Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Colo Springs East Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ellicott, Colorado 80808
Saturday, June 28, 2003 11:40 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The purpose of the flight was to ferry the airplane from one airport to another. The airplane's owner told the pilot not to do anything fancy. Witnesses said the airplane took off, circled the pattern, and made a low pass over the runway at approximately 200 feet agl. About midway down the runway, the airplane make a slow roll to the right. Approximately two-thirds of the way through the roll, the airplane flew into the ground at a steep angle, destroying the airplane on impact. An examination of the airplane's elevator horn and interconnect torque tube showed that the elevator horn attachment was composed of two "c" section channels that were welded to the tube. Very little of the forward portions of the "c" sections were directly welded to the tube. The fractures observed in those areas were through the weld bead slightly away from the "c" sections. The aft portion of the right "c" section was broken. The weld in this area was intact. On the aft portion of the left "c" section, the weld was fractured along areas of incomplete fusion. The fractures observed were consistent with the application of air load forces pushing aft on the lower end of the elevator horn. No other preimpact anomalies were found. The airplane's owner said he recently purchased the airplane. He said when he purchased it, the previous owner had just performed a conditional inspection of the airplane. The current owner said he did not pull the inspection panels at the elevator prior to purchasing the airplane. He said he didn't think there would be any problems with the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's improper in-flight planning/decision to perform aerobatics at low altitude and the failed welds at the elevator horn and torque tube. Factors contributing to the accident were the pilot performing aerobatics at low altitude, his inability to maintain aircraft control after the elevator attachment failed, the poor welds at the elevator horn and torque tube, the builder's poor installation of the elevator, and inadequate conditional inspections that failed to reveal the problem with the welds.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/28/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1140 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Ellicott |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80808 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 385222N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1042442W |
| Event Location Airport | Colo Springs East Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | A50 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 6145 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1154 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | COS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6184 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| 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) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 17 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.12 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 8758 |
| 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) | 14574 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 28 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1203 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 30 2003 8:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Denver, Colorado FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N80T |
| NTSB Number | DEN03FA113 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Mattison |
| Aircraft Model | Starduster Too |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | M3 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1704 |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 116.7 |
| Airframe Hours | 823.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | George B. Shaw |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3030 South Meridian Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Colorado Springs |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80929 |
| 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 | A50 |
| Departure City | Ellicott |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1135 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 00V |
| Destination City | Falcon |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 8 2006 2:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\HAMG |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 17 |
| Runway Length | 4550 |
| Runway Width | 52 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |