- Date
- October 11, 2006, 10:35 local (16:35 UTC)
- Place
- Delta, CO
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N511SHHuff Acro Sport I
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 31, 2007
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Flight Standards District Office
- FAA report
- 20061011030539A
- Case key
- 64680
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 select a touchdown point a safe distance from the construction crew, and his failure to maintain directional control of the airplane. Contributing factors in this accident included the pilot's limited forward visibility when the airplane was in a 3-point attitude, the soft terrain, and the rock.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
A crew was working on the parallel taxiway near the runway edge. The pilot taxied past the construction area and took off on runway 21. After about 30 minutes of flying, the pilot returned to the airport and made some touch-and-go landings. Another airplane entered the traffic pattern and announced he would be landing in the opposite direction on runway 03. The pilot yielded and also landed on runway 03. To avoid the construction crew, he maneuvered the airplane to the left of runway centerline. He noted that his airplane was "a short-coupled biplane," and that forward visibility in a conventional (3-point) attitude was limited. This caused him to get too close to the runway edge, and the left main landing gear went off the left side of the runway and into soft, muddy soil. The airplane swerved to the left, went through some high sage brush, struck a large rock, spun around and nosed down.
Factual narrative
On October 11, 2006, approximately 1045 mountain daylight time, a Huff Acro Sport I, N511SH, piloted by a commercial pilot, was substantially damaged when it departed the runway and struck a large rock during landing at Blake Field (AJZ), Delta, Colorado. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot sustained minor injuries. The local flight originating at Delta approximately 1015.
According to the pilot's accident report, a crew was working on the parallel taxiway near the runway edge. The pilot taxied past the construction area and took off on runway 21. After about 30 minutes of flying, the pilot returned to the airport and made some touch-and-go landings. Another airplane entered the traffic pattern and announced he would be landing in the opposite direction on runway 03. The pilot yielded and also landed on runway 03. To avoid the construction crew, he maneuvered the airplane to the left of runway centerline. He noted that his airplane was "a short-coupled biplane," and that forward visibility in a conventional (3-point) attitude was limited. This caused him to get too close to the runway edge, and the left main landing gear went off the left side of the runway and into soft, muddy soil. The airplane swerved to the left, went through some high sage brush, struck a large rock, spun around and nosed down.
The airport manager examined the airplane and reported that, in addition to the sheared landing gear, the wing spar was broken.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N511SH
- Reported as
- Huff Acro Sport I
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 01-12-47-02
- Airframe hours
- 60
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Jack M. Sprague
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 1, 2006 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- AJZ · Delta, CO
- Destination
- AJZ · Delta, CO
- Airport
- AJZ · Blake Field, runway 03, 5,600 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 65
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Last flight review
- May 1, 2006
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 2,157 total · 22 in this make and model · 2,157 as pilot in command · 22 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.19 inHg
- Observed at
- MTJ, 31 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.