Bath, PA, USA
UNREG
Titan Tornado
The pilot owner completed a preflight inspection of his unregistered, homebuilt airplane, and departed from the airstrip. The rotation and takeoff were at their customary points on the strip, and the airplane climbed on a "normal gradient." About 400 feet above ground level, the engine "burbled," and then the airplane "rocked a little" in the pitch and roll axis. The engine continued the burbling sound as it ran, and the airplane continued flying for 10 to 12 seconds before it "fell off on the left wing," descending almost vertically to the ground. Examination of the two-cylinder engine revealed that the forward spark plug of the rear cylinder was still attached to its ignition lead, but the plug was not installed, and hung next to the cylinder. The spark plug remained completely intact. Examination of the corresponding cast aluminum spark plug hole revealed stripped threads. The plug was reinserted into the hole, moved "side to side," and then withdrawn from the hole by hand. The pilot held a private pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single engine land. His most recent application for a medical certificate was denied 16 years before the accident for "Administrative or Legal" reasons. The pilot reported 110 hours of total flight experience on that date.
On June 23, 2005, at 1613 eastern daylight time, an unregistered, homebuilt Titan Tornado airplane, was destroyed when it impacted terrain following an uncontrolled descent near a private grass strip in Bath, Pennsylvania. The certificated private pilot/owner was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed, for the local personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. In a telephone interview, the owner of the grass strip said that he witnessed the accident flight. He was well acquainted with the pilot/owner of the accident airplane, and the accident airplane was based at his strip for about one year. The owner of the strip watched the pilot perform a preflight inspection of his airplane, then they both went for coffee. After they returned, the pilot climbed in his airplane, started the engine, taxied, and then took off. The rotation and takeoff were at their customary points on the strip, and the airplane climbed on a "normal gradient." About 400 feet above ground level, the engine "burbled," and then the airplane "rocked a little" in the pitch and roll axis. The engine continued the burbling sound as it ran, and the airplane continued flying for 10 to 12 seconds before it "fell off on the left wing," descending almost vertically behind a stand of trees. The owner of the strip was asked about available forced landing areas surrounding the strip, and he replied, "There was no reason for the accident. He had plenty of altitude to return to the strip. Besides that, he was directly over a 45-acre field. He should have landed without harming himself or the airplane. I was yelling out of the car window, 'Push the nose down!' but he never did." In a telephone interview, a second witness said he was riding in a car with his family when he noticed an airplane flying at low altitude. He could not estimate the exact altitude, but said the airplane was "unusually low" and "just above the trees." As he watched the airplane, he noticed that it was descending and that the wings were "wobbling" from side to side, and he called out to his sister. They both watched the airplane make a sharp turn to its right, and descend "straight down in a nosedive." In a telephone interview, the third witness provided a statement consistent with her brother's, and repeated that she watched the airplane "go straight down in a nosedive." The airplane descended out of sight behind a line of trees. They then searched for the airplane, but could not find it. Neither witness heard the airplane during the flight or its descent. The Titan Tornado was originally a two-seat, ultralight-type airplane that could be registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an experimental airplane. It could also be operated without registration as an ultralight training vehicle, provided it complied with the criteria of FAA exemption 6080G. According to the owner of the grass strip, the pilot/owner assembled the airplane approximately 2 years before the accident, and it had accrued about 200 total flight hours in that time. A Rotax engine powered the airplane for the first 120 hours, then the pilot/owner installed a Hirth Moteren engine. On June 23, 2005, FAA aviation safety inspectors spoke to witnesses and examined the airplane at the scene. They determined that, due to the weight and configuration of the airplane, that it was not an ultralight. Only one inspector was available for a telephone interview. He read his colleague's written statement regarding the examination of the airplane over the telephone. Examination of the Hirth Motoren two-cylinder engine revealed that the forward spark plug of the rear cylinder was still attached to its ignition lead, but the plug was not installed, and hung next to the cylinder. The spark plug remained completely intact. Examination of the corresponding cast aluminum spark plug hole revealed stripped threads. The inspector reinserted the spark plug into the hole, and he moved the plug "side to side." The plug could then be withdrawn from the hole by hand. Examination of the carburetor revealed that both throttle control linkages were loose at the carburetor attachment points. The pilot held a private pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single engine land. His most recent application for a medical certificate was denied on July 7, 1989, for "Administrative or Legal" reasons. The pilot reported 110 hours of total flight experience on that date. Toxicology testing was performed at the FAA Toxicology Accident Research Laboratory, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. At 1551, the weather reported at Lehigh Valley International Airport, Allentown, PA, 6 miles southwest of the accident site, included scattered clouds at 5,500 feet, with 10 miles of visibility, and wind from 200 degrees at 10 knots.
The pilot/owner's failure to maintain adequate airspeed following a loss of engine power, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/spin. Factors in the accident were the stripped spark plug threads, and an inadequate preflight inspection by the pilot/owner.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
Aviation Accidents App
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