Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Ponder, Texas 76259
Sunday, October 19, 2003 16:35 CDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

According to several witnesses, the homebuilt experimental airplane was maneuvering above the private pilot's residence when they observed the airplane "pitch up," and then stall, before impacting the ground in a nose low attitude. One witness, who was a neighbor of the 314-hour pilot, reported that the pilot took off from a field in front of his house and made a pass over his front yard approximately 200 feet agl. While passing over the field, the pilot appeared to "lean out of the right side" of the cockpit and "waved" at his neighbors. The airplane then pitched nose up, rolled to the right, and flew "straight into the ground" in a nose-down attitude. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the airplane appeared to have impacted the ground in a nose-low attitude. All flight control surfaces appeared to have no pre-impact anomalies. Flight control cables and push-pull tubes did not show evidence of pre-impact failures or binding.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's decision to conduct low altitude maneuvering flight and his failure to maintain adequate airspeed.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 10/19/2003
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1635
Event Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Event City Ponder
Event State TEXAS
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 76259
Event Date Year 2003
Event Date Month 10
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 331130N
Event Location Longitude 0971931W
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 1653 Central Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID DTO
Elevation of weather observation facility --
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation CST
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) 29
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 9
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 160
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 9
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.06
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) 15886
NTSB Notification Source FAA Operations Center
NTSB Notification Date Oct 19 2003 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1800
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Jul 29 2004 7:30AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Fort Worth, Texas

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N190SP
NTSB Number FTW04LA014
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 Rans
Aircraft Model S-10
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 0290089
Certified Max Gross Weight 960
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 Unknown
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 1176
ELT Installed No
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Tim Hartman
Aircraft Owner Street Address 1221 Trenton Road
Aircraft Owner City Clinton
Aircraft Owner State OK
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 73601
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Timothy D. Adcox
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 1309 Hitchings
Operator City Ponder
Operator State TX
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 76259
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 Ponder
Departure State TX
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1630
Departure Time Zone CDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code NONE
Destination City Ponder
Destination State TX
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Maneuvering
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Jun 1 2004 7:34AM
User who most recently changed record CASH
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location NA
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --