Travel Air 4000 crash, Mar 2, 2016 (2 killed), Palmer Lake
Travel Air 4000 accident on March 2, 2016 near Palmer Lake, Colorado, United States with 2 fatalities. Cause: NTSB: The pilot's failure to maintain...
- Date: March 2, 2016
- Aircraft: Travel Air 4000
- Location: Palmer Lake, Colorado, United States
- Fatalities: 2
- Phase of flight: En route
- Cause: NTSB: The pilot's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed while maneuvering at low altitude in strong gusting winds, which resulted in exceedance of the critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall/spin. Contributing was the pilot's impairment by the sedating antihistamine chlorpheniramine.
On 2 March 2016 a 1928 Curtiss Wright Travel Air 4000 (N6464) left Vance Brand Airport near Longmont, Colorado, for a fly in at Casa Grande, Arizona, with a commercial pilot and a pilot rated passenger on board. Witnesses saw it flying low over a frozen lake, then turning left and diving into the ground near Palmer Lake, where a post impact fire consumed most of the airplane and both occupants were killed. The NTSB (case CEN16FA116) found the pilot let airspeed decay in strong gusty winds, causing a stall and spin, with chlorpheniramine impairment likely contributing.