Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Nampa Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Nampa, Idaho 83687
Thursday, September 24, 2009 10:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was performing high speed taxi tests in an experimental category airplane that he had designed and built. The airplane was configured with a T-tail, a canard wing forward of the cockpit with elevator control surfaces, and had two 28-hp engines mounted facing aft along the trailing edge of the wings in a pusher type design. The main landing gear were located forward of the engine nacelles. To address a lack of pitch response experienced during previous tests, the pilot had increased the size of the canard control surfaces, and moved the center of gravity further aft. During the first taxi run the electronic flight information system (EFIS) recorded a maximum pitch of 9 degrees, and maximum airspeed of 67 knots. During the test run that precipitated the accident, the airplane became airborne at the end of the taxi run and rose to about 122 feet above ground level (agl), entered a right-hand turn, stalled, and impacted terrain in a flat attitude. Audible engine sounds could be heard from the airplane throughout the event and the recorded data supported normal engine operation. The last 16 seconds of data recovered from the EFIS corroborated the witness reports, recording the airplane pitching up suddenly from 8 degrees to 45 degrees, the airspeed decaying from 55 to 22 knots, and then entering a rapid vertical descent. A colleague of the pilot stated that in this pusher configured airplane where the propellers are located aft of the main landing gear, a sudden reduction in thrust could cause a pitch up rotation moment around the main landing gear when on the ground. Toxicology testing was consistent with the recent use by the pilot of a medication containing diphenhydramine, an over-the-counter sedating antihistamine that commonly results in impairment; however, the investigation was unable to conclusively determine whether the use of this medication contributed to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain pitch control of the airplane.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/24/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1030 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Nampa |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83687 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 433453N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1163123W |
| Event Location Airport | Nampa Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KS67 |
| 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 | 1036 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 330 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KEUL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2432 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| 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) | 30.14 |
| 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) | 26910 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 22 2010 1:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N72TZ |
| NTSB Number | WPR09LA463 |
| 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 | Frazier |
| Aircraft Model | Tangent |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 800 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | 1 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 2 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | 0 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Allen L. Frazier |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Eagle |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83616 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Allen L. Frazier |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Eagle |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 83616 |
| 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) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KS67 |
| Departure City | Nampa |
| Departure State | ID |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | KS67 |
| Destination City | Nampa |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 6 2010 5:47PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 11 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |