- Date
- March 21, 2011, 09:15 local (14:15 UTC)
- Place
- Ferris, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N1317LDarrow Stephen A Aventura
- Defining event
- Landing: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 11, 2011
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administraton
- FAA report
- 20110321005149A
- Case key
- 78656
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’s loss of aircraft control during landing.
Findings · 2
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot was delivering the amphibious airplane to the owner's private grass airstrip. While on final approach, the pilot lost control and the airplane impacted the ground in a left wing low attitude. The airplane came to rest in an upright position short of the runway's threshold. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wing. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane prior to the accident. He said that the airplane's windshield was dirty and that while landing he couldn't see through it.
Factual narrative
The pilot was delivering the amphibious airplane to the owner's private grass airstrip. While on final approach to the runway, the pilot lost control and the airplane impacted the ground in a left wing low attitude. The airplane came to rest in an upright position short of the the runway's threshold. The airplane's fuselage to wing attachment structure was substantially damaged during the accident. The pilot later reported that the airplane's windshield was dirty and that while landing he couldn't see through it. The pilot further reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane prior to the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1317L
- Reported as
- Darrow Stephen A Aventura
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- AP2A0009
- Engine
- Rotax 582, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- T13 · Palmer, TX
- Destination
- Ferris, TX
- Airport
- N/A · Private Airstrip, runway 12, 1,000 × 25 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
- 74
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 11, 2009
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 5,800 total · 2 in this make and model · 11 in the last 90 days · 7 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,800 ft broken
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.12 inHg
- Observed at
- LNC, 8 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 15, 2011, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 301 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.