Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
East Cooper Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Charleston, South Carolina 29464
Monday, April 24, 2006 11:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
In a statement provided to an FAA inspector, a witness stated that he saw the airplane make two low passes over runway 17. He also stated that the engine sounded like it was running smoothly, but quietly. On a third pass, the pilot raised the landing gear and started to climb. He began a normal left turn to crosswind. The witness stated that he might have looked away for a second, and "when I looked back, the wings had rotated to what appeared to be almost a 90-degree bank." The witness also said that, " the nose of the aircraft dropped to almost vertical, the aircraft dove into the ground, but I did not observe any fire or smoke." FAA inspectors arrived at the scene and reported that the airplane was located in a marsh area with the nose embedded in the ground, facing the runway. Examination by the FAA inspectors revealed a residual amount of fuel in fuel lines, fuel transducer, and fuel flow divider. Examination of the airplane's structure, flight controls, and engine revealed no evidence of precrash anomalies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed during a climb to preclude a stall, which resulted in a loss of control and an in-flight collision with terrain. A factor associated with the accident was an inadvertent stall.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/24/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1145 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Charleston |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29464 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 325331N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0794635W |
| Event Location Airport | EAST COOPER |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 8S5 |
| 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 | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 12 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1056 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 17 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CHS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 46 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.98 |
| 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) | 21763 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Communication Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 24 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 25 2007 12:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Columbia FSDO-13 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9GX |
| NTSB Number | ATL06LA070 |
| 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 | Lancair |
| Aircraft Model | Lancair 360 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 804-320-646FB |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1835 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 53 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Mike Alpha Tango Co |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3511 Silverside Rd. STE 105 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19810 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Fredrick Bradford Lewis |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | LRO |
| Departure City | Charleston |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1130 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | LRO |
| Destination City | Charleston |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 15 2007 12:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 17 |
| Runway Length | 3700 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |