- Date
- August 11, 2020, 17:20 local (21:20 UTC)
- Place
- Lafayette, IN
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N678ECCirrus SR22
- Defining event
- Enroute: Abrupt maneuver
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20200811013319A
- Case key
- 101787
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 monitor aircraft control, which resulted in a loss of control when a passenger inadvertently moved the control stick, and the pilot and other passenger's decision to unbuckle their restraints inflight.
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
During a cross-country flight, the pilot and a passenger in the rear seat unbuckled their seat belts to try to retrieve items behind the pilot's seat. An adult passenger seated in the front right seat, who was unfamiliar with the side-stick controller in the airplane, grabbed the side-stick controller while adjusting their seat. The pressure on the control stick caused the airplane to violently climb and descend 3-4 times before the pilot was able to regain control. During the excursions the pilot and the back-seat passenger bounced off the ceiling, resulting in minor injuries to the pilot and serious injuries to the unrestrained passenger. The pilot declared an emergency and proceeded direct to Chicago Executive Airport where he landed uneventfully. The pilot stated there was nothing wrong with the airplane prior to the event occurring and the airplane was not damaged.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N678EC
- Reported as
- Cirrus SR22 (Undesignat)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2881
- Built
- 2007
- Engine
- Continental IO550, reciprocating
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- JVY · Sellersburg, IN
- Destination
- PWK · Chicago/Prospect Heights/Wheeling, IL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, ADS-B, Auto-pilot, Airframe parachute
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
- 55
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 14, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- None
- Flight hours
- 16,700 total · 30 in this make and model · 13,700 as pilot in command · 150 in the last 90 days · 45 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 30, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.