ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 39377
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| Date: | Tuesday 10 June 1997 |
| Time: | 09:38 |
| Type: |  North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco |
| Owner/operator: | Bureau of Land Management |
| Registration: | N94LM |
| MSN: | 321-142 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 11152 hours |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | 25 mi SE of Hollister, CA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Fire fighting |
| Departure airport: | Meadows Field, Bakersfield, California |
| Meadows Field, Bakersfield, California | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
On June 10, 1997, at 0938 hours Pacific daylight time, a North American-Rockwell OV-10A Bronco, N94LM, was destroyed when it impacted the side of a hill 25 statute miles southeast of Hollister, California, at GPS coordinates 36.34.0 degrees north latitude and 121.10.6 degrees west longitude.
The commercial pilot was fatally injured, and several trees on the surrounding property were destroyed by fire. The flight departed from Meadows Field, Bakersfield, California, on a local training flight and was being operated by the Bureau of Land Management as a public-use aircraft. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan had been filed.
Four witnesses from a fire station reported observing the aircraft fly by their location at approximately 200 feet agl and initiate a roll to the right. The aircraft continued the right roll to a near inverted attitude and then reversed the roll direction in an attempt to level the wings. The aircraft then struck the ground in approximately a 90-degree right bank attitude where it disintegrated and burned. The witnesses stated that the aircraft engines sounded normal and they did not observe anything depart from the aircraft prior to impact.
Prior to joining the Bureau of Land Management as an OV-10 pilot, the pilot was based at the fire station where the accident occurred. Witnesses at the station reported seeing the aircraft fly by their location at approximately 200 feet agl and enter a right roll to a near inverted attitude. It then was observed to reverse the direction of roll in what appeared to be an attempt by the pilot to level the wings. The aircraft was then observed to impact the ground in a 90-degree right bank with approximately a 30-degree nose-down pitch attitude. The witnesses further stated that both engines sounded normal as the aircraft passed their location. Heavy rotational damage was noted to both engines and propellers.
CAUSE: the pilot's failure to maintain adequate ground clearance altitude while performing a low-level aerobatic maneuver. A factor in the accident was the pilot's lack of experience in the aircraft.
Sources:
https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20001208X08164&ntsbno=LAX97GA205&akey=1
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 6 December 1972 | 67-14671 | United States Air Force (USAF) | 1 | Nakhon Phanom AFB |  |
w/o |
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 24-Oct-2008 10:30 | ASN archive | Added |
| 19-Nov-2011 14:10 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Location, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 19-Nov-2011 14:13 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Location, Source] |
| 06-Dec-2015 20:29 | JINX | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:23 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 14-Oct-2017 17:15 | TB | Updated [Location] |
| 23-Aug-2019 06:03 | daughterofpilot | Updated [Total occupants, Narrative] |
| 23-Aug-2019 06:04 | harro | Updated [Total occupants, Narrative] |
| 12-Nov-2022 03:17 | Ron Averes | Updated [Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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