Loss of control Accident Steen Skybolt N6644,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 70009
 
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Date:Sunday 8 November 2009
Time:11:22
Type:Silhouette image of generic BOLT model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Steen Skybolt
Owner/operator:Private
Registration: N6644
MSN: S-BM-001
Total airframe hrs:178 hours
Engine model:Lycoming IO-540-C4B5
Fatalities:Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Category:Accident
Location:Near Altus/Quartz Mountain Regional Airport, OK -   United States of America
Phase: Initial climb
Nature:Private
Departure airport:Altus, OK (AXS)
Destination airport:Altus, OK (AXS)
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
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.
Probable Cause: 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.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: CEN10LA043
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 8 months
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB

History of this aircraft

Other occurrences involving this aircraft
23 May 2004 N25BM Private 0 Altus, Oklahoma sub

Location

Images:


Photo: NTSB

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
08-Nov-2009 14:55 RobertMB Added
08-Nov-2009 14:56 RobertMB Updated
28-Jun-2010 11:49 harro Updated [Source]
21-Dec-2016 19:25 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency]
02-Dec-2017 17:48 ASN Update Bot Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]

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