STRATTANVILLE, PA, USA
UNREG
Hartzell RANS S-12
The pilot was conducting low level maneuvers when the airplane pitched up, then fell off on one wing, entered a spin, and descended rapidly until it impacted the ground at approximately a 90-degree vertical angle. All flight control surfaces were found at the accident scene, and the engine was running until ground impact. The unregistered homebuilt airplane had been disassembled for several years. However, the pilot had reassembled it with some friends over the previous winter, and flew it home from South Carolina on the weekend before the accident.
On July 1, 2000, about 2100 Eastern Daylight Time, an unregistered, homebuilt RANS S-12, was destroyed when it impacted terrain while maneuvering near Taylor Ultralight Park (5PA9), Strattanville, Pennsylvania. The certificated commercial pilot and the passenger were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed for the local flight, which was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. According to a witness, the pilot's daughter, the pilot had rebuilt the airplane in South Carolina, and during the previous weekend, had flown it home to Pennsylvania. On the afternoon of the accident, the family went to the airstrip about 2015. The pilot conducted a preflight, and in the process, replaced a bolt "that had fallen out of the wing flap." About 2030, the pilot took off with his brother, flew a short time, then landed, and took off with the witness. He then landed again, and took his brother's girlfriend for a ride. He landed once more, then took his brother up again, on the accident flight. During that flight, the airplane first circled the field a couple of times, then did a couple of touch and goes at the airstrip. It then departed, and performed some tight turns. "It looked like they were heading in to land [when] the ultralight started corkscrewing down." When the witness got to the accident site, she saw that the airplane "was embedded in the ground [and] the tail was sticking straight up." Winds at the time were calm, and "the sun was still up but starting to go down." Another witness, the pilot's wife, stated that the pilot had bought the airplane 5 years earlier, and once, when he was flying it with an instructor, the frame was bent when the airplane collided with a tree. The airplane had then remained in pieces, in the family's barn, until the previous winter, when it was shipped to South Carolina. During the winter, the pilot and some friends repaired it, and after the pilot had flown it home the weekend before the accident, it had been in a hangar at the airstrip. During the accident flight, the witness saw the airplane fly in circles, and do touch and goes. Once it was airborne again, she "saw the plane dip low. It went out of our sight..., then he pulled it back up. I saw the plane start spiraling down, and it went back out of sight." A third witness, the passenger's girlfriend, stated that during the accident flight, she saw the airplane descend out of sight, into a valley. "It came back up. It started taking a nosedive. It went out of sight again, and I heard a crash." A fourth witness was in a nearby field, on his tractor, when the airplane was flying overhead. The witness was looking at the airplane when it made a tight turn, and was starting to head back towards the airstrip. "Suddenly, the craft made a 1/2 turn. The one wing went up higher than the other one. The craft started down. There was no smoke coming out of it. I didn't see it crash, but I knew it did." When the witness got to the crash site, he could see that the airplane "was nosedived right into the field." None of the four witnesses was sure if the engine had been operating. A fifth witness had been sitting on his back porch with his wife during the accident flight. He stated: "We saw this ultralight take off and we soon realized that this pilot wasn't flying cautiously. Most people go up and make wide turns and enjoy the view. Not this guy. He was gunning the plane and really revving the motor up. He made tight turns, swoops, and would fly high and low. He was really showboating. The sun was setting and I figured he would soon land. I guess he was maybe a hundred foot high. He looped down and then he climbed back up and doubled back towards the landing strip. But this time he didn't rev his engine up real loud. The engine was running but, before, when he would do a stunt, he really pulled back hard on the throttle and it made a lot of noise. The craft made a half turn and one wing went higher than the other, and it started down. I saw it and the trees blocked my vision. I heard the crash and then I no longer heard the engine. It was running right up until the crash." According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, the airplane had impacted a field, with low corn, 1 to 2 feet high, about 3,300 feet east of the airstrip. It had impacted at an approximately 90-degree angle, and was destroyed back to the seats. Both wings had leading edge damage, and the rear-mounted engine had fallen forward. The three-bladed propeller, consisting of foam-filled plastic, had shattered. One piece of blade was found approximately 60 feet away from the main wreckage, and a piece of support tubing was found about 40 feet away with a mark consistent with a propeller strike. The engine was a two-cylinder Rotax. The spark plugs were grayish white in color, compression was confirmed for each cylinder, and engine continuity was established. Both carburetors had fuel, which was absent of debris. A review of accident site photographs revealed that all flight control surfaces were present. The pilot was rated in multi-engine land airplanes limited to centerline thrust, single engine land airplanes, and instrument-airplane. On his latest application for an FAA second class medical certificate, dated September 14, 1998, he stated that he had 2,500 hours of flight time.
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed during low level maneuvering, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/spin.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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