Pilot Debrief

MOORE SKYBOLT/BM near Altus, OK — 2009-11-08

Final reportCEN10LA043
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Date
2009-11-08
Location
Altus, OK, USA
Airport
AXS
Aircraft
MOORE SKYBOLT/BM
Registration
N6644
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Fatal
Fatalities
2
Phase of flight
Initial climb

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.

NTSB 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.

Analysis

Primary failure mode
Loss of control
First missed decision gate
Pilot could have avoided aggressive climb and steep turns after takeoff.

NTSB coding

Evidence available

  • Photos
  • 11 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents11

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