- Date
- October 31, 2008, 14:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Weirwood, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N1932HHilderson Oswald Aventura HP
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern downwind: Loss of engine power (total)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 24, 2008
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20081031853119A
- Case key
- 69422
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 following an in-flight encounter with turbulence during approach, which led to a loss of engine power due to fuel starvation, and subsequent forced landing into trees.
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
According to the pilot the weather was clear with winds from the southwest at 5 to 10 knots. He stated that after refueling, he departed for a second flight and after 20 minutes, he prepared to land. On an extended downwind leg, at 1,100 feet above ground level (AGL) and about to turn base leg, he encountered some turbulence. He increased power and got out of it, only to enter turbulence again. The airplane went into a dive and went inverted, cutting the fuel flow off to the engine. He was able to regain control and fly the airplane. However, without engine power he was gliding toward the woods. The airplane was too close to the trees, and the pilot's only option was to reduce airspeed to near stalling and mush down on the treetops. The airplane descendedinto the trees with the left wingtip on the ground and the nose 6 feet off the ground. The reported wind, at an airport about 12 miles northwest of the accident site, about the time of the accident, was from 250 degrees at 9 knots.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot of the Aventura HP experimental light sport aircraft (E-LSA) amphibian airplane, the weather was clear with winds from the southwest at 5 to 10 knots. He stated that after refueling, he departed for a second flight and after 20 minutes, he prepared to land. On an extended downwind leg, at 1,100 feet above ground level (AGL) and about to turn base leg, he encountered some turbulence. He increased power and got out of it, only to enter turbulence again. The airplane went into a dive and at one time he only saw the sky, meaning the airplane was inverted and cutting the fuel flow off to the engine. He was able to regain control and fly the airplane. However, without engine power he was gliding for the woods. The airplane was too close to the trees, and his only option was to reduce airspeed to near stalling and mush down on the treetops. The airplane then started to fall down about 30 feet and stopped with the left wingtip on the ground and the nose 6 feet off the ground. The reported wind, at an airport about 12 miles northwest of the accident site, about the time of the accident, was from 250 degrees at 9 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1932H
- Reported as
- Hilderson Oswald Aventura HP
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 0018
- Airframe hours
- 347.2
- Engine
- Rotax 503, 50 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Hilderson Oswald
- Registered owner
- Hilderson Oswald
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · September 22, 2008 · 24.9 hours before
- Departed
- 9VG · Weirwood, VA
- Destination
- 9VG · Weirwood, VA
- Airport
- 9VG · Campbell Field
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
- 76
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Sport Pilot, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 11, 2008
- Seat
- Single
- Flight hours
- 377 total · 315 in this make and model · 325 as pilot in command · 7 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 9 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 63 °F, dew point 25 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.47 inHg
- Observed at
- MFV, 12 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.