- Date
- June 3, 2020, 08:35 local (12:35 UTC)
- Place
- New Smyrna Beach, FL
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N187PBSonex Sonex
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20200603007359A
- Case key
- 101372
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 failed to maintain an adequate airspeed while on final approach and impacted terrain.
Findings · 2
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 reported that he got too slow on final approach and was too low to the ground to recover and the airplane impacted wooded terrain short of the runway. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and that it was strictly "pilot error".
Aircraft
- Registration
- N187PB
- Reported as
- Sonex Sonex
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 1187
- Built
- 2018
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- EVB · New Smyrna Beach, FL
- Destination
- EVB · New Smyrna Beach, FL
- Airport
- EVB · New Smyrna Beach Muni, runway 11, 4,319 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Unknown
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
- 75
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Sport Pilot
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Sport pilot
- Last flight review
- November 9, 2017
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 170.6 total · 2 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 79 °F, dew point 68 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.10 inHg
- Observed at
- EVB
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 27, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 916 KB 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.