It was a clear autumn afternoon in Green Bay, Wisconsin. October 17th, 2019. The sky was open, the air crisp, perfect flying weather. For the pilot of the Aeronca 7AC Champion, a classic tailwheel aircraft built just after the Second World War, it was a routine flight, returning to his home strip, Martins Aerodrome.
The pilot, a 68-year-old with some 2000 hours in his logbook, had spent the morning at a nearby airport, overseeing the annual inspection of his beloved Aeronca. The inspection was complete, no issues found. The little Champion, registration N82308, was certified airworthy, ready to fly. His only stated concern for the short flight back was the condition of his home runway – a grass strip, potentially soft and wet after recent weather. He preferred to land closer to the end, he’d mentioned to the mechanic, to ensure he was firmly on the ground.
Martins Aerodrome features a single grass runway, oriented roughly north-south. Runway 1, the approach from the south, has a county highway running directly along its southern boundary. A seemingly minor detail… until an aircraft is attempting to land.
As the Aeronca approached Martins Aerodrome, witnesses on that adjacent road, County Highway VV, began to notice the small airplane. It was low. Very low. Dashboard camera footage from a vehicle traveling westbound on the highway confirmed their observations. The little Champion, its bright paint glinting in the late afternoon sun, was flying less than five feet above the ground.
Less than five feet.
The pilot, focused on his landing, on the condition of the grass runway just ahead, was unaware of the truck rapidly approaching from his left on the highway below. The truck driver, likely focused on the road ahead, was equally unaware of the aircraft descending into his path. There were no warning signs on the roadway indicating low-flying aircraft.
There was no time for evasive action. No swerve from the truck. No sudden pull-up from the airplane.
The Aeronca, flying its dangerously low final approach, collided violently with the front left side of the westbound truck.
The impact was catastrophic. The airplane’s propeller, still spinning, tore into the truck’s front left side, leaving a series of distinct slash marks. The aircraft’s main landing gear and the lower forward fuselage struck the truck’s windshield post and upper door post, crushing them inward.
The force of the collision didn’t immediately separate the two vehicles. Instead, the Aeronca became lodged on top of the truck. Locked together in a deadly embrace, they veered off the right side of the road, through a ditch, and continued across a lawn before finally coming to rest upright in a residential front yard.
The scene was one of devastation. The main wreckage of the Aeronca – the fuselage, wings, empennage – lay atop the truck. The engine, propeller, engine mount, and cowling had been ripped away during the impact sequence, scattered in a nearby ditch. Miscellaneous debris from both the airplane and the truck littered the road and the surrounding ditch. The airplane’s forward fuselage structure was destroyed.
Tragically, both the pilot of the Aeronca and the driver of the truck sustained fatal injuries in the accident sequence.
NTSB investigators arrived on the scene to begin their meticulous work. They examined the wreckage, noting the nature of the damage to both the aircraft and the truck. They established flight control continuity, confirming the pilot had control inputs available prior to impact. They reviewed the airport layout, the condition of the runway, and the lack of signage on the adjacent road.
A post-accident examination of the Aeronca revealed no mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that could have prevented normal operation. The aircraft itself was capable of a standard approach and landing.
The evidence pointed overwhelmingly to the final moments of the flight. The witnesses, the dashboard camera footage, the wreckage distribution, the propeller slash marks indicating the engine was running – all painted a clear picture of an aircraft flying dangerously low over an active roadway during its final approach.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of this tragic accident was the pilot’s low final approach path and his failure to see and avoid a truck traveling on the roadway, which resulted in a collision. Contributing factors included the pilot’s incorrect action selection in maintaining such a low altitude over the road and his failure to identify and recognize the hazard posed by the truck.
The accident served as a grim reminder of the unforgiving nature of low-altitude flight, particularly in the critical phase of landing. It highlighted the absolute necessity for pilots to maintain adequate altitude over obstacles, including roads, and to actively scan for and avoid potential conflicts, even during the seemingly routine final approach. For the pilot of N82308 and the driver of the truck, a simple landing turned into a fatal collision, a stark illustration of how quickly the margin for error disappears when an aircraft descends below a safe height over the ground.
