3 Oct 2011: LOEHLE AIRCRAFT CORP LOEHLE P-40

3 Oct 2011: LOEHLE AIRCRAFT CORP LOEHLE P-40 — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Tullahoma, TN, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's delayed decision to abort the takeoff.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

Shortly after initiating the takeoff and just after the landing gear of the experimental airplane left the ground, the airplane banked about 10 degrees left. The pilot initially assumed the bank had been induced by a crosswind, but the bank continued to increase as the airplane's speed increased. The pilot then leveled the airplane about 75 feet above the ground and slowed to 50 mph in an attempt to evaluate the control issues. While applying full right control stick and full right rudder, the bank would not decrease, so the pilot attempted to perform a forced landing with the bank angle now reaching about 45 degrees. When the pilot decreased engine power the nose of the airplane rose, the airplane stalled, and then spun to the left. The airplane subsequently impacted the ground resulting in substantial damage to the nose, cockpit, and left wing. The airplane was examined at the scene by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector. The inspector noted that the airplane's ballistic parachute system had not activated and he was not able to observe any broken flight control cables, but due to the extent of impact-related damage to the airplane, was unable to verify operation of the ailerons. When asked how the accident could have been prevented, the pilot stated, "Immediate precautionary/aborted landing should have been undertaken upon first indication of control issues on takeoff…"

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Flight control system

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 360/06kt, 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.