Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Cushing Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Newark, Illinois 60551
Monday, July 21, 2008 10:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The sport pilot departed in a Special – Light Sport Aircraft (S-LSA) from a grass airstrip and impacted the terrain. The accident site was located within the traffic pattern about where the turn from a left downwind to a left base leg would be made. There were no witnesses to the accident and there was no recorded radar track data of the accident flight. The damage to the airplane indicated that it impacted the terrain in about a 30-degree nose-down attitude in a left bank. The inspection of the airframe revealed no preexisting anomalies. The engine was put on an engine test stand and it operated through the full range of rpm settings. The stall speed at the maximum gross weight with wings level and the engine at idle is 39 mph.
The inspection of the pilot’s shoulder harness revealed that the single strap of the shoulder harness that attached the harness to the rear cabin bulkhead was separated from the shoulder harness yoke where it was stitched to the shoulder straps. The stitching had failed at the attach point. The accident airplane was classified as a LSA and as such, was not certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. LSA’s are described as “self certifying,” indicating that they are certified as airworthy by the manufacturer.
After a review of the pilot’s autopsy findings, it was determined that some of the pilot’s injuries would have been less severe if the shoulder harness had not failed. However, due to the severity of the crash, the resulting injuries were likely to still be fatal.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane in the landing pattern. Contributing to the severity of injuries was the failure of the pilot's shoulder harness.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/21/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1030 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Newark |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 60551 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 413110N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0883620W |
| Event Location Airport | Cushing Field Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 0C8 |
| 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 | 640 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1025 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 350 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DKB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 914 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| 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) | 27028 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 21 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 9 2010 11:20AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-DuPage FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N602CF |
| NTSB Number | CHI08FA196 |
| 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 | Czech Aircraft Works |
| Aircraft Model | Sport Cruiser |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 08SC129 |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 1 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 77 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Sport Aircraft Works |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 1007 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Palm City |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 34991 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Sport Pilot Chicago |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4076 SR 71 |
| Operator City | Newark |
| Operator State | IL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 60551 |
| 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 | 0C8 |
| Departure City | Newark |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1030 |
| 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 | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - downwind |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 2 2009 11:20AM |
| User who most recently changed record | silj |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 36 |
| Runway Length | 2831 |
| Runway Width | 180 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |