- Date
- February 14, 1998, 12:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Homestead, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9272VCharles Holmes Kitfox XL
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 8, 1998
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980214001279A
- Case key
- 3970
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The student pilot's improper touchdown flare during landing.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
While on final approach to land, the student pilot realized that he was too high for a normal touchdown. The student pilot initiated a slip maneuver to lose altitude. He reported that the airplane was not completely aligned with the runway during the slip maneuver. According to an eyewitness at the airstrip, the airplane touched down hard on the runway. After the touchdown, the left main landing gear collapsed. The airplane skidded off the runway and collided with a tree. Subsequent to the accident, the student pilot was given additional flight training in conventional landing gear aircraft.
Factual narrative
On February 14, 1998, at 1200 eastern standard time, a Charles Holmes Kitfox XL, N9272V, collided with the ground, according to a witness, while attempting a landing at the Burrs Strawberry Farm Airstrip in Homestead, Florida. The student pilot reported that the local personal flight operated under the provisions of Title 14, CFR Part 91. The student pilot had not filed a flight plan. According to the data from the nearest weather reporting facility, visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The student pilot stated that he was not injured during the accident sequence. The airplane, reportedly, sustained substantial airframe damage. The student pilot reported that the flight departed Homestead General Aviation Airport in Homestead, Florida, at 1140.
According to the student pilot, while on final approach to land, he realized that he was too high for a normal touchdown. The student pilot initiated a slip maneuver to lose altitude. He also reported that the airplane was not completely aligned with the runway during the slip maneuver. According to an eyewitness at the Burrs Strawberry Farm Airstrip, the airplane touched down hard on the runway. After the touchdown, the left main landing gear collapsed. The airplane skidded off the runway and collided with a tree.
No mechanical problems, with the airplane, were reported by the pilot. Subsequent to the accident, the student pilot was given additional flight training in conventional landing gear aircraft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9272V
- Reported as
- Charles Holmes Kitfox XL
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- JCX013
- Airframe hours
- 116
- Engine
- Great Plains 2100, 75 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Andrew C. Corsetti
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 1, 1997
- Departed
- X51
- Airport
- NONE · Burrs Strawberry Farm, runway 36, 3,000 × 50 ft, grass/turf
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 41
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 56 total · 29 in this make and model · 33 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HST, 180 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.