Fort Morgan Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Fort Morgan, Colorado 80701
Saturday, September 17, 2005 16:30 MDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

A friend of the pilot stated that the pilot had only flown the airplane on two occasions prior to the accident flight. On one of those previous flights, the pilot had broken the landing gear during a hard landing. The accident flight was the first flight since the landing gear had been repaired. The friend said that on another flight, the pilot exhausted his fuel supply and made a forced landing on the airport. He said that when the engine loses power, the airplane becomes nose heavy and has a tendency to dive. He said witnesses told him it sounded as if the airplane's engine was "misfiring" or "sputtering." They said it appeared the pilot was trying to land in a field. The pilot turned and stalled the airplane. Other witnesses told sheriff's deputies they saw the airplane "diving toward the ground" or "diving nearly straight down." The airplane impacted a farm field approximately 200 yards southwest of the airport.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a forced landing. Contributing factors were the resultant and inadvertent stall, the loss of engine power for undetermined reasons, and the pilot's lack of familiarity with the airplane.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/17/2005
Event Day of the Week Saturday
Time of Event 1630
Event Time Zone Mountain Daylight Time
Event City Fort Morgan
Event State COLORADO
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 80701
Event Date Year 2005
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 402003N
Event Location Longitude 1034814W
Event Location Airport Fort Morgan Municipal Airport
Event Location Nearest Airport ID 3V4
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 4567
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 2153 Mountain Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 90
Weather Observation Facility ID AKO
Elevation of weather observation facility 4714
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 29
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) 29
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) -9
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 250
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 5
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.88
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) 19482
NTSB Notification Source FAA Comm Ctr
NTSB Notification Date Sep 23 2005 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Apr 25 2006 11:00AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\JOHB
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office DEN-FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number Unregistere
NTSB Number DEN05LA148
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 Brown
Aircraft Model Hi-MAX 1700R
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number None
Certified Max Gross Weight 560
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? Yes
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 1
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 --
ELT Installed No
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Unregistered
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Fort Morgan
Aircraft Owner State CO
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 80701
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Lenord Brown
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Fort Morgan
Operator State CO
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 80701
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 3V4
Departure City Fort Morgan
Departure State CO
Departure Country USA
Departure Time --
Departure Time Zone MDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code 3V4
Destination City Fort Morgan
Destination State CO
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Cruise
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 27 2006 4:42PM
User who most recently changed record BOWL
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location NA
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --