Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pagosa Springs Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pagosa Springs, Colorado 81147
Friday, August 31, 2001 13:10 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was practicing a short field takeoff. He held the brakes and set the engine to 2,650 revolutions per minute. When he released the brakes, the airplane immediately veered to the left and departed the runway. He attempted to apply full right rudder, but no right rudder was available. He said that he attempted to control the airplane with differential braking. The airport manager said that the airplane traveled approximately 350 feet, started down slope and struck an Elk fence (the fence was approximately 250 feet east of the runway). The pilot said that the nose wheel dropped into a ditch which was along the left side of the runway. The airplane's nose gear broke aft and the airplane came to rest in a nose down orientation. Postaccident examination of the airplane by the pilot revealed that a headset on the floor of the airplane had jammed the rudder controls.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate airplane preflight inspection which led to the subsequent lateral control of the airplane on the ground not being possible. A contributing factor was the unavailability of rudder control due to a headset blocking the rudder control mechanism during the takeoff roll.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/31/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1310 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Pagosa Springs |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81147 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 371606N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1070335W |
| Event Location Airport | Pagosa Springs |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 2V1 |
| 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 | 7700 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1353 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 243 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DRO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6684 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 34 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.17 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 10347 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14215 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NW OPERATIONS CENTER |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 31 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 25 2003 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Denver, CO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N199LH |
| NTSB Number | DEN01LA155 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Vans Aircraft |
| Aircraft Model | RV-6A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 23958 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 25 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 20 |
| Airframe Hours | 222 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Laurence T. Hammond |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 47 Circle Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | La Junta |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 81050 |
| 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 | 2V1 |
| Departure City | Pagosa Springs |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| 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? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 13 2003 10:07AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19 |
| Runway Length | 8500 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | -- |
| Air Medical Flight | -- |
| Medical Flight | -- |