Pilot Debrief

LAMMERS SJEF J APACHE near Colorado Springs, CO — 2011-05-20

Final reportCEN11CA360
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Date
2011-05-20
Location
Colorado Springs, CO, USA
Airport
KFLY
Aircraft
LAMMERS SJEF J APACHE
Registration
N566RL
Category
Trike
Highest injury
Serious
Fatalities
0

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to maintain control of the aircraft during take-off in a cross wind, which resulted in an inadvertent stall.

NTSB narrative

On the morning of the accident, the pilot had removed his single-surface wing and installed a dual-surface wing on his weight shift aircraft. The winds were calm and he conducted an uneventful test flight. The pilot returned to his hangar and made some adjustments to the control bar but elected to not do another test flight because the winds were increasing at the airport. Later that afternoon, the pilot decided to do a second test flight because the wind had decreased some. The pilot departed with an 80 degree crosswind between 5 and 10 knots. He said that he did not build up sufficient airspeed on the takeoff roll and once he got airborne he was about 5 knots above stall speed and very slow. When the aircraft was approximately 100 feet in the air, he encountered wind shear and the right wing stalled and dropped. The pilot was unable to recover and the aircraft crashed on the right side of the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the entire aircraft.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • 1 docket document
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents1

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