Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Porter County Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Valparaiso, Indiana 46383
Sunday, May 6, 2001 9:08 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was destroyed during an in-flight collision with the terrain and subsequent explosion/post-impact fire. A witness to the accident reported the airplane started the takeoff roll at the beginning of runway 09 and appeared to be accelerating slower than normal. The witness reported, "The takeoff roll looked normal ... but the aircraft seem to roll out longer than normal for this type of aircraft ... this aircraft seemed to roll about 3,500 feet before rotation. After rotation the aircraft pitched up and down several cycles then settled down. But after the pitch cycles stopped the plane was not climbing. The landing gear was not cycled up it remained down. The plane was about 200 feet altitude when the up, down pitching began again. I noted the plane climbed about another 50 ft. Then the plane rolled to the left and entered a vertical position and impacted the ground about 1,000 ft. north of the runway centerline. Aircraft exploded on impact." The pilot had logged two flights in the accident airplane, accumulating 1.2 hours. Excluding the two previous flights in the accident airplane, the pilot did not have any other flight time in the same model as the accident airplane. No anomalies were found that could be associated with a pre-impact condition.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot not maintaining aircraft control during the initial climb after takeoff and the inadvertent stall/spin. A factor to the accident was the pilot's total lack of experience in accident airplane.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/6/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 908 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Valparaiso |
| Event State | INDIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 46383 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Porter County Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | VPZ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.19 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 771 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 910 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VPZ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 771 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.13 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1321 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KVPZ 09:10:31 LOCAL (est) 061510Z AUTO 11011KT 10S |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| 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) | 11801 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 6 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 4 2002 9:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA, South Bend FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N316M |
| NTSB Number | CHI01LA131 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Madsen |
| Aircraft Model | Lancair 320 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 88-244 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1685 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 25 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4.3 |
| Airframe Hours | 4.3 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Myron L. Madsen |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 386 Reif Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hebron |
| Aircraft Owner State | IN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 46341 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | VPZ |
| Departure City | Valparaiso |
| Departure State | IN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 908 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Valparaiso |
| Destination State | IN |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 16 2002 12:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 09 |
| Runway Length | 7000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |