Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Truckee-Tahoe Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Truckee, California 95734
Friday, July 4, 2003 11:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the takeoff initial climb while in a high nose pitch attitude, the airplane banked to the right and impacted the runway. Several witnesses at the airport, who are pilots, observed the accident sequence. As the airplane lifted off the runway surface, the airplane's nose was in an unusually high pitch attitude. Several feet above the surface, the airplane's landing gear folded into the retracted position as the angle of attack continued to increase. The airplane stalled, and the right wing and nose impacted the ground simultaneously. Examination of the engine and airframe revealed no evidence of pre-mishap catastrophic mechanical malfunction or failure of any system. The airplane has a maximum gear retraction operating speed of 80 mph and does not have a stall warning horn or light. The landing gear system is operated by a hydraulic pump driven by an electrical motor. The mechanic who worked on this airplane said the gear pump motor was the original factory installed one, which was underpowered and resulted in slow gear retraction times. The pilot had recently installed a more powerful engine, which would require a steeper climb attitude to maintain a speed at or below the maximum gear operating speed while the landing gear completes the retraction cycle. The density altitude was calculated to be about 7,700 feet.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
an in-flight loss of control due to the pilot's rotation to an excessive pitch up attitude after takeoff and his failure to maintain an adequate airspeed, which resulted in a stall. Factors in the accident were the high density altitude and the lack of stall warning devices on the airplane.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/4/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1115 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | TRUCKEE |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95734 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391900N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1200800W |
| Event Location Airport | Truckee-Tahoe Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TRK |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 5900 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 950 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TRK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5900 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| 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) | 30 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.25 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 7694 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 18620 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 4 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1130 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 27 2005 6:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-RNO-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N78053 |
| NTSB Number | LAX03FA207 |
| 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 | Globe |
| Aircraft Model | GC-1B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2053 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1975 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 1347 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Richard E. Marlow |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Nevada City |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95959 |
| 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 | TRK |
| Departure City | TRUCKEE |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1115 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | O17 |
| Destination City | Grass Valley |
| Destination State | CA |
| 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 | Aug 16 2005 4:19PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19R |
| Runway Length | 4650 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |