- Date
- December 27, 2025, 09:00 local (16:00 UTC)
- Place
- Hudson, CO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N239DAKitfox Clasc IV-1200
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Loss of control on ground
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 13, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20251227018679A
- Case key
- 202216
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 control of the airplane during the landing roll.
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 landing to the east on the turf runway for the third time; the previous two landings were uneventful. During the landing roll, the airplane rolled over the bumpy turf surface, the empennage came up, and the airplane’s nose moved down. The pilot attempted to correct the nose down condition with an elevator input. When the airplane traveled over the paved taxiway that intersected the runway, the pilot opined that it exacerbated the situation. The airplane subsequently nosed over and came to rest inverted. The fuselage, vertical stabilizer, and rudder sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot stated that taxiway that crossed the runway was raised relative to the runway surface; however, he did not feel that the difference was the reason for the nose over. The airport facility directory noted that the turf surface was in fair condition, the runway was not maintained in winter, and that a taxiway intersected the turf runway at midfield.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N239DA
- Reported as
- Kitfox Clasc IV-1200
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- C9610-0177
- Built
- 2004
- Airframe hours
- 919.4
- Engine
- Rotax 912 ULS, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · December 1, 2024
- Departed
- KBDU · Boulder, CO
- Destination
- K18V · Hudson, CO
- Airport
- 18V · Platte Valley Airpark, runway 09/27, 2,500 × 90 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- ADS-B
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
- 39
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- January 16, 2025
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 548 total · 216 in this make and model · 486 as pilot in command · 45 in the last 90 days · 21 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 21,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 46 °F, dew point 21 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.77 inHg
- Observed at
- KDEN, 15 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KDEN 271553Z 21003KT 10SM FEW080 SCT140 BKN210 08/M06 A2977 RMK AO2 SLP055 T00781061
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 13, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.0 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.