Witnesses to a Sept. 24 plane crash in Hesperia that killed two people indicated that they saw the tail of the plane wag back and forth before the airplane rolled over and nose-dived toward the ground, according to a preliminary report released Tuesdsy by the National Transportation Safety Board.
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The two-seat, single-engine plane crashed around 9:45 p.m. on Sept. 24, about 1.5 miles southwest of Hesperia Airport in the open desert, killing both the flight instructor and a passenger. The pilot had rented the Aeronca 7AC Champion that morning and departed from Apple Valley Airport, which is about 16 miles away from Hesperia Airport. The pilot had not mentioned a destination, according to the preliminary report.
There was no visible ground scar around the plane wreckage, the report said. The NTSB is continuing to investigate the crash.
But pilot and former Air Force flight instructor Juan Browne said Tuesday that the preliminary report and witness statements point toward a departure stall.
“It appears to be a classic case of an aerodynamic stall on takeoff, losing control of the aircraft because of lack of airspeed,” Browne said.
During a departure stall, the airplane climbs too steeply and loses airspeed. The NTSB investigation will likely explore pilot experience and if the aircraft was overloaded, which can both contribute to a stall, Browne said.
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Pilots are trained to address departure stalls by pointing the nose downward rather than pulling upward, which can be difficult at a low altitude, Browne said.
“It’s very counterintuitive that the first thing you need to do is push your nose toward the ground that is rushing up to you,” Browne said. “You naturally pull back on the stick, but that condemns the wings to being stalled.”
The preliminary NTSB investigation said that one witness could not hear the airplane due to nearby construction equipment while witnessing the crash.
The full investigation will likely analyze if the plane was experiencing engine challenges, Browne said, as the Aeronca 7AC is a good training plane but there is “not a lot of excess power.”
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