Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Creve Coeur Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St Louis, Missouri 63146
Monday, July 14, 2008 12:20 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The 2,500 hour private pilot was conducting a normal takeoff in a single seat amateur built airplane from the dry 3,120 foot long turf runway and reported that he lost control of the airplane and was unable to climb out of ground effect. The left wing and the nose of the airplane struck the ground, and airplane landed upright. There was substantial damage to the forward firewall, engine mounts, landing gear, and left wing, but only minor injuries to the pilot. The pilot reported he had owned the airplane for 18 years and there was nothing wrong with the engine or with the performance of the airplane. He said he was "just too far behind" the airplane and it "got away" from him because it was "so quick and difficult to control". Weather reported at the time of the accident was 10 miles visibility, with few clouds at 5,000 feet, westerly winds at 5 knots, with a temperature of 87 degrees and dew point of 57degrees.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during takeoff.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/14/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1220 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | St Louis |
| Event State | MISSOURI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 63146 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 384336N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0903029W |
| Event Location Airport | CREVE COEUR |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 1H0 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1251 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 79 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSTL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 618 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 6 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| 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) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| 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) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | -- |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24258 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA St Louis FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 14 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 26 2008 6:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | St Louis FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N134JW |
| NTSB Number | DFW08CA185 |
| 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 | Stits Aircraft |
| Aircraft Model | SA3A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | JW-1 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1000 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 680 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Meyer Robert P |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | St Louis |
| Aircraft Owner State | MO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 63141 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Robert P. Meyer |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | St Louis |
| Operator State | MO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 63141 |
| 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 | 1H0 |
| Departure City | ST LOUIS |
| Departure State | MO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 8 2008 9:41AM |
| User who most recently changed record | GAMW |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 25 |
| Runway Length | 3120 |
| Runway Width | 220 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |