Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aero Country Airpark Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mckinney, Texas 75070
Saturday, July 19, 1997 19:25 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of a homebuilt airplane lost control of the airplane while attempting to sequence his airplane to land behind a departing ultralight vehicle following a loss of engine power. The airplane completed a high speed low pass over runway 17 followed by a 'sharp pull up' with a pronounced nose high attitude. Witnesses reported hearing the engine lose power and observing that the propeller had stopped. Another witness observed that an ultralight vehicle was on takeoff roll as the Rans was gliding northbound 'as if he was trying to sequence himself behind the ultralight on the runway.' Witnesses were 'expecting a downwind landing' to either the taxiway, or the grassy area east of the runway, but instead, the airplane continued gliding northbound on a close left downwind. As soon as the ultralight was past him, 'the Rans appeared to try to turn to get into the wind by making a 180 degree left turn in behind the ultralight;' however, 'he was so close to the runway that he had to make a very tight [steep] turn.' The airplane 'rotated 1/4 to 3/8 of a complete spin' prior to impacting the ground in a near vertical attitude. The reason for the loss of engine power could not be determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
loss of engine power for undetermined reason(s), and failure of the pilot to maintain adequate airspeed, while maneuvering for a forced landing, which resulted in a stall and collision with the terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/19/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1925 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | MCKINNEY |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 75070 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | AERO COUNTRY AIRPARK |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TX05 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 792 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1848 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 100 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TKI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 926 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 140 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 960 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 19 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1953 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1678N |
| NTSB Number | FTW97FA274 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | HILLAM |
| Aircraft Model | RANS S-9 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | RANS S-9 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0193117 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 710 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 27 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 59 |
| Airframe Hours | 130 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MIKE A. MCDUFF |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | ROUTE 2, BOX 341-58 |
| Aircraft Owner City | FRISCO |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75034 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | TX05 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1920 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 17 |
| Runway Length | 2950 |
| Runway Width | 40 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |