Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Moses Lake Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Moses Lake, Washington 98837
Saturday, May 31, 2008 11:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was completing a local flight and entered the downwind leg of the traffic pattern at the destination airport. As the airplane was on the downwind leg and almost abeam the runway identifier numbers, the engine power reduced and the nose pitched up about 15 degrees. The airplane made a tight turn onto the base leg and then overshot final approach. The airplane was high and appeared to be configured in a slip (right wing low) while approaching the runway. When reaching about 30 feet above ground level (agl), the airplane pitched nose high, as if the pilot was attempting to flare. The engine power slowly increased and the airplane turned about 45 degrees, barely clearing a hangar and power lines. The airplane made numerous erratic maneuvers while varying altitudes between 45 and 300 feet agl. It then pitched up about 65 degrees nose high and made a left bank. It subsequently stalled and continued in a spin about 360 degrees before impacting a field located adjacent to the runway. A postaccident examination revealed that the vertical fin had separated from the fuselage attach points and remained attached to the airplane only by the horizontal tail plane struts, the elevator control push rods, and the rudder cables. Examination revealed that the vertical fin attach tubes (forward and aft) had not been secured to the fuselage attach tubing. The bolts designed to secure the vertical fin to the fuselage were not attached; rather, the bolts were secured to the fuselage tubing and the undrilled vertical fin attach tubing was resting on top of the bolts. The build manual for the airplane states that during assembly, the builder must remove the bolts secured to the fuselage attach tubing and insert the vertical fin attach tubing. Following insertion the builder is instructed to drill the vertical fin tubing and secure the bolt through both pieces of tubing.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inability to maintain control due to an in-flight separation of the vertical fin as a result of the failure of the airplane's builder to properly secure the vertical fin to the fuselage.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/31/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1115 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Moses Lake |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98837 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 470831N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1191416W |
| Event Location Airport | Moses Lake Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | W20 |
| 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 | 1203 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 315 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MWH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.02 |
| 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) | 25087 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 31 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2009 4:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SEA-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N95478 |
| NTSB Number | LAX08LA160 |
| 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 | Quad City Ultralight Aircraft |
| Aircraft Model | Challenger LSS |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | CH2-1106-LSS-0107 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert Holloway |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Ephrata |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98823 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Robert Holloway |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Ephrata |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 98823 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | W20 |
| Departure City | Moses Lake |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 945 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | W20 |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - aborted |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2009 4:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |