ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 45945
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| Date: | Sunday 6 May 2001 |
| Time: | 09:08 |
| Type: |  Lancair 320 |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N316M |
| MSN: | 88-244 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 4 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming IO-360-B1E |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Porter County Municipal Airport (VPZ/KVPZ), Valparaiso, IN -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Initial climb |
| Nature: | Test |
| Departure airport: | Valparaiso-Porter County Airport, IN (VPZ/KVPZ) |
| Valparaiso-Porter County Airport, IN (VPZ/KVPZ) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On May 6, 2001, at 0908 eastern standard time (est), an experimental Madsen Lancair 320, N316M, built and piloted by a private pilot, was destroyed during an in-flight collision with the terrain and subsequent explosion/post-impact fire. The airplane was on initial climb from runway 09 (7,000 feet by 150 feet, dry/asphalt) at the Porter County Municipal Airport, Valparaiso, Indiana. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The local test flight was operating under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91 and was not on a flight plan. The pilot, the sole occupant, was fatally injured. The flight was departing at the time of the accident.
A witness to the accident reported the airplane started the takeoff roll at the beginning of runway 09 and appeared to be accelerating slower than normal. The witness reported, "The takeoff roll looked normal ... but the aircraft seem to roll out longer than normal for this type of aircraft ... this aircraft seemed to roll about 3,500 feet before rotation. After rotation the aircraft pitched up and down several cycles then settled down. But after the pitch cycles stopped the plane was not climbing. The landing gear was not cycled up it remained down. The plane was about 200 feet altitude when the up, down pitching began again. I noted the plane climbed about another 50 ft. Then the plane rolled to the left and entered a vertical position and impacted the ground about 1,000 ft. north of the runway centerline. Aircraft exploded on impact." The pilot had logged two flights in the accident airplane, accumulating 1.2 hours. Excluding the two previous flights in the accident airplane, the pilot did not have any other flight time in the same model as the accident airplane. No anomalies were found that could be associated with a pre-impact condition.
Probable Cause: The pilot not maintaining aircraft control during the initial climb after takeoff and the inadvertent stall/spin. A factor to the accident was the pilot's total lack of experience in accident airplane.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB: https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20010509X00916&key=1
Images:
Photos: NTSB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Oct-2008 00:45 | ASN archive | Added |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:24 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 10-Dec-2017 11:21 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
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