- Date
- August 6, 2013, 13:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Orange, MA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N94454Stetson Norman B Challenger II
- Defining event
- Initial climb: Aerodynamic stall/spin
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 12, 2013
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/ FSDO
- FAA report
- 20130806017009A
- Case key
- 87700
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 airspeed during the initial climb after takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s lack of total flight experience in the accident airplane make and model.
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 departing for his first flight in the airplane. According to a statement provided by the pilot to the airport manager, the airplane was about 50 feet above ground level when the left wing dropped. The pilot reported that he attempted to correct the wing drop by manipulating the ailerons only; however, he was unsuccessful in leveling the airplane. He then applied left rudder while applying right aileron and the airplane began to spin to the left. The airplane impacted the ground in an approximate 10-degree nose down, left bank attitude, which resulted in substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. According to Federal Aviation Administration records and photographs of the Hobbs meter, the airplane had accumulated 8.9 hours in the 2 years since the pilot had purchased it. The pilot stated that these hours had been accumulated during taxi tests, and that the accident flight was his first attempt to fly the airplane. According to the pilot, there were no mechanical malfunctions or abnormalities that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot was departing for his first flight in the airplane. According to a statement provided by the pilot to the airport manager, the airplane was about 50 feet above ground level when the left wing dropped. The pilot reported that he attempted to correct the wing drop by manipulating the ailerons only; however, he was unsuccessful in leveling the airplane. He then applied left rudder while applying right aileron and the airplane began to spin to the left. The airplane impacted the ground in an approximate 10-degree nose down, left bank attitude, which resulted in substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. According to Federal Aviation Administration records and photographs of the Hobbs meter, the airplane had accumulated 8.9 hours in the 2 years since the pilot had purchased it. The pilot stated that these hours had been accumulated during taxi tests, and that the accident flight was his first attempt to fly the airplane. According to the pilot, there were no mechanical malfunctions or abnormalities that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N94454
- Reported as
- Stetson Norman B Challenger II
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- CH2-0587-B-0256
- Engine
- Rotax 503 SCSI, 52 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Departed
- ORE · Orange, MA
- Destination
- ORE · Orange, MA
- Airport
- ORE · Orange Municipal Airport, runway 32, 4,801 × 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
- 44
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 5, 2002
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 113 total · 0 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.12 inHg
- Observed at
- ORE
Docket · 9
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 3, 2013, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.4 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.