Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mount Vernon, Missouri 65712
Saturday, April 19, 2008 16:15 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Surviving skydivers said that as the airplane was climbing to the jump altitude of 10,500 feet agl, the stall warning horn sounded intermittently several times. They paid no particular attention to it because they had heard it on previous flights. When the airplane reached the jump altitude, the pilot signaled for one of the parachutists to open the door. When she did, she told the pilot that the airplane had overshot the drop zone by approximately 1 mile. As the pilot started a right turn back towards the drop zone, the stall warning horn sounded again, then the airplane "rolled off on its right wing" and entered a spin. The skydivers became disoriented and nauseated. Four skydivers managed to bail out safely, but one of them broke her right leg when she struck the right horizontal stabilizer after exiting the airplane. The reserve parachute on the fifth skydiver deployed and became entangled around the tail of the airplane. She sustained fatal injuries. The sixth skydiver was unable to exit the airplane and was found inside, fatally injured. The pilot was seriously injured. Ground witnesses reported hearing the engine RPMs decrease, then saw the airplane spinning. Somewhere between 1,000 and 5,000 feet, the airplane leveled out for a few seconds and witnesses saw a parachute wrapped around the tail. The airplane then spun or dove to the ground. Downloaded data from the onboard GPS and Automated Activation Devices worn by three of the skydivers corroborated these accounts.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, resulting in an inadvertent stall/spin. Contributing factors in this accident were the entanglement of the parachute in the elevator control system, reducing the pilot's ability to regain control.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/19/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1615 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Mount Vernon |
| Event State | MISSOURI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 65712 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 370409N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0935309W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1244 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1552 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SGF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1267 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24674 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 19 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2008 3:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | guzj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Kansas City, Missouri |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2537X |
| NTSB Number | DEN08FA078 |
| 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 | P206 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | P206-0037 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3300 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 296 |
| Airframe Hours | 4303 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Freefall Express Skydiving, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 770 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Nixa |
| Aircraft Owner State | MO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 65714 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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) | Skydiving |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 2MO |
| Departure City | Mount Vernon |
| Departure State | MO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1530 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 2MO |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - uncontrolled |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 3 2008 3:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | scoa |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |