Richmond Heights - Richmond Heights

On February 6, 1992 at 09:01 PM, Richmond Heights - Richmond Heights experienced a crash involving Rockwell Shrike Commander 500, operated by Michael Stanton-Hicks, with the event recorded near Richmond Heights Ohio.

The flight was categorized as test and the reported phase was flight at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

1 people were known to be on board, 1 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 1, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The pilot had the waste gates on the turbocharges adjusted and wanted to test fly the airplane after the work was completed. The airplane departed and had reached an altitude of about 1,000 feet when witnesses heard an engine sputter. The airplane was seen making a left turn and enter a nose low, left spin before impacting the terrain. A tear down of the left engine revealed that the exhaust valves in cylinders #3 and #5 were burnt through at the valve head. The #5 exhaust valve had a deep preexisting deep mark on the valve stem. The failures of both valves were sufficient enough to cause a power failure in the left engine. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration N725AC, MSN 500-3144, year of manufacture 1972.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 41.5528°, -81.5101°.