NTSB Factual Report

On May 7, 2016, about 1429 eastern daylight time, a privately owned and operated Taylorcraft BC12-D, N43363, collided with trees then the ground during landing at Moorefield's Airstrip (VA27), Critz, Virginia. The private pilot, the sole occupant sustained serious injuries, and the airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was being operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations as a Part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the flight that originated about 56 minutes earlier from Person County Airport (TDF), Roxboro, North Carolina, and was destined for VA27.

The pilot stated that he did not obtain a formal weather briefing for the intended round robin cross country flight from VA27 to TDF, but he did watch TV to obtain the weather conditions. After attending a fly-in at TDF, he departed to return to the airplane's home base (VA27), and noted the windsock depicted wind from the southwest at 7 or 8 kts when flying over the airstrip, which favored runway 19. He entered the downwind leg of the airport traffic pattern for that runway, and then turned onto the base and final legs of the airport traffic pattern. While on short final approach, about 10 to 15 feet above ground level while in a slight right wing low attitude with left rudder input to correct for a slight right crosswind, the airplane suddenly veered 90 degrees to the left. He added slight power, adding that the engine responded, but impacted the top of a pine sapling. The airplane then descended and impacted the ground. He indicated there was no pre-impact failure or malfunction of the airplane or engine, and the airplane's stall speed was between 40 and 45 mph.

The on-board GPS receiver was sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorder Laboratory for downloading. According to the specialist's factual report, the accident flight was recorded from takeoff until close proximity to the accident site. According to the downloaded data, while on final approach, the airplane's groundspeed varied, initially increasing to a maximum of 46 kts, and then decreasing as the flight continued towards the runway to the lowest value of 38 kts (about 44 mph) at the last data point. The accident site was located about 140 feet from the last GPS target location.

A review of weather data by a NTSB meteorologist revealed a north/south oriented band of clouds located west of the accident site which moved over the accident site after the accident. Satellite images depicted cloud streets oriented from basically west to east spaced every 10 to 20 miles from north to south which are indicative of low-level wind shear and some low-level turbulence. The weather radar imagery from around the accident time showed no rain shower or thunderstorm over the accident site; however, rain showers without lightning moved over the accident site about 15 minutes after the accident. At 1435, or about 6 minutes after the accident, a surface observation taken at Blue Ridge Airport (MTV), located about 7 nautical miles east-northeast from the accident site reported the wind 310° at 8 kts. The closest terminal area forecast was from Danville Regional Airport (DAN), located about 39 nautical miles nearly due east of the accident site. The forecast from 1000 hours local and again about 4 minutes before the flight departed was for the wind to be from 300 degrees at 8 knots with gusts to 16 knots.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed while on final approach, which resulted in an exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack and a subsequent aerodynamic stall.