Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Franklin Wilkins Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lexington, Tennessee 38351
Sunday, August 8, 2004 10:17 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot purchased the non-registered airplane and was conducting a test flight to become familiar with the flight characteristics of the airplane. The pilot did not have any flight time in the FREEBIRD airplane. The pilot informed his son, that he was going to ground taxi the airplane, allow the airplane to get airborne, and land the airplane before he continued the takeoff. The pilot also stated, if he encountered a stall, he would push the nose of the airplane over to gain airspeed. The pilot conducted a preflight inspection and no anomalies were noted. The son stated his father started the ground taxi, the airplane became airborne, and the nose of the airplane was observed to pitch up and down. The son was surprised when his father continued the takeoff instead of landing the airplane. As the speed of the airplane increased the airplane stabilized, and the airplane continued in a climb. The airplane was observed to enter left closed traffic for runway 15, and was between 100 to 250 feet above the ground. The airplane was observed turning to final, and a decrease in engine power was heard. The airspeed of the airplane decreased. The nose of the airplane was observed to pitch down, up, down, and back up about 45-degrees before the left wing dropped down. The son stated, "he knew the airplane had stalled, and watched it descend and collide with the ground." Performance data for the FREEBIRD indicates the airplane will stall at 32 mph. Examination of the airframe, flight controls, and engine assembly and accessories revealed no anomalies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed, resulting in an inadvertent stall, and collision with the ground. A factor was the pilot's total lack of experience in type of aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/8/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1017 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Lexington |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 38351 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 353904N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0822244W |
| Event Location Airport | Franklin Wilkins |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | M52 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 300 |
| Airport Elevation | 514 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MKL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 434 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 26 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.15 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1392 |
| 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) | 16666 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Communication Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 8 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1120 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 3 2004 9:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Memphis FSDO-25 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | None |
| NTSB Number | ATL04LA166 |
| 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 | Sidney |
| Aircraft Model | FREEBIRD |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | NONE |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 970 |
| 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 | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Marvin G. Ison |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 430 Sanders Road |
| Operator City | Regan |
| Operator State | TN |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 38351 |
| 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 | M52 |
| Departure City | Lexington |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1012 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 15 2004 11:28AM |
| User who most recently changed record | POWP |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 15 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |