- Date
- April 11, 2025, 17:20 local (22:20 UTC)
- Place
- Brady, TX
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- UNREGQuicksilver MX II
- Defining event
- Maneuvering: Loss of control in flight
- 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-FSDO
- Case key
- 200013
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 airplane’s encounter with a dust devil, which resulted in a loss of airplane control at a low altitude.
Findings · 5
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 reported that while conducting a slow flight maneuver for flight testing purposes in an unregistered airplane, he felt a “heavy push up” on the airplane to about 75 ft above ground level. The right wing then lifted and the pilot lost control of the airplane which entered a left descending spiral. The airplane subsequently impacted terrain and came to rest inverted. A witness reported that he observed dust devil weather activity where the airplane was flying at the time of the accident. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, both wings, and the empennage. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- UNREG
- Reported as
- Quicksilver MX II (Sprint)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- UKN
- Built
- 2025
- Airframe hours
- 1
- Engine
- Rotax 582EGB, 64 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · April 10, 2025
- Equipment
- Unknown
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 74
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 325 total · 325 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 75 °F
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 21, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.8 MB in all.