplane then "sharply climbed" to about 300 feet. The airplane then "sharply turned left again, at a 70-80 degree bank" and appeared to "rock" once, prior to impacting the ground in a nose low attitude. At the time of the accident, a university weather station reported wind from 139 degrees at 28 knots, gusting to 37 knots. Flight control continuity was established at the accident site. A detailed post-crash examination of the wreckage failed to identify any pre-impact abnormalities with the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed resulting in an inadvertent stall. Contributing factors were low altitude and the gusting wind.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/22/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1840 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Levelland |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79336 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 333341N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1022223W |
| Event Location Airport | LEVELLAND MUNICIPAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | Q24 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 3514 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1840 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 33 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 139 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 28 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 37 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20962 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 22 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2007 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Lubbock, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6242R |
| NTSB Number | DFW06FA136 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 150F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15061542 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 41.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 3780.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Sulloway Alvah Jr |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 577 Robin Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Morehead City |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 28557 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Bernstein Aviation |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | Levelland Municipal Airport |
| Operator City | Leveland |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 79336 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | Q24 |
| Departure City | Levelland |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Levelland |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 5 2006 12:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 17 |
| Runway Length | 6110 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |