Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
St Charles Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St Charles, Missouri 63301
Tuesady, August 5, 2008 15:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After taking off, and at about 75 to 100 feet above the runway, the airplane had a sudden pitch down and the student pilot had to pull back on the control stick to maintain control of the airplane. He continued to have difficulty with pitch control as he maneuvered the airplane back to land at the airport, but was unable to simultaneously reduce engine power and maintain control of the airplane. During the landing the airplane touched down hard at a higher-than-normal airspeed with the engine still operating near full power. The student pilot lost directional control and the airplane exited the left side of the runway before nosing over in the grass. An examination of the airplane by Federal Aviation Administration inspectors revealed that the pitch trim was in the full nose-down position. No other anomaly was detected in the airframe or the engine. The pilot later said he didn’t even think about the elevator trim and it was possible that he had taken off with the elevator trim at the wrong setting.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The student pilot's failure to maintain control due to his task saturation as a result of his failure to set the pitch trim to the neutral position before takeoff.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/5/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1500 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | St Charles |
| Event State | MISSOURI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 63301 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 385033N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0903000W |
| Event Location Airport | ST CHARLES |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 3SQ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 442 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1451 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 165 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSTL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 618 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| 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) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 24 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 26589 |
| NTSB Notification Source | ACE Regional Communications Ce |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 20 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 10 2010 2:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | St Louis FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N411EV |
| NTSB Number | DFW08LA209 |
| 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 | Evektor Aerotechnik AS |
| Aircraft Model | Sportstar |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2005-0411 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1231 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 25 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 22 |
| Airframe Hours | 1516 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Stearns Chatten LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2184 Wilmar Court |
| Aircraft Owner City | Quincy |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 62301 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | St Charles Flying Service Inc |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 3001 New Town Boulevard |
| Operator City | St Charles |
| Operator State | MO |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 63301 |
| Operator Code | DFJS |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 3SQ |
| Departure City | ST CHARLES |
| Departure State | MO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | St Charles |
| Destination State | MO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 9 2010 12:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | latt |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 09 |
| Runway Length | 3451 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |