28 Sep 2015: SUKHOI SU-26 — JT Airshows

28 Sep 2015: SUKHOI SU-26 (N596TJ) — JT Airshows

No fatalities • Slidell, TX, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's attempt to recover from an aerobatic maneuver at too low of an altitude to make a safe recovery.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On September 26, 2015, about 2100 central daylight time, a Sukhoi SU-26, N596TJ, impacted terrain during aerobatic practice near Slidell, Texas. The pilot, the sole occupant on board, was seriously injured. The airplane was destroyed. The airplane was registered to and operated by JT Airshows, Slidell, Texas, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The local flight originated from Akroville Airport (XA68), Slidell, Texas, about 1830.According to the Federal Aviation Administration Inspector's Statement, the pilot said he had been practicing aerobatic maneuvers for an upcoming airshow. He could not recall the events leading up to the accident. His first recollection of the accident was shortly after impact when he realized that the cockpit was on fire. He extricated himself from the wreckage and was transported to a hospital

The FAA inspector stated that based on the impact scars in the field, he determined that the airplane struck the ground in a slightly nose-high, wings-level attitude. No mechanical defects with the airplane or engine were noted. The fuselage and interior wing sections were destroyed by the post-impact fire. The cockpit, flight controls, and associated cables had been completely destroyed by fire along, with the majority of the cockpit instruments.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Altitude — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 040/10kt, 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.