Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
St. George Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St. George, Utah 84770
Saturday, August 25, 2007 18:20 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot had just purchased the special light sport airplane and was flying it cross country to his home. He had received several hours of flight training and completed a flight review in the airplane the day before the accident. The accident flight was uneventful until about 20 miles from the destination, at which point the engine began to run rough. The pilot determined that the choke had "worked its way back about 3/4 of an inch." He "eased" the choke off and the engine roughness stopped. The engine lost complete power about 5 miles from the destination as the pilot entered the downwind leg for landing on runway 16. The pilot reported that he attempted to glide to the airport; however, the sink rate was excessive and he located a small clearing in the boulders on the bluff ahead and elected "to stall in vertically rather than to tumble over the rocks horizontally." He intentionally stalled the airplane at an altitude of 10 feet above ground. The airplane impacted the terrain, nosed over and came to rest inverted. The pilot added that he could have deployed the airplane's BRS parachute (a rocket deployed emergency parachute system), but "chose not to because we could have been blown over the dense population area, very near" to the accident site. Fuel was observed leaking from the wreckage the day after the accident. Initially during post-accident examination, the engine could not be rotated by hand. A broken snap ring was found jamming the gears in the propeller gearbox. According to the engine manufacturer's representative, it is common to find this snap ring broken in engines that have sustained impact damage. The snap ring was replaced and the engine was test run. The engine developed near 100 percent performance. The ignition system was checked and functioned normally. No discrepancies were noted that would have prevented normal engine operation and production of power. The reason for the loss of engine power could not be determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power during approach for an undetermined reason. Contributing to the accident was the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/25/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1820 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | St. George |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84770 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 370526N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1133535W |
| Event Location Airport | St. George Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SGU |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 2941 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1815 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SGU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2941 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 38 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 18 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 25 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.85 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23948 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 25 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 30 2008 9:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, UT |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N775CT |
| NTSB Number | SEA07FA240 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Flight Design |
| Aircraft Model | CTSW |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 05-05-01 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1320 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 459 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Reginald W. Robbins |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | St. George |
| Operator State | UT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| 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 | SNS |
| Departure City | Salinas |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | SGU |
| Destination City | St. George |
| Destination State | UT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - downwind |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 14 2008 3:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |