- Date
- October 7, 2026, 14:50 local (19:50 UTC)
- Place
- Ward, AR · Smith Field Airport (34.969785, -91.831145)
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N940JKitfox III
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Investigation ongoing
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA - FSDO
- Case key
- 203966
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N940J
- Reported as
- Kitfox III (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 940
- Built
- 1991
- Airframe hours
- 683
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · September 3, 2026
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 64AR · Smith Fld, runway 18/36, 3,055 × 75 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- ADS-B
N940JRegistered now · Courtney Jimmy KITFOX IIIAirframe modelCourtney Jimmy KITFOX IIIEngine modelBombardier ROTAX (ALL)
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.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.91 inHg
- Observed at
- K4M3, 11 nm away
- METAR
- METAR K4M3 071955Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM 31/09 A2991 RMK A01