- Date
- March 17, 1989, 11:02 local (16:02 UTC)
- Place
- Chesapeake, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N339RHHalstead Sandpiper
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 11, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890317004189A
- Case key
- 11443
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 pilot/builders improper installation of the ruddervador and the pilot's improper recovery from a bounced landing. A contributing factor was the failure of the FAA to detect the flaw during the certification of the aircraft.
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
The accident occurred on the maiden test flight of the recently certificated homebuilt acft. The plt/builder reported no problems during high speed taxi runs. After takeoff the plt encountered problems at slow speeds which decreased as airspeed increased. During landing, the acft stalled high and bounced twice on the rwy. The plt initiated a go-around and during climb out was unable to decrease pitch to gain airspeed. The acft crashed into trees near the rwy. The plt designed and built the acft with the exception of the davis mixing unit which controls pitch and rudder input to the ruddervador. The design plans called for 9 degs pitch up travel and 8 degs pitch down travel. Investigation revealed the ruddervador had been installed with 12.5 degs nose up travel and 4.5 degs nose down travel, thus limiting the plts ability to lower the nose during climb.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N339RH
- Reported as
- Halstead Sandpiper
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- RJ82
- Airframe hours
- 2
- Engine
- Continental C-75-12, 75 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Richard J. Halstead
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · February 28, 1989 · 2 hours before
- Airport
- PVG · Hampton Roads, runway 10, 4,000 × 40 ft, asphalt
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
- 66
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 178 total · 150 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 15 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 72 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.