Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N Little Rock Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
N. Little Rock, Arkansas 72118
Thursday, March 26, 1998 16:10 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The experimental homebuilt airplane was destroyed when it impacted trees following a loss of engine power during the takeoff/initial climb. Several witnesses reported that the engine sputtered then it lost power. Post-accident metallurgical examination revealed radial and circumferential cracks on the valve seat head of the #3 exhaust valve. The combustion chamber face of the valve contained sites of surface tearing where there was a lack of fusion of the coating to the base metal. Voids at the interface between the coating and the base material contained aluminum oxide, a material used during surface preparation operation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Inadequate fusion between the valve stem and head due to inadequate quality control during construction of the exhaust valve for the number three cylinder. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/26/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1610 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | N. LITTLE ROCK |
| Event State | ARKANSAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 72118 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | N LITTLE ROCK MUNICIPAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 1M1 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 235 |
| Airport Elevation | 542 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1550 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 183 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LIT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 260 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 22 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 934 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 26 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1745 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 10:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N173VE |
| NTSB Number | FTW98FA165 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | VELOCITY |
| Aircraft Model | 173 RG ELITE |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 173 RG ELI |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 301 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2600 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 21 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 116 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CORY D. HOWE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3405 PINE VALLEY DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | N. LITTLE ROCK |
| Aircraft Owner State | AR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 72120 |
| 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 | 1M1 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1610 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| 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 | Takeoff |
| 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 | 3009 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |