- Date
- June 30, 2024, 10:13 local (14:13 UTC)
- Place
- Saluda, SC
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N94NFCorella Neil RV9A
- 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
- 20240630009429A
- Case key
- 194579
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 an appropriate glide path during the landing approach in variable wind conditions, which resulted in collision with trees.
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
The pilot was executing a forward slip to land. On short final approach to the runway, as the airplane descended below the tree line of a forest that was to his immediate right, he encountered a downdraft and crosswind. The airplane began to sink and yawed to the right. The pilot attempted to go around, but the landing gear struck the trees. The airplane continued to descend, and the right wing impacted a tree before the airplane came to rest upright in a nose down attitude at the base of two trees. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings, the fuselage, and the vertical stabilizer. The pilot reported there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N94NF
- Reported as
- Corella Neil RV9A
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 90939
- Built
- 2005
- Airframe hours
- 2,131
- Engine
- Penn Yann Aero XE320, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Business · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Nature Coast Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · January 27, 2024
- Departed
- 35A · Union, SC
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- 6J4 · Saluda County
- Equipment
- Electronic primary flight display, ADS-B, Auto-pilot, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Electronic multifunction display
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
- 66
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- March 30, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 2,372 total · 2,132 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 250° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 75 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.11 inHg
- Observed at
- AIK, 18 nm away
- METAR
- KAIK 301355Z AUTO 25004KT 10SM CLR 30/24 A3011 RMK AO2 T02990239
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on September 4, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.5 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.