1 May 2010: PIPER PA-18-150 — THEODORE A. SCHACHLE

1 May 2010: PIPER PA-18-150 — THEODORE A. SCHACHLE

No fatalities • Willow, AK, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed while maneuvering, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

The private pilot, with one passenger, was on a personal flight to search for a missing friend in an area of remote tree- and snow-covered terrain. The pilot said that while flying slow and maneuvering at 75 feet above the ground, his passenger saw the missing man lying on the ground near a snow-covered meadow. The pilot reported that, as he started a right turn back to the meadow, he added engine power and initiated a climb but that the right wing stalled. He said that he initiated a stall recovery, but that the airplane descended nose-down into the trees. The pilot said that there were no mechanical problems with the airplane prior to the accident. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings, fuselage, and empennage.

Contributing factors

  • cause Airspeed — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 180/05kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.