Warbird Information Exchange

Hi All
This coming weekend I'll be traveling to Quantico VA. On the way back, I was planning on swinging through Culpepper, VA and try and track down Jack Spanich's A-1D Crashsite.
History:
Delivered to l'Armee de l'Air as No. 79, 1961.
Jack Spanich, Detroit, MI, Jan. 1977-1984.
- Registered as N91954.
- Delivered from Chateaudun AB to Detroit, May 26-18, 1977.
- Flew in camouflage as USAF/26-970/TC (later SVNAF/126970/TC).
- Crashed into mountain near Culpepper, VA, Nov. 4, 1984.
-- Spanich killed.
I tried to locate the report on this accident but wasn't succesful. I was wondering if anyone here could help me find the report? I'm hoping it will better to help me to isolate the crashsite. Thanks for anyhelp

Shay

Hey Rob
All of it? Where did the skyraider crash in relation to the city of Culpepper? If it were in the mountains I would imagine it to be extremely difficult to bring equipment in to clean up the area. Do you know the details of the crash? Cause and type of landing and so on? Thanks

Shay

NTSB Identification: BFO85FA005 .
The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 27669.
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, November 04, 1984 in SYRIA, VA
Aircraft: DOUGLAS AD-4NA, registration: N91954
Injuries: 2 Fatal.
THE PLT HAD OBTAINED TWO WX BRIEFINGS BFR THE FLT BOTH INDICATING VFR NOT RECOMMENDED. HE SAID HE WOULD FLY VFR AS LONG AS HE COULD ALONG A NORTHERN ROUTE THAT WAS FORECAST TO BE VFR DETERIORATING TO MVFR. THE PLT WAS NOT INSTRUMENT RATED. THE ACFT WAS OBSERVED IN A STRAIGHT SLIGHT CLIMB IN AND OUT OF CLOUDS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE ENTERING A CLOUD THAT COVERED THE HILL WHERE THE ACCIDENT TOOK PLACE. THE ACCIDENT SITE WAS LOCATED WEST OF THE FORECAST VFR ROUTE ON A MORE DIRECT ROUTE TO THE PLTS DESTINATION.


The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

PLANNING/DECISION..IMPROPER..PILOT IN COMMAND
VFR FLIGHT INTO IMC..PERFORMED..PILOT IN COMMAND



Contributing Factors

TERRAIN CONDITION..HIGH TERRAIN
WEATHER CONDITION..CLOUDS
WEATHER CONDITION..LOW CEILING
WEATHER CONDITION..TURBULENCE

Shay,

I have the complete NTSB accident report for N91954. It does give some fairly specific details of the crash site location. Contact me at toddhackbarth@yahoo.com

Todd Hackbarth

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id= ... 005&rpt=fa

or download the complete pdf here

WOW that airframe had 39834 hours on it

and had not one inspection....

The microfiche copy of the NTSB Factual Report - Aviation that I obtained in 1988 indicates the aircraft had 3,983.4 total flight hours as of June 1, 1984 and that a 120 inspection was signed off on June 5th of the same year.

The same document indicates the pilot had 972 hours of pilot in command time as of May, 1979 and 1972 hours of PIC time in AD-4Ns as of the same date. Obviously, at least one of these figures is in error.

Todd Hackbarth

Was just looking at:

http://www.skyraider.org/skyassn/warstor/spanich.htm

Does anyone have any other info on this warbird? It looked as if Mr Spanich's paint scheme was quite accurate - so often those colors don't quite turn out right. What a darn shame he and his wife lost their lives in that beautiful airplane.

Ken

_________________
"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves."

They sure do look good when the paint is as authentic as possible. We tried very hard on our Skyraider to get it right. Our AD-1 would have never worn a SEA camo paint, but we wanted to honor our Vietnam Veterans and chose this paint scheme.


photo by David Jacobson

David
WHF Maint