On September 9, 1994, a Piper J3C-65 (registration N42056) was involved in an aviation accident near Dixon, MT. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: THE PILOT IN COMMAND'S ALLOWING THE AIRCRAFT AIRSPEED TO DECREASE BELOW THE STALL SPEED. This summary draws on records from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) historical archive.
An aircraft on an aerial observation flight crashed into a wooded hillside, impacting in a steep, nose-low, left-wing-down attitude with no witness or known time.
Accident
An aircraft departed for an aerial observation flight and subsequently crashed. There were no witnesses to the accident, and the time of the accident was unknown.
Impact Details
The aircraft impacted the ground in a steep, nose-low, left-wing-down attitude. The crash site was located on a moderately upsloping, wooded hillside, within a small clearing approximately 100 feet in diameter. Investigators found that no trees were impacted during the crash sequence.
Wreckage Examination
Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of any control malfunction. Damage to the propeller forward flange plate and the propeller blade indicated that some degree of rotational energy was present at the time of impact.