- Date
- June 9, 2015, 09:30 local (14:30 UTC)
- Place
- Quitman, TX
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N104JXHunziker Eros 1650R
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Collision during takeoff/land
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 14, 2015
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20150609014179A
- Case key
- 91349
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 failure to maintain adequate airspeed for the approach 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 said he was approaching his airstrip at low speed with the airplane in the landing configuration when the wind "stopped." The airplane lost altitude and hit the top of a tree at the end of the runway. The airplane then hit the ground and nosed over.
Factual narrative
On June 9, 2011, about 0930 central daylight time, a Hunziker Eros 1650R, N104JX, struck a tree and impacted terrain while on landing approach to a private airstrip 4 miles southeast of Quitman, Texas. The pilot, the sole occupant on board, was seriously injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. The airplane was registered and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The local flight originated from the airstrip about 0830.The pilot told an FAA inspector that he was approaching his airstrip at low speed in landing configuration when the wind "stopped." The airplane dropped and hit the top of a tree at the end of the runway. The airplane then hit the ground and nosed over.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N104JX
- Reported as
- Hunziker Eros 1650R (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 001
- Built
- 2013
- Airframe hours
- 50
- Engine
- Rotax 503 DCDI, 50 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Ben J. Hunziker
- Registered owner
- Ben J. Hunziker
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · January 24, 2015
- Departed
- NONE · Quitman, TX
- Destination
- NONE · Quitman, TX
- Airport
- None · Hunziker - Private, runway 30, 1,425 × 100 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
- 64
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3
- Seat
- Single
- Flight hours
- 48 total · 48 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 5 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 72 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.94 inHg
- Observed at
- KJDD, 9 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 5, 2015, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 540 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.