FATAL CRASH! The Pilot Should NEVER Made This Kind of Mistake, New Discovery…
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#fligdebrief #pilot #aviation #plaincrash #planecrash
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FATAL CRASH! The Pilot Should NEVER Made This Kind of Mistake, New Discovery…
On the fateful morning of August 21, 2021, an Aeronca 7AC Champion aircraft, registration N1472E, met a tragic end shortly after takeoff from Flying Oaks Airport in Azle, Texas. This personal training flight, conducted under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91, carried 55-year-old airline transport pilot Charles Schwantz and his 18-year-old son, Jack Schwantz. The plan was a simple local flight, departing from and returning to Flying Oaks Airport. However, a fatal error occurred even before they left the ground, leading to the heartbreaking deaths of both father and son. Here’s what happened:
FATAL CRASH! The Pilot Should NEVER Made This Kind of Mistake, New Discovery…
The aircraft, a 1946 Aeronca 7AC Champion with a Continental A65-8 engine. It featured dual flight controls but was equipped with flight instruments only in the front seat. On this flight, Charles Schwantz occupied the rear seat, while Jack, seated in the front, had access to the primary flight instruments.
According to the airport manager, the purpose of the flight was a local training exercise with Charles acting as the instructor. Witnesses observed that the initial takeoff attempt was aborted, with the aircraft nearly ground-looping on the runway. During the second takeoff attempt, the takeoff roll was described as unusually long, and the aircraft appeared to struggle to gain altitude. As it climbed to approximately 100 feet above ground level, the plane rolled to the right, stalled, and entered a spin before crashing roughly 1,100 feet southeast of the runway’s end.
FATAL CRASH! The Pilot Should NEVER Made This Kind of Mistake, New Discovery…
According to NTSB’s report, this accident was caused by the pilot exceeding the critical angle of attack during the initial climb, leading to an aerodynamic stall. However, an examination of the circumstances reveals a series of contributing factors and avoidable mistakes that played a crucial role in the accident.
Pilot Experience and Familiarity
The pilot was an experienced airline transport pilot with approximately 14,000 hours of flight time and he had a long history of aviation expertise. However, his extensive experience was primarily in tricycle-gear (nose-wheel) aircraft, which differ significantly in handling characteristics from tailwheel (taildragger) airplanes like the Champion. This distinction is crucial because transitioning to a taildragger requires specialized skills that are not inherently gained from operating nose-wheel aircraft.
