- Date
- March 19, 2014, 09:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hudson, CO
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N508TGSkykits Savannah VGW
- Defining event
- Landing: Collision during takeoff/land
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 23, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- FAA report
- 20140319003079I
- Case key
- 88940
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 inadequate monitoring of his glide path resulting in a collision with a berm prior to landing.
Findings · 3
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 practicing short field stop-and-go landings. On one approach to the turf strip, the airplane was too low and the main landing gear contacted a berm short of the landing strip. The nose gear collapsed and the airplane nosed over resulting in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no prior mechanical malfunctions or failures, but that a gusty wind may have resulted in a downdraft.
Factual narrative
The pilot was practicing short field stop-and-go landings. On one approach to the turf strip, the airplane was too low and the main landing gear contacted a berm short of the landing strip. The nose gear collapsed and the airplane nosed over resulting in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer. The pilot reported that there were no prior mechanical malfunctions or failures, but that a gusty wind may have resulted in a downdraft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N508TG
- Reported as
- Skykits Savannah VGW
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 08-11-51-789
- Built
- 2010
- Airframe hours
- 570
- Engine
- Rotax 912ULS, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Special light-sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · August 1, 2013 · 30 hours before
- Departed
- 18V · Hudson, CO
- Destination
- 18V · Hudson, CO
- Airport
- 18V · Platte Valley Airpark, runway 27, 2,500 × 90 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
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 6,000 total · 570 in this make and model · 6,000 as pilot in command · 25 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 43 °F, dew point 9 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- KDEN, 16 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 3, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.7 MB 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.