Altus/Quartz Mountain Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Altus, Oklahoma 72521
Sunday, November 8, 2009 11:22 CST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

At the invitation of the pilot, the 17-year-old passenger and his father went to the airport for an airplane ride. They saw the airplane fly over head and the pilot performed “a wing-over maneuver” and landed. After his son boarded the airplane, the airplane took off. About 50 feet off the ground, the pilot made an aggressive climb at a 45 degree angle, banked hard to the right, and headed west, still climbing. The father said that at one point, it looked like the airplane was in a vertical climb. The pilot then performed a wing over-maneuver and went into a nose dive and "it may have even spiraled." One witness estimated the airplane was at 25 feet off the ground when it appeared to do left and right turns. Shortly after that, he made a right turn, "not a radical turn, and the nose of the plane went down. There appeared to be a wobble or possibly some spin or flutter in the tail.” A third witness said the airplane "lifted off, did a steep turn at midfield, climbed and departed to the west." He then saw the airplane return and make "a wing-over type maneuver to the right (East) in [a] descending turn." The airport's line chief, who did not witness the accident, said he saw the pilot take off earlier and perform a high speed low pass (about half a wing length off the ground), waving his wings to the people at his hangar. He then executed a vertical climb out and steep bank of at least 60 degrees or more and departed to the north. On each flight, the pilot would do "his same routine." A pilot based at the airport, who also did not witness the accident, said, he noticed the accident airplane take off on runway 17 at midfield and at an altitude of approximately 100 feet, make a right turn and depart the airport to the west at about the same altitude. The turn was made with a bank angle "well in excess of 60 degrees." He said he had observed the pilot "doing maneuvers in the pattern that were not standard maneuvers." On one occasion, he saw the pilot depart and do "a steep turn at midfield at a very low altitude. He would also fly down the runway at low altitude and pull up into a steep climb and bank around into downwind." The pilot's logbook showed he had logged a total of 419.7 hours, of which 23.0 hours were documented Skybolt time: 12.7 hours were dual instruction, and 10.3 hours were pilot-in-command. Only two aerobatic entries were made.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's poor judgment by performing intentional low-level maneuvers that resulted in an inadvertent stall/spin at an altitude to low to affect a safe recovery.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 11/8/2009
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1122
Event Time Zone Central Standard Time
Event City Altus
Event State OKLAHOMA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 72521
Event Date Year 2009
Event Date Month 11
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 344159N
Event Location Longitude 0992105W
Event Location Airport Altus/Quartz Mountain Regional
Event Location Nearest Airport ID AXS
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 1433
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1110 Central Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 180
Weather Observation Facility ID AXS
Elevation of weather observation facility --
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 1
Time Zone of the weather observation CST
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 2200
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height --
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions --
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Overcast
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 19
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 14
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 190
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 8
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.07
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report METAR KAXS 081710Z AUTO 19008KT 10SM OVC022 19/14
Event Highest Injury Fatal
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal 2
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All 2
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 27087
NTSB Notification Source FAA ASW ROC
NTSB Notification Date --
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Jun 25 2010 3:26PM
User who most recently changed record bowl
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N6644
NTSB Number CEN10LA043
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Destroyed
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name MOORE
Aircraft Model SKYBOLT/BM
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number S-BM-001
Certified Max Gross Weight 2250
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? Yes
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 Conditional
Date of Last Inspection Aug 1 2009 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 178
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name CLARK A. MURRAY
Aircraft Owner Street Address 3109 MALLARD CT.
Aircraft Owner City ALTUS
Aircraft Owner State OK
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 73521-9561
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name CLARK A. MURRAY
Operator Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Street Address 3109 MALLARD CT.
Operator City ALTUS
Operator State OK
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 73521-9561
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 No
Departure Airport Code AXS
Departure City ALTUS
Departure State OK
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1115
Departure Time Zone CST
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code AXS
Destination City ALTUS
Destination State OK
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight --
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 13 2010 5:27PM
User who most recently changed record scoa
Since inspection or accident Last Inspection
Event Location Runway Number and Location N/A
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --