Originally published at: Founder Of Asian Women In Aerospace And Aviation Dies In Plane Crash - AVweb
Nguyen was on a solo global flight and had departed Oshkosh, Wisconsin, just days earlier.
A sad and tragic ending to a pilot who worked to inspire. Some accidents, like this one, just baffle me at first, because in what way did the swiss cheese line up to have this happen. She was an accomplished pilot and flight instructor. Reading about her had me thinking she was not one to be reckless. I found in a CBS article these comments:
“The plane was kind of banking and they started to lower and then pulled up and started to roll, and I thought it’s like a sky show and they went straight into the ground,” witness Amanda Landwerlen told WTTV.
“She was banking hard left to go north, and all of the sudden, the nose dove and she went into a spin and just went straight down,” added Frank Williams, another witness.
It sounds then like a simple stall spin, but minutes after climbing out? My hope is that the NTSB can discover a cause so her death can be a learning moment for other pilots in the future.
I’m only speculating with this comment as it pertains to a possible cause of the accident based on witness observations. A “Yank and Bank” accelerated stall accompanied by adverse yaw can put a light airplane into a snap roll induced post stall gyration and departure from controlled flight which can lead to a steady state spin if the controls are not immediately returned to neutral. As a long since retired flight instructor, I’ve demonstrated it in the past. It can happen in a moment of carelessness and neglect which, when combined with a lack of altitude, can be fatal. RIP Nguyen
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Too many fatal accidents in the Lancair 4PT. Very powerful engine in front of a small frame. I owned one. Flamed out at 26,000 feet. Landed in Parowan with no reverse thrust. Plane damaged and rebuilt by the next owner. The owner after that killed himself in it.
Lancair IV-P is kit built. I suspect structural failure.
LOC
Most likely W&B issue bringing the characteristics very close to the edge of the normal envelope
RIP 
The Lancair 4 P stall characteristics have contributed to a very high fatality rate when a stall occurs. I had a friend who wanted me to do a Flight Review for him back in the day. I contacted a factory pilot and discussed the stall characteristics with him. He said the plane was recoverable from a stall but even a coordinated power off straight ahead stall resulted in a spin entry and it would take a minimum 2000 feet to recover from it. He also said to do it with the gear down to minimize the chances of over speeding the plane on the recovery. Guess what, he was right on. Even with power off, gear down, a deceleration of less than one knot per second, and the ball dead nuts in the center, the airplane rolled over on its back and started to spin. Full opposite rudder did nothing for a few seconds with no apparent back pressure from aerodynamic forces felt at all. The plane gathered speed very rapidly and after a turn began to respond to the rudder and stopped rotating. We lost 2000 feet and exited the maneuver at just under 150 knots just as the factory pilot had said. That was with us anticipating the maneuver, knowing how the aircraft would respond, and immediately executing the correct recovery procedure. The aircraft is very unforgiving in a stall of any nature. I’m sure a pilot with Nguyen’s abilities and experience would know not to intentionally go anywhere near a stall in the Lancair 4 P. I would hope the investigation looks closely for any maintenance or control system issues that might have caused the crash.
What if it was a stall? What if she just really screwed up in a very big way?
Lima Oscar Charlie.
Look it up !
Not to nit-pic, but why is the top photo reversed ?
note the reversed ‘N’ in the tail number.
While the investigative rigor is slightly amusing, the N in the picture above is likely an aircraft marking for the Navy with the I-Phone “Mirror Front Camera” picture reversing not properly set. You can back this thesis up by noting the orientation of letters on the sign in the background.
Sad day. Thanks for the information. Much appreciated.