- Date
- April 14, 2014, 18:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Eutaw Springs, SC
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N851RCKaldor Gregory N Zenith 701
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: Landing gear collapse
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report July 30, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- FAA report
- 20140414005709A
- Case key
- 89064
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 improper decision to execute a precautionary landing to unsuitable terrain following an inflight encounter with a wind gust, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane.
Findings · 4
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, he was flying over a small airstrip near a campground when he experienced a severe gust of wind that made the airplane turn abruptly to the right. The pilot felt that the airplane was out of control and decided to make a precautionary landing in a plowed field. During the precautionary landing, the airplane sustained substantial damage to the nose landing gear, wings, and fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
According to the pilot, he was flying over a small airstrip near a campground when he experienced a severe gust of wind that made the airplane turn abruptly to the right. The pilot felt that the airplane was out of control and decided to make a precautionary landing in a plowed field. During the precautionary landing, the airplane sustained substantial damage to the nose landing gear, wings, and fuselage. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N851RC
- Reported as
- Kaldor Gregory N Zenith 701
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 7-5747
- Built
- 2010
- Engine
- Rotax 912ULS, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Robert Wilson
- Registered owner
- Banitt Byron Bradley
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- AAIP · March 12, 2014 · 156 hours before
- Departed
- MNI · Manning, SC
- Destination
- MNI · Manning, SC
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
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- November 30, 2013
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 475 total · 17 in this make and model · 475 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 290° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 11,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.72 inHg
- Observed at
- MNI, 27 nm away
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 27, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.4 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.