Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sprakers, New York 12166
Wednesday, July 3, 2002 18:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After recently finishing the airplane, the pilot conducted some taxi test, made some modifications to the airplane, and then flew it for the first time. The pilot completed four right traffic patterns, the airplane was unstable during the flight, and the pilot had trouble landing the airplane. The pilot tightened the engine mounts, and then flew the airplane for a second time. Stability improved on the second flight, and once again, the pilot executed right traffic. On the pilot's forth landing attempt, the airplane bounced four times, engine noise increased, and the airplane entered a "very aggressive climb." Pitch angle then reduced to about 10 to 15 degrees, and the airplane turned left crosswind about 300 feet agl. The airplane continued to climb at a "very slow airspeed, and "entered a left bank. Bank angle increased to 60 degrees, and the airplane entered a left spin before impacting the ground. The wind was from the west at 10 to 15 knots. The pilot never held a pilot rating, and had approximately 200 hours of flight experience in ultralight airplanes.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control. A factor in the accident was the pilot's lack of experience in category of aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/3/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1830 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Sprakers |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 12166 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 425328N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0743049W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NONE |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1851 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 119 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ALB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 285 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 37 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.82 |
| 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) | 13712 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Eastern Region Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 5 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1558 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 23 2003 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albany |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | none |
| NTSB Number | NYC02LA129 |
| 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 | Pank |
| Aircraft Model | KitFox |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1200 |
| 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 | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Michael Pank |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Sprakers |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 12166 |
| 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 | NONE |
| Departure City | Sprakers |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1815 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | NONE |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 16 2003 11:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27 |
| Runway Length | 1700 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |