Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cameron Park, California 95682
Saturday, July 14, 2001 7:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a low altitude erratic flight, the airplane dropped rapidly until it hit the shoulder of a freeway and burst into flames. The pilot had been flying the airplane for several months since he completed building it. He had taken off and was several miles from his home airport. Witnesses observed the airplane about 125 feet above ground level, and the whole airplane weaved up and down as well as left and right. The engine was loud and high-pitched, but the witnesses didn't think that the airplane was going very fast. They did not observe any smoke, flames, or pieces falling from the airplane. As the airplane flew over a highway, it banked hard to the right and lost altitude. The airplane turned parallel to the freeway, and the erratic movement increased. The terrain sloped down at this point, and the airplane continued downhill parallel to the slope. The airplane cleared power lines, but then dropped rapidly until it hit the shoulder of the freeway. The engine sounded like it was running until the airplane cleared the power lines, and then the engine sound died. The kit manufacturer reported that the pilot had been in contact with them while he constructed the airplane. He told them that his initial flights occurred in early May 2001. The flights went well, and he was happy with the airplane's performance. He did slow flight and landings on the first 2-hour flight. He moved the airplane to Cameron Park, but damaged the tailskid, landing gear, and prop when the control stick grip came off during the landing flare. The pilot repaired the airplane, and the manufacturer disassembled and inspected the propeller hub. The manufacturer replaced the actuating cam guide pins as a precaution. Investigators were unable to detect any anomalies during examination of the wreckage that could account for the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
an in-flight collision with terrain for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/14/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 745 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | CAMERON PARK |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95682 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 380900N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1210000W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 753 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 230 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MHR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 96 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 15 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| 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) | 16299 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 14 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 800 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 29 2004 1:02PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAC-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N104BD |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA244 |
| 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 | LEVITSKY |
| Aircraft Model | BD-5T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | RL-0001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 910 |
| 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 | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Richard B. Levitsky |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | Cameron Park |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95682 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 061 |
| Departure City | CAMERON PARK |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 740 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 061 |
| Destination City | CAMERON PARK |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb - to cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 30 2004 4:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |