On the Record: Fly Baby—Oklahoma

April 2, 2016

The pilot reported that during the initial climb, the airplane aerodynamically stalled. He reported that he was unable to recover the airplane due to the low altitude and the airplane impacted a field off the departure end of the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, right wing, and right elevator.

The pilot reported that using full power on takeoff would have prevented the accident.

NTSB Final Report

NTSB Docket

More Fly Baby accident stats: http://www.bowersflybaby.com/safety/accid.htm

Ron Wanttaja
Ron Wanttaja
Ron Wanttaja is a retired space systems engineer. During a 40-year career, he helped design, build, test, launch, and operate 18 spacecraft, including the International Space Station. On the aviation side, he has owned a Bowers Fly Baby since 1996 and flew the original prototype for seven years before acquiring his own. He lives just outside of Portland, Oregon, with his wife, romance novelist Lisa McAllister.

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David McEntire
David McEntire
13 days ago

Well, at least the NTSB will not have to take a year to find a probable cause. I normally give my fellow pilots a lot of slack when bad things happen. But why would you not use full power???

Scott Hersha
Scott Hersha
Reply to  David McEntire
13 days ago

Possibly couldn’t get full power. Similar thing happened to a friend in hid legal Eagle. The linkage to his throttle cable was faulty.

Daniel C Marotta
Daniel C Marotta
13 days ago

The aircraft did not stall on its own, the “pilot” stalled the aircraft.

I’ve used reduced power takeoffs in the Boeing 727 but nowhere else.

Tom Waarne
Tom Waarne
Reply to  Daniel C Marotta
11 days ago

Just imagine a modernized ’27 with 15% more thrust From the P&W’s, 50% lower fuel burn, A fuselage plug increasing seating by 12 seats, an escalator instead of stairs (for the CoJo’s walkaround), Big, shiny colourful screens up front and the knowhow that if one engine goes on holiday it becomes a maintenance issue…

Ron Wanttaja
13 days ago

It’s not mentioned in the NTSB report, but potentially the lack of “full power” might have been due to carburetor heat inadvertently left on.