- Date
- April 7, 2024, 09:20 local (13:20 UTC)
- Place
- Hendersonville, NC · Private Residence's back deck
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N381RSSnyder Robert L Challenger II
- Defining event
- Initial climb: Unknown or undetermined
- 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
- 20240407003749A
- Case key
- 194045
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
A loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
Findings · 1
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 private pilot departed with a tailwind from a 3,075 ft-long grass runway, climbed to about 150 ft above ground level (agl) at a speed of 41 miles per hour (mph) (the airplane’s stall speed was 37 mph), and initiated a left turn. The pilot said that during the turn, the engine rpm dropped, and he was concerned about colliding with powerlines and a motor park. Instead, he chose a 3 ft round table located on the back patio of a private residence as a target to “buff” the impact. The pilot said he lowered the nose and rolled the airplane left and “slipped” the airplane between the tall trees located in the backyard of the residence and impacted the table/patio, resulting in substantial damage to the left wing. Once the airplane was recovered from the patio, the pilot test ran the two-stroke engine on the airframe under the supervision of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector. The engine started and ran at a high and low power setting. No mechanical deficiencies or malfunctions were noted during the engine test run that would have precluded normal operation at the time of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N381RS
- Reported as
- Snyder Robert L Challenger II
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- CH2-1003-2381
- Built
- 2004
- Airframe hours
- 510
- Engine
- Rotax 503DCDI, 55 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · June 18, 2023
- Airport
- 0A7 · Hendersonville, runway 15/33, 3,075 × 40 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
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Last flight review
- May 22, 1993
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 298 total · 125 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 45 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.17 inHg
- Observed at
- KAVL, 9 nm away
- METAR
- KAVL 071354Z 14004KT 10SM CLR 07/00 A3017
Docket · 5
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 29, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 15.5 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.