Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mountain Home, Idaho 83647
Friday, June 18, 2004 10:00 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Prior to the accident, the pilot landed at a road-side truck stop to take on automobile fuel for the operation of his unregistered two-place ultralight-like aircraft. Records show that he refueled at 0910, and witnesses said that he took off from a road beside the truck stop about 0930. After takeoff, the pilot flew past a private airstrip about a mile from the truck stop, and then headed in the direction of his destination, where a gathering of ultralight-like aircraft was taking place. About 30 minutes later, an individual on the ground came upon the wreckage of the aircraft near some hilly terrain. There were no witnesses to the impact, and there was no fire. The entire aircraft structure was located together, and there were no ground scars indicating any movement across the terrain after the initial impact. An examination of the aircraft structure did not find any indication of an in-flight structural failure, nor any evidence of an engine malfunction. It was determined however that the wing washout angle had been changed by the pilot so that the aircraft would cruise at a faster speed. It was also determined that since the pilot had made the washout angle change, and added a large windshield to the airframe, the aircraft's cruise speed was only about 10 knots greater than its stall speed. The investigation also revealed that there had been very strong gusty winds (to 20 knots) and turbulence in the area the pilot was flying through. It was the opinion of the FAA Inspector who responded to the scene that the pilot had lost control of the aircraft while trying to continue his flight in the windy/gusty conditions.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during an undetermined in-flight operational phase resulting in an uncontrolled descent into the terrain. Factors include strong gusty winds in the area of the accident.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/18/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1000 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Mountain Home |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83647 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 431700N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1554300W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| 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) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 17357 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 18 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 24 2005 9:13AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Boise FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | None |
| NTSB Number | SEA04LA110 |
| 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 | Quicksilver |
| Aircraft Model | MXL |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 720 |
| 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 | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Paul N. King |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Caldwell |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83605 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Mountain Home |
| Departure State | ID |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 930 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Fairfield |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Unknown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |